In 2006...

In the American League, 7 of the top 9 batting averages belonged to foreign-born players.

In the National League, two of the top three hitters for average (Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera) and home runs (Pujols and Alfonso Soriano) were foreign-born.

Dominican-born pitcher Johan Santana led the major leagues in strikeouts, earned run average and wins.

Foreign-born players accounted for 31 percent of the players selected for the 2006 All Star Game.

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The percentage of foreign-born players in the major leagues has more than doubled from 10 percent since 1990.

Increased competition from foreign-born players has not resulted in lower salaries for native ballplayers. Since 1990 average major league player salaries more than quadrupled (in nominal dollars) from $578,930 to $2.87 million, while the proportion of foreign-born players in the league more than doubled (from 10 percent in 1990 to 23 percent today).

The percentage of foreign-born players in the major leagues fluctuated between 2.5 and 4.6 percent from 1900 to 1920, and dropped below 2 percent in the 1920s and 1930s.

Communist-led Cuba denies its star baseball players the freedom to become major league players, resulting in only 4 Cuban-born players on major league active rosters in 2006, all of whom defected.