| CALIFORNIA IS GOLDEN AS TALENT SOURCE |
Of the 1,280 players who performed in the major leagues in
2007, a total of 231 played high school baseball in California—more than double
any other state. That number is remarkably consistent from 1998, when 227 big
leaguers played their high school baseball in the Golden State.
The most significant changes over the nine-year period in big leaguers produced
have been based largely on climate, with Sun Belt and Western states showing
the greatest increases and Northern states typically showing the most
significant decreases.
Texas improved from 62 big leaguers in 1998 to 98 in 2007, Georgia from 26 to
44, Washington from 23 to 31, Arizona from 18 to 25, Colorado from 8 to 16 and
Mississippi 8 to 13. Meanwhile, northern states like Illinois dropped from 54
to 36, New York from 38 to 21, Pennsylvania from 37 to 20, New Jersey from 24
to 11, Michigan from 21 to 10, Massachusetts from 20 to 8 and Connecticut from
11 to 4.
From the standpoint of high schools producing the most 2007 big leaguers, here
are the top 10 states (the 1998 total is noted in parentheses):
|
| |
|
|
State |
Big Leaguers |
| 1. |
California (227) |
231 |
| 2. |
Florida (98) |
102 |
| 3. |
Texas (62) |
98 |
| 4. |
Georgia (26) |
44 |
| 5. |
Illinois (54) |
36 |
| 6. |
Washington (23) |
31 |
| 7. |
Arizona (18) |
25 |
| 8. |
Ohio (29) |
23 |
| 9. |
New York (38) |
21 |
| 10. |
Virginia (17) |
21 |
|
| --ALLAN SIMPSON |
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