by Jongho Kim

Many Korean baseball players have challenged overseas leagues from the past to the present. Public attention has mostly focused on those who entered American or Japanese baseball. However, some players have taken on challenges in lesser-known leagues. The topic of this article is the “third baseball leagues” outside the U.S. and Japan, specifically the Mexican League and Latin American winter leagues, as experienced by Korean players.

Korean Players in the Mexican League

The summer league commonly known as the “Mexican League” has a history of 100 years, but in Korea, it has little recognition or popularity. Even so, as many as seven Korean players have played in Mexico. The first “Mexican leaguer,” and the Korean player who spent the longest time there, was Won Kuk Lee.

Born in Seoul in 1948, Lee was a right-handed pitcher with a blazing fastball. In high school, he threw pitches close to 150 km/h (about 93 mph), drawing attention from Japanese scouts.

He moved to Japan in 1965 and joined the Tokyo Orions (now Chiba Lotte Marines) in 1966. However, he pitched in only one game in Japan. In 1968, the Orions sent him to the U.S. for training. He joined the Single-A Fresno Giants under the San Francisco Giants, later moving through the Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers farm systems, but was released in 1970.

Through a friend’s recommendation, he learned about the Mexican League and flew to Mexico in 1972. That year, with Piratas de Sabinas, he posted an 11–11 record and a 3.27 ERA. In 1973, he went 16–13 with a 2.30 ERA, showing his full potential. In 1974, he became a founding member of Mineros de Coahuila (now Acereros de Monclova) and remained a rotation starter until 1980. He wrapped up his Mexican career with Petroleros de Poza Rica in 1982 and returned to Korea in 1983 at the age of 35.

Over 10 years, he recorded 336 games, 149 wins, 128 losses, a 2.81 ERA, and 1,126 strikeouts, numbers still remembered in Mexico. In 1983, he briefly joined the KBO’s MBC Blue Dragons (now LG Twins), going 1–1 with a 4.42 ERA before retiring.

Seventeen years later, Kyung Hwan Choi (now a baseball commentator) became the first Korean hitter in the Mexican League. A left-handed outfielder, he signed with the California Angels (now Los Angeles Angels) in 1995 and played in the minors before joining Sultanes de Monterrey in 1999. He later played for Algodoneros de Unión Laguna before moving to the KBO in 2000.

At the same time in 1999, three other Koreans entered the Mexican League: Wonseong Ma (RHP, Rieleros de Aguascalientes), Sangyeong So (RHH OF, Langosteros de Cancun), and Gilnam Hong (RHP, Guerreros de Oaxaca). All were former OB Bears (now Doosan Bears) second-team players who continued short careers in Mexico after being released.

The last KBO player to challenge the Mexican League was Jinwoo Kim, a pitcher with the Kia Tigers, who appeared for Sultanes de Monterrey in 2019. In 2025, Gyeongju Kim, a Korean pitcher from an American independent team, joined Piratas de Campeche.

Korean Players in Latin American Winter Leagues

Latin American winter leagues are held from October to January in countries such as the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Puerto Rico. These short leagues are often filled with free agents hoping to reach MLB or Asian leagues, or current players seeking to maintain game sharpness during the offseason.

Korean teams generally dislike sending players abroad in winter due to concerns about injuries or fatigue. As a result, Koreans in these leagues are usually MLB or minor league players.

Only two KBO players have played in winter leagues: Youngsik Kang (LHP) and Junhyeok Heo (RHP) of the Lotte Giants, who briefly joined Leones del Escogido in the Dominican League during the 2007–08 season.

Other examples include:

• In 2009, Hyangnam Choi (RHP), then with the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes (LA Dodgers affiliate), pitched for Algodoneros de Guasave in the Mexican Winter League.
• Ji-man Choi (C/1B, LHB), before reaching MLB, played in two winter leagues: Tigres de Aragua in Venezuela (2014–15) and Estrellas Orientales in the Dominican Republic (2015–16).
• In 2017, two Korean MLB veterans joined Dominican teams: Jung-ho Kang (INF, Pittsburgh Pirates) with Águilas Cibaeñas, and Byung-hyun Kim (RHP, ex-MLB) with Gigantes del Cibao.

These stints were short-lived, but they represented turning points in their baseball careers abroad. They also left behind a lesson for younger players: “In baseball, there are always countless paths.”

Hunhee Cho and Eunwoo Jung will present How GenZ’ers in Korea Sparked a New Era of 10 Million Baseball Fans

Join us on September 4, 2025 at 8 pm EST for SABR’s Asian Baseball Research Committee Monthly Zoom Presentation.

Baseball is hot in Korea!
With nearly 11 million fans annually, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) is surging in popularity, especially among Gen Z Koreans. This post-pandemic boom has sparked new attention from researchers and industry watchers alike.

In this virtual presentation, Hunhee Cho and Eunwoo Jung will share findings from their quantitative and qualitative studies examining this cultural and sporting shift. Their research offers fresh insights that may also hold relevance for Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

A live Q&A will follow the presentation. We invite your questions and reflections.

To participate you must pre-register.

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/aMG-DoSQQF2cLP4etHZF-A 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

by Adam Berenbak

This post is a summary of a talk, titled “Lend-Lease Athletes: John Britton & Jimmie Newberry, Post-Integration Negro Leagues, and Japanese Pro Baseball at the end of the US Occupation” to be given at the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, July 26th, 11AM, during the weekend that Ichiro Suzuki will become the first Japanese born player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Amid the celebration of Ichiro as the first Japanese baseball superstar to be enshrined in Cooperstown, I thought it important to recall two pioneers at another intersection of multiple baseball firsts – involving the Negro Leagues, Japanese pro ball, Jewish baseball and Major League Baseball. While their story isn’t new, Induction weekend seems like the right time to revisit these two amazing athletes.

Before Jimmie Newberry and John Britton made history as the first African American ballplayers to suit up in Nippon Professional Baseball (Jimmy Bonner, a veteran of Black independent teams, pitched several games in the earliest iteration of pro ball in Japan for Dai Tokyo in 1936), they each put together solid careers in the Negro American League, primarily with the Birmingham Black Barons. Both were looking for work after the 1951 Season when Bill Veeck provided an opportunity.

In March of 1951, Bill Veeck, then owner of several minor league clubs including Oklahoma City and Dayton, had scouted several Japanese players (all from the Mainichi Orions of Japan’s Pacific League), including Kaoru Betto and Hiroshi Oshita, but with his eye specifically on pitcher Atsushi Aramaki. Already plotting to sweep in to purchase the St. Louis Browns in July of that year, Veeck had not shed his propensity stretching the rules of the game and thumbing his nose at tradition and sought to bring a Japanese pro to the majors. On Dec 28, 1951, (at the NY opening of the Saints and Sinners Club), Veeck met with Teijiro Kurosaki, GM of the Orions, himself on a scouting trip to find American ballplayers, to discuss purchasing Aramaki’s contract for the Browns. 

He could not seal the deal. By early 1952 Abe Saperstein (a minority stockholder in the Browns) was charged with developing contractual relationships with Japanese teams that would lead to the acquisition of Japanese stars to play in the US. Saperstein not only had relationships with Newberry, Britton, the Black Barons and the NAL, but was in regular contact with Japanese business interests as he planned several Japanese tours with the Harlem Globetrotters (who Veeck had helped promote through 1951). What unfolded was a relationship with the Hankyu Braves.

The Treaty of San Francisco ended the US Occupation of Japan on April 28, 1952, and on that day Veeck announced that he had reached an agreement with the Braves that would include loaning the newly acquired (to their minor league system) slugger John Britton and pitcher Jimmie Newberry from the Browns. Despite Veeck’s statement of diplomacy, the eventual goal was to open ties to the extent that NPB teams would negotiate the contracts of stars like Aramaki (who would go on to the Japanese Hall of Fame). Additionally, the timing was conspicuous, as contract negotiation would be much more feasible in a post-occupation world. Having brought 42-year-old Satchel Paige to the majors when he ran the Indians, Veeck was no stranger to controversy in pursuit of victory. As Veeck was also infamous for his promotional antics with the Browns, which would include the Eddie Gaedel incident, his motivation for fielding Japanese born players in the US remains murky. Whether it was a gimmick, a true attempt at competitive advantage, or a way to mine cheap labor, is unclear. It could be all three. Veeck’s reputation, as well as Saperstein’s problematic relationship with supporting and exploiting marginalized athletes (see Rebecca Alpert’s “Out of Left Field”) provide valuable context to what would be a first step in post-war international baseball contract negotiation. 

Jimmie Newberry and John Britton had both been stars of the Birmingham Black Barons and veterans of the Negro League World Series, as well as former teammates of Willie Mays. Both would end up as Pacific League All Stars in 1952, and Britton would stay for a second season with the Braves, paving the path for Larry Raines and Jonas Gaines. He is probably the only person to face both Satchel Paige and Victor Starffin (he hit a home run off the latter). Neither Newberry nor Britton would make the Majors, for the Browns nor any other team.

Both of these pioneers have their own SABR bios, and their story appears in several well-known books on baseball in Japan (including “Wally Yonamine” by Rob Fitts), so there is not much in the way of new scholarship here. However, it’s interesting to note that several reports appearing in overseas newspapers refer to the two as “Lend-Lease” ball players, a journalistic embellishment referring to the famous policy in which the US lent weapons, goods and food to support the war effort at ostensibly no cost, but with provisions for eventual debt repayment. The act pre-dated Pearl Harbor by six months, an oversized event perhaps bookended by the official end to the occupation.

The term seems to be unintentionally inciteful. Beyond the obvious reference to Veeck’s machinations, and elements of diplomacy and international trade & support in a kind of battle (i.e. sports), “Lend-Lease” as a term can be seen as reflective of how professional baseball players, and especially marginalized ballplayers, including Japanese and Black ballplayers, were seen as property or commodities. This resonates especially with the history of slavery and racism imbedded in the African American baseball experience. The fact that both Newberry and Britton not only excelled but laid the groundwork for the success of future Black athletes in Japan is a testament to overcoming the “Lend-Lease” perspective. However, “lend lease” also reflects the reality of their situation as more and more Negro League teams began to disband, and baseball jobs were hard to come by. The fear of many Black sportswriters (including Joe Bostic) regarding how integration would affect the future of the Negro Leagues was no doubt a part of the reticence of Japanese clubs to deal with Major League Baseball. This seems even more instructive in light of the failure of Veeck or Saperstein to promote them to the Browns, or to lure Japanese talent to the US. 

In part, one might attribute some of Newberry and Britton’s success to cultural differences. Time and time again there are stories of African American ballplayers, before and after integration, who found a more hospitable reception in the cities and states of South & Central America, escaping the racism these men endured as they traveled the US. While some racist imagery can be found of Newbery and Britton’s stay in Japan, and there has always been a noted resistance for the majority of Japanese pro baseball to welcome foreigners (especially Americans), both players found a similarly hospitable reception and enjoyed their time in the country. In addition, this occurs at the end of the US occupation, a time of complex feelings towards the US in Japan, although in the world of baseball an overwhelmingly receptive one to western culture.

Though ultimately unsuccessful, in the immediate sense, as an avenue to build a contractual bridge between Japan and the US as a way for Japanese players to head west, this episode was an important step in both forging a path for greater acceptance of Black and US born ballplayers as well as establishing the diplomatic framework for the relationship between NPB and MLB teams – one that would eventually lead to Masanori Murakami, Hideo Nomo, Ichiro and beyond.