A Visualization of Team Italy

The Mariners have nine players on various World Baseball Classic rosters. I perused the names and countries without many surprises, until I came to one.

Brian Sweeney is playing for team Italy.

I had never thought of Sweeney's ancestry until this afternoon, but he piqued my interest. I simply did not expect him to be a part of any WBC roster, much less Italy's. The option wasn't within my realm of possibilities.

I wondered who else was on team Italy, and one thing led to another. Below is a map plotting the birth cities of everyone on team Italy:

View Italy WBC in a larger map

I'd think that Italy makes a horse shoe around New York city if I didn't know better. Sweeney was born in Yonkers, NY, so he fits right in.

There are 15 other nations besides Italy in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. I bet a handful of them have player birthplaces that leave similar geographic footprints.

Fun fact: Italy enters the WBC ranked ninth in the world in baseball.