years, they received an offer from the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles wanted to use this signing for press exposure, leading to the Helmig brothers receiving media attention upon their arrival in the United States. They were invited to the White House and visited the Annual Baseball Writers' Association dinner where they were special guests. Their baseball careers in the minor leagues did not last long, as they were released by the Orioles after a couple of months. Instead, they started playing for the Baltimore Elite Stars in the Negro leagues. They are credited with being two of the few white players to ever play in the Negro leagues. At the end of the 1956 summer, they returned to Germany, where they continued their baseball careers until 1978. They were elected into the in 2006. In 2000, Mitch Franke became the first player from the German baseball Bundesliga to sign a professional contract with an MLB organization, the Milwaukee Brewers. He never made it to the top, but he opened the doors for other Germans like pitcher Tim Henkenjohann, who played in the Minnesota Twins organization between 2002 and 2005, and catcher Simon Gühring, a player in the Milwaukee Brewers organization in 2002 and 2003. Since 2007, there have been multiple German-developed players that signed professional contracts. Most of them only played a few seasons with different minor league teams, before returning to Germany. They include: Ludwig Glaser, Los Angeles Angels, third baseman, 2008. Kai Gronauer, New York Mets, catcher, 2008-2014. Markus Solbach, Minnesota Twins; Arizona Diamondbacks, pitcher, 2011-2017. Daniel Thieben, Seattle Mariners, pitcher, 2012-2014. Maik Ehmcke, Arizona Diamondbacks, outfielder, 2014-2015. Julsan Kamara, Philadelphia Phillies, outfielder, 2014-2015. Sven Schueller, Los Angeles Dodgers, pitcher, 2014–present. Nadir Ljatifi, Cincinnati Reds, infielder, 2015–present. Pascal Amon, Los Angeles Dodgers, outfielder and first baseman, 2016-2018. Niklas Rimmel, Minnesota Twins, pitcher, 2018–present. In April 2013, outfielder Donald Lutz became the first German-developed player to play in Major League Baseball when he made his debut for the Cincinnati Reds. Max Kepler of the Minnesota Twins also trained in his native Germany before being signed by the Twins at age 16, making his major league debut six years later, in 2015. He has since been a consistent force in the Minnesota Twins lineup, hitting 56 homeruns between 2016 and 2018. German Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a key component of America's