Harry Leroy "Roy" Halladay III(born May 14, 1977), nicknamed "Doc", is an American former professional baseball player who pitched in Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies between 1998 and 2013. His nickname, coined by Toronto Blue Jays announcer Tom Cheek, is a reference to Wild West gunslinger "Doc" Holliday.
On May 29, 2010, Halladay pitched the 20th perfect game in MLB history, beating the Florida Marlins by a score of 1–0. On October 6, 2010, in his first post-season start, Halladay threw the second no-hitter in MLB postseason history (Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series being the first) against the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS. It was his second no-hitter of the year (following the May 29 perfect game), making Halladay the fifth pitcher in major league history (and the first since Nolan Ryan in 1973) to throw multiple no-hitters in the same season. During the 2012 season, he became the 67th pitcher to record 2,000 strikeouts. Halladay is also one of only six pitchers in MLB history to win the Cy Young Award in both the American and National Leagues.
Carsten Charles "CC" Sabathia, Jr. (born July 21, 1980) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees. Upon signing with the Yankees prior to the 2009 season, Sabathia became the highest-paid pitcher in MLB history. He is listed at 6'7" and 290 pounds.
Sabathia played the first seven and a half seasons of his career with the Cleveland Indians, where he won the 2007 Cy Young Award. He played the second half of the 2008 MLB season with the Milwaukee Brewers, leading them to the Wild Card, their first playoff appearance in 26 years. In the offseason, Sabathia left via free agency and signed with the New York Yankees. Sabathia is regarded as one of the most durable pitchers in MLB, having amassed an average of over 200 innings pitched per season during his career.
Johan Alexander Santana Araque is a Venezuelan professional baseball starting pitcher who is a free agent. Santana pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins from 2000 to 2007 and for the New York Mets from 2008 to 2012, sidelined by injury challenges since the 2012 season. A two-time Cy Young Award winner with the Twins, Santana is a four-time All-Star and earned a pitching triple crown in 2006. On June 1, 2012, Santana threw a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals, the first no-hitter in New York Mets then 51-year franchise history.
Clayton Edward Kershaw (born March 19, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). A left-handed starting pitcher, Kershaw has played in the major leagues since 2008, and his career earned run average (ERA) and walks and hits per innings pitched average (WHIP) are the lowest among starters in the live-ball era with a minimum of 1,000 innings pitched. Kershaw has a career hits allowed per nine innings pitched average of 6.64—the second-lowest in MLB history—along with three Cy Young Awards and the 2014 National League Most Valuable Player Award.
Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29, 1867 – November 4, 1955) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. During his 22-season baseball career (1890–1911), he pitched for five different teams. Young established numerous pitching records, some of which have stood for a century. Young compiled 511 wins, which is most in Major League history and 94 ahead of Walter Johnson, second on the list. Young was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.
One year after Young's death, the Cy Young Award was created to honor the previous season's best pitcher.
In addition to wins, Young still holds the major league records for most career innings pitched (7,356), most career games started (815), and most complete games (749). He also retired with 316 losses, the most in MLB history. Young's 76 career shutouts are fourth all-time. He also won at least 30 games in a season five times, with ten other seasons of 20 or more wins. In addition, Young pitched three no-hitters, including the third perfect game in baseball history, first in baseball's "modern era". In 1999, 88 years after his final major league appearance and 44 years after his death, editors at The Sporting News ranked Young 14th on their list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players". That same year, baseball fans named him to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
Young's career started in 1890 with the Cleveland Spiders. After eight years with the Spiders, Young was moved to St. Louis in 1899. After two years there, Young jumped to the newly created American League, joining the Boston franchise. He was traded back to Cleveland in 1909, before spending the final two months of his career with the Boston Rustlers. After his retirement, Young went back to his farm in Ohio, where he stayed until his death at age 88 in 1955.
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Alex Rodriguez
Alexander Emmanuel "Alex" Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American professional baseball shortstop, third baseman and designated hitter who is currently a free agent. He has played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and New York Yankees. Rodriguez was one of the sport's most highly touted prospects and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. During his 22-year career, Rodriguez has amassed a .297 batting average, 696 home runs, over 2,000 runs batted in (RBI), over 2,000 runs scored, and over 3,000 hits. He is a 14-time All-Star and has won three American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, ten Silver Slugger Awards, and two Gold Glove Awards. Rodríguez is the career record holder for grand slams with 25. However, he has led a highly controversial career due to signing two of the most lucrative sports contracts in history while incurring criticism from the media for his behavior, and use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
Albert Pujols
José Alberto Pujols Alcántara (born January 16, 1980), better known as Albert Pujols (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈalβert puˈxols]), is a Dominican American professional baseball first baseman for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the St. Louis Cardinals, where he received three National League (NL) MVP awards (2005, 2008, 2009) and was a nine-time MLB All-Star (2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010). He was also an All-Star with the Angels in 2015.
Pujols was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to the United States in 1996. After one season of college baseball, he was selected by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 MLB draft. As a rookie for the Cardinals in 2001, he was unanimously voted the NL Rookie of the Year. Pujols played for the Cardinals for 11 seasons, contributing to two World Series championships in 2006 and 2011. After the 2011 season, Pujols became a free agent and later signed a 10-year contract with the Angels.
Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木 一朗 Suzuki Ichirō, born October 22, 1973), often referred to mononymously as Ichiro (イチロー Ichirō), is a Japanese professional baseball outfielder for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has spent the bulk of his career with two teams: the Orix Blue Wave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in Japan, where he began his professional career, and the Seattle Mariners of MLB in the United States. After playing for the Mariners, he played two and a half seasons in MLB with the New York Yankees. Ichiro has established a number of batting records, including MLB's single-season record for hits with 262. He had 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons, the longest streak by any player in history. Between his major league career in both Japan and the United States, Ichiro has the most hits by any player in top tier professional leagues.
George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed The Bambino and The Sultan of Swat, he began his MLB career as a stellar left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees. Ruth established many MLB batting (and some pitching) records, including career home runs (714), runs batted in (RBIs) (2,213), bases on balls (2,062), slugging percentage (.6897), and on-base plus slugging (OPS) (1.164); the latter two still stand today. Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time. In 1936, Ruth was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its "first five" inaugural members.