A relief pitcher or reliever is a baseball or softball pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed due to injury, ineffectiveness, fatigue, ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as being substituted by a pinch hitter. Relief pitchers are further divided informally into closers, set-up relief pitchers, middle relief pitchers, left-handed specialists, and long relievers.

In the early days of Major League Baseball (MLB), substituting a player was not allowed except for sickness or injury. An ineffective pitcher would switch positions with another player on the field. The first relief appearance in the major leagues was in 1876 with Boston Red Caps outfielder Jack Manning switching positions with pitcher Joe Borden. In 1889, the first bullpen appearance occurred after rules were changed to allow a player substitution at any time. Early relief pitchers were normally starting pitchers pitching one or two innings in between starts.Firpo Marberry is credited with being the first prominent reliever. From 1923 to 1935, he pitched in 551 games, 364 as a reliever. Baseball historian Bill James said Marberry was "a modern reliever—a hard throwing young kid who worked strictly in relief, worked often, and was used to nail down victories." Another reliever, Johnny Murphy, became known as "Fireman" for his ability to put out fires in relief. Gradually after World War II, full-time relievers became more acceptable and standard. The relievers were usually pitchers that were not good enough to be starters. Relievers in the 1950s started to develop oddball pitches to distinguish them from starters. For example, Hoyt Wilhelm threw a knuckleball, and Elroy Face threw a forkball.

Francisco Javier Cordero (born May 11, 1975 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. Cordero is frequently referred to by his nickname, CoCo, which is a combination of the last two letters of his first name and the first two letters of his last name.^{[citation needed]}

Cordero throws a hard fastball—capable of reaching the upper 90s, and also has an excellent slider that he can throw for strikes early in the count, and which he uses as his out pitch. On June 1, 2011, Cordero recorded his 300th career save with the Cincinnati Reds, becoming only the 22nd player to reach that mark and ranks 2nd all time on that list among active players.

He attended Colegio Luz Arroyo Hondo High School in the Dominican Republic.

Cordero made his first appearance in the Tigers organization with the Jamestown Jammers of the New York-Penn League in 1995, appearing in 19 games, making 18 starts, and going 4–10 with a 5.42 ERA in 108 innings pitched. Cordero then finished the 1995 season with the Fayetteville Generals of South Atlantic League, going 0–3 with a 6.30 ERA in four starts.

John William "Will" Ferrell (/ˈfɛrəl/; born July 16, 1967) is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the mid 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro, and The Other Guys. He is considered a member of the "Frat Pack", a generation of leading Hollywood comic actors who emerged in the late 1990s and the 2000s, including Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn, and brothers Owen and Luke Wilson.

Ferrell was born in Irvine, California, the son of Betty Kay (née Overman), a teacher who taught at Old Mill School elementary school and Santa Ana College, and Roy Lee Ferrell, Jr., a musician with The Righteous Brothers. His parents were both natives of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, and moved to California in 1964; Ferrell has Irish ancestry. Ferrell has a younger brother, Patrick. When he was 8, his parents divorced. Ferrell said of the divorce, "I was the type of kid who would say, 'Hey Look at the bright side! We'll have two Christmases.'" The divorce was amicable and both parents were committed to their children. The biggest problem was Lee's line of work. As a person in show business, his paychecks were never steady and he was gone from home months at a time. Growing up in the environment made Ferrell not want to go into show business, but get a steady job.

Cole Williams (born July 28, 1981) is an American film and TV actor. He has been in such diverse films as North Country, and Harry + Max (playing a gay teen idol). He also had a recurring role as Anthony W. on 8 Simple Rules.

He is the son of singer/songwriter Paul Williams.

Williams attended boarding school in New Hampshire and was accepted into SUNY Purchase College at the age of 17. His debut in the film industry was in the film Urban Chaos Theory. This opportunity catapulted him to roles in Harry + Max, Race You to the Bottom, North Country, Lovers, Liars & Lunatics, Spaced Out and Freeway Killer. He has also landed TV roles and appearances in Scrubs, Drake & Josh, and Zoey 101, but is well known for his role as Anthony in television series 8 Simple Rules... For Dating My Teenage Daughter.

Ronald J. Belisario (last name sometimes spelled Belizario) (born December 31, 1982, in Maracay, Venezuela) is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Belisario was signed by the Florida Marlins as a 16-year-old amateur free agent in 1998, playing in the rookie-class Venezuelan Summer League in 2000 and rookie-class Gulf Coast League in 2001. He played with various "A" ball teams in 2003–04. He was placed on the Marlins 40 man roster in September 2004 but missed the 2005 season because of undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. He also missed the 2006 season because of an unspecified suspension.

After missing two seasons he returned to the mound in the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system in 2007 and remained in the Pirates system for 2008, finally being promoted to AA with the Altoona Curve.

He signed a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 2009. He was late in showing up for spring training because of some visa problems in his home country, so did not get a chance to compete until late in the spring. However, he pitched well in the last few spring training games and was added to the Dodgers opening day roster on April 6, 2009. Belisario made his Major League debut on April 7, working one scoreless inning as a relief pitcher against the San Diego Padres. He pitched in 69 games for the Dodgers out of the bullpen in 2009, finishing 4–3 with a 2.04 ERA and 64 strikeouts.