The Columbus Clippers are a minor league baseball team based in Columbus, Ohio. The team plays in the International League and is the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. The team is owned by the government of Franklin County, Ohio.

From 1977 to 2008, the Clippers played in Cooper Stadium, which was known as Franklin County Stadium until 1984. The final game at "The Coop" was played on September 1, 2008 in front of a sellout crowd of 16,777. It was the third largest audience in stadium history. In 2009, the Clippers began playing in Huntington Park, located at the corner of Neil Ave. and Nationwide Blvd. in the Arena District of Columbus.

The Clippers began play in 1977 as an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, changing its affiliation to the New York Yankees in 1979, beginning a 28-year relationship that ended in 2006. An affiliation with the Washington Nationals lasted from 2007 to 2008. A four-year affiliation with the Cleveland Indians was announced on September 18, 2008. In September 2010 that working agreement with the Indians was extended through 2014.

Brandon Dubinsky (born April 29, 1986) is an American professional ice hockey player currently playing for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Dubinsky began playing youth hockey in Anchorage, and graduated from Service High School in 2004. He played his junior career with Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League (WHL) for four years, and was a two-time Western Conference second team All-Star before being drafted in the second round of the 2004 NHL Draft by the New York Rangers.

Dubinsky played for the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL) for most of the 2006-2007 season. He first played for the New York Rangers on March 8, 2007, against the New York Islanders.

Dubinsky scored his first NHL goal against Marc-André Fleury on November 8, 2007, in a 4-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Dubinsky was the 3rd star of the game. Much of the season was spent centering the Rangers' first forward line with Jaromír Jágr and Sean Avery. He was one of sixteen rookies selected to participate in the 2008 YoungStars competition at the 56th NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta. He scored two goals and one assist and was named YoungStars Most Valuable Player. Dubinsky scored his first career playoff goal in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the New Jersey Devils on April 13, 2008.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (松坂 大輔, Matsuzaka Daisuke^?, born September 13, 1980) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball in the United States. He previously played for the Seibu Lions in Japan's Pacific League. He was selected the MVP of the inaugural and the second World Baseball Classic, and is an Olympic bronze medalist.

Matsuzaka was born on September 13, 1980, in Kanita, Aomori Prefecture. He was named after Japanese high school star pitcher Daisuke Araki. Growing up in Koto, Tokyo, he studied kendo from the age of five to nine and began playing organized baseball when he was in 3rd grade.

After excelling at the Little League and junior high level, Daisuke Matsuzaka was admitted into Yokohama High School, a baseball powerhouse, in the spring of 1996. By his second of three years, he had developed into the school's ace pitcher. Despite his early success, he would experience a setback that summer when he allowed a go-ahead wild pitch in the semi-final game of the Kanagawa Prefecture preliminary round of the National High School Baseball Championship (Summer Koshien).

Tyler James Cloyd (born May 16, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball.

Cloyd attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where he played college baseball for the Nebraska–Omaha Mavericks. The Phillies drafted Cloyd in the 18th round of the 2008 MLB Draft. Though he was expected to begin the 2012 season with the Reading Phillies of the Class AA Eastern League, he was instead assigned to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs of the Class AAA International League due to the suspension of another pitcher. He pitched in the Triple-A All-Star Game and was named the top pitcher in the International League in 2012.

Cloyd made his major league debut on August 29, 2012, replacing Cole Hamels, who was ill.

Hideo Nomo (野茂 英雄, Nomo Hideo^?, born August 31, 1968 in Minato-ku, Osaka, Japan) is a former right-handed pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball from Japan. He achieved early success in Japan, where he played with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1990 to 1994. He then exploited a loophole to free himself from his Japanese contract and became the first Japanese-born Japanese major leaguer to permanently relocate to Major League Baseball in the United States. His successful debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995 is often credited with paving the road for the subsequent "wave" of Japanese players entering Major League Baseball.

Nomo pitched over the span of 13 seasons in the American major leagues with 8 different teams, before retiring in 2008. He won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1995. He twice led the league in strikeouts and also threw two no-hitters (to date the only Japanese pitcher to throw even one).

Nomo was on the silver medal winning Japanese baseball team at the 1988 Olympics, and the Kintetsu Buffaloes drafted him in 1989. Nomo debuted with them in 1990 and was an immediate success, going 18–8 but more impressively striking out 287 hitters in just 235 innings. The strikeout numbers are attributed to his unorthodox wind-up, where he turns his back to the hitter, raises his pivot leg, and freezes for a second before throwing. The windup gave him the nickname "Tornado". In his first four seasons, Nomo was as consistent, and consistently good, as any pitcher in Japanese baseball, winning 17 or 18 games each year. His fifth season in 1994 was marred by a shoulder injury and only netted him eight wins. Nomo was famous for his forkball which was unpredictable for hitters and catchers alike.