Julio César Robles Franco (born August 23, 1958) is a former Major League Baseball infielder and designated hitter. In 2007, Franco was the oldest active player in the major leagues at the age of 49.

While Franco was an All-Star and posted above-average hitting statistics throughout his career, he is best known for being the oldest regular position player in Major League history. Franco was the all-time hits leader among Dominican-born players until surpassed in 2011 by Vladimir Guerrero. He made his debut on April 23, 1982, as a shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies. During his long career, Franco saw significant time as a shortstop, second baseman, first baseman, and designated hitter.

As his career started, Franco was part of a 1982 five-for-one trade between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cleveland Indians. The Phillies received highly regarded prospect, Von Hayes, in exchange for Manny Trillo, George Vukovich, Jay Baller, Jerry Willard, and Franco.

Franco hit over .300 in every season from 1986 to 1989. He also averaged over 20 stolen bases per season from 1983 through 1991. When he switched from shortstop to second baseman in 1988, he won four straight Silver Slugger Awards. Franco batted with a long whip-like swing with the heaviest bat allowed. Because of his batting style, Franco twice led the American League in grounding into double plays and was in the top-ten in that category seven times in the 1980s alone. He is seventh on the all-time list in ground-ball double plays and has just over 300.

Dan Le Batard (born December 16, 1968) is a Cuban-American newspaper sportswriter, radio host, and television reporter based out of Miami, Florida. He is best known for his work for his hometown paper, the Miami Herald, for whom he has worked since 1990. Since 2004, he has also hosted his own radio show, The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, on a local Miami radio station. He is a frequent contributor to several ESPN programs, serving as a regular replacement host for Pardon the Interruption when one of the regular hosts is out. In 2011, he began hosting the ESPN2 show Dan Le Batard is Highly Questionable with his father, Gonzalo Le Batard.

Le Batard graduated from the University of Miami in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and politics. During his college career, he was a sportswriter for the college newspaper, The Miami Hurricane. While at the University of Miami, he received criticism for helping to escalate the rancor in the UM versus University of Notre Dame rivalry by publishing Lou Holtz's personal phone number and by referring to coach Lou Holtz as Sir Lou, or Lou Sir (Loser). Dan requested his readers to call all through the week of the game to help distract the coach.

Tim Kurkjian (pronounced /ˈkɜrkdʒən/; born December 10, 1956 in Bethesda, Maryland) is a Major League Baseball analyst on ESPN's Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter. He is also a contributor to ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. He guests on Mike and Mike in the Morning on Thursdays at 7:44 AM, discussing the latest in happenings in Major League Baseball. He is of Armenian descent.

Kurkjian has an extensive background in covering baseball. His journalism career began with the Washington Star in 1978 following his graduation from the University of Maryland; he then worked briefly for the Baltimore News-American in 1981. He began covering baseball as the Texas Rangers beat writer for The Dallas Morning News where he worked from 1981 to 1985. Kurkjian then covered the Baltimore Orioles for the The Baltimore Sun beginning in 1986. He was a senior writer for Sports Illustrated from 1989–1997 as well as a reporter for CNN/SI from 1996–1997.

He authored his first book, America's Game, in 2000 and released his second book, Is This a Great Game, or What?: From A-Rod's Heart to Zim's Head—My 25 Years in Baseball in May 2007. He was the 1999 and 2007 Commencement speaker at his alma mater, Walter Johnson High School, the 2008 speaker at Seneca Valley High School, and also delivered the winter commencement speech at the University of Maryland on December 19, 2007.

Troy Trevor Tulowitzki (born October 10, 1984), nicknamed Tulo, is an American professional baseball shortstop with the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball.

Tulowitzki's arm, range and instincts at shortstop are highly regarded. Furthermore, his size, ability and leadership skills have garnered him comparisons to Cal Ripken, Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter.

Tulowitzki graduated from Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, California, alma mater of former Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth. He earned four varsity letters in baseball and two in basketball. He was twice named second team All-State in baseball, and was a 3-time team MVP. As a junior, Tulowitzki had a batting average of .536. He also went 15–1 on the mound. As a senior, he batted .519 with 24 home runs. In basketball, Tulowitzki won league MVP, and was second team All-State and team MVP, averaging 22.6 points per game during his senior year. He was named Fremont High Athlete of the Year in 2002.

A sure-handed starting shortstop for three seasons at California State University, Long Beach, Tulowitzki had a .962 career fielding percentage. Offensively, in 155 career games, he had a batting average of .310, with 20 homers, 117 RBIs, 37 doubles, and a .491 slugging percentage. He also accumulated 31 multi-hit games in his collegiate career. Baseball America rated him as having the top arm and as the best defensive shortstop in the Big West Conference. Tulowitzki was a two-time All-Big West selection (second team in 2003 and first team in 2004) and a two-time All-Regional Tournament selection, earning Most Outstanding Player (MOP) honors in 2004. In 2004 he was selected for the United States collegiate national team and helped lead Team USA to a gold medal in the World University Baseball Championship. He was drafted by the Colorado Rockies, with the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft.

Bryce Aron Max Harper (born October 16, 1992) is an American professional baseball outfielder with the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball. Harper was selected by the Nationals with the first overall pick in the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft. He stands at 6 feet 3 inches and weighs 225 lbs.

Harper won the 2010 Golden Spikes Award, awarded annually to the best amateur baseball player. Going into the 2012 season, baseball prospect-watchers, including Baseball America, MLB.com, and Baseball Prospectus routinely ranked Harper as a top #3 prospect. He made his MLB debut with the Nationals on April 28, 2012.

Harper earned his General Educational Development after his sophomore year at Las Vegas High School in December 2009, making him eligible for the June 2010 amateur draft in order to begin his professional baseball career earlier. For the 2010 college season, 17-year-old Harper enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada of the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) in National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). An advantage for Harper in his eventual transition to his professional career was that the SWAC, like MLB, uses wooden bats in conference play. In 66 games, he hit 31 home runs, 98 RBI, hitting .443/.526/.987 (AVG/OBP/SLG). His 31 home runs shattered the school's previous record of 12. He was named the 2010 SWAC Player of the Year. The next day, in a doubleheader, he went 2-for-5 with a three-run double in the first game, and in the second game went 6-for-6 with 4 home runs, a triple, and a double.