Scott Alexander Hairston (born May 25, 1980 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an outfielder for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball. Hairston bats and throws right-handed.

Hairston attended Canyon del Oro High School in the Tucson suburb of Oro Valley, Arizona and was a letterman in baseball. While there he was a teammate of current All Star second baseman Ian Kinsler. Hairston graduated in 1999.

He played college baseball at Central Arizona College, alongside future major leaguer Ian Kinsler.

Hairston was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the third round of the 2001 MLB Draft. He started at second base for part of his rookie season of 2004, but has played mostly a reserve role since then. On July 27, 2007, the D-backs traded him to the San Diego Padres.

During his first game as a San Diego Padres starter (August 3, 2007), Hairston hit two consecutive home runs. The first was a 3-run blast in the 8th inning that pushed the game against the Giants into extra innings and the second was a walk-off blast in the 10th inning. Hairston was placed into the game to substitute for Milton Bradley. The following day in his first at-bat, Hairston hit another home run, making it three home runs in three consecutive at-bats (just the 7th Padre to homer in 3 straight AB) and earning his nickname "Hairball". The first game was also the game in which Barry Bonds hit his 755th home run to tie the all-time record previously held by Hank Aaron.

Hiroki Kuroda (黒田 博樹, Kuroda Hiroki^?, born February 10, 1975) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball.

Kuroda was born and lived in Osaka (Osaka-shi, Osaka-fu). His father, Kazuhiro Kuroda, was also a professional baseball player who played for the Nankai Hawks. He attended Uenomiya High School in Osaka and Senshu University in Tokyo.

He joined the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in 1996 as a second-round draft pick. During his early career, he was overshadowed by the 1996 first-round draft pick, Toshikazu Sawazaki, who was the same age as Kuroda and won the Japanese Rookie of the Year award in 1997. However, Kuroda gradually built up his status to become a consistent part of the starting rotation while Sawazaki began to fade away. In 1999 he pitched in the International Cup held in Sydney, and marked a win against Korea and a complete-game shutout against Taiwan.

Kuroda won over 10 games for three consecutive years from 2001. In 2003 he became the opening-day starter, taking over for former ace Shinji Sasaoka. He pitched poorly at the beginning of the season, but improved after the all-star break to end the season with 13 wins. He marked two wins as a reliever in the 2004 Summer Olympics, contributing to the Japanese team's bronze medal. In 2005 he led the Central League with 15 wins, and won the Best Nine Award and the Golden Glove. He continued his success in 2006, ending the season with a league-leading 1.85 ERA to solidify his reputation as one of the best pitchers in Japan. The last Japanese starter to end the season with an ERA below 2.00 was Masaki Saito in 1989. He also made his first save that year on October 16 against the Chunichi Dragons, and led the league in complete games over a six-year period from 1999–2005.

Heath Justin Bell (born September 29, 1977) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball. After taking over the San Diego Padres closer role from Trevor Hoffman in 2009, Bell was named a three-time All-Star and has been awarded with the Rolaids Relief Man Award twice and has also won the DHL Delivery Man of the Year Award and The Sporting News Reliever of the Year Award. From 2010–2011, he successfully converted 41 straight save opportunities, tied for the sixth longest streak in MLB history.

Bell was born in Oceanside, California. He attended Columbus Tustin Middle School and Tustin High School in Tustin, California, which is about 50 miles (80 km) from Oceanside. He lettered in football, basketball, and baseball.

Bell attended Santiago Canyon College where he was named a freshman All-American in 1997. In 1997 Bell made two appearances in the National Baseball Congress world series while playing for the El Dorado Broncos. He did not give up any runs and was named the league's Graduate of the Year in 2011. He was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 69th round of the 1997 amateur draft.