Dellin Betances (born March 23, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees.

At the age of 10, Betances was a Yankee fan who sat with the Bleacher Creatures for the perfect game of former Yankees pitcher David Wells in 1998. He credits his family taking him to Yankee games with his choosing baseball over basketball.

He attended Grand Street Campus School in Brooklyn, New York. In 2005, Betances was an Aflac All-American and played for the Team USA Junior National Team. Betances played baseball in the summer in the Youth Service League.

Betances was drafted in the eighth round of the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft. He received a $1 million signing bonus to forego his commitment to Vanderbilt University.

Betances was rated the Yankees' third best prospect for 2007, and their fifth best for 2009, according to Baseball America.

Betances spent 2007 with the Class-A Short Season Staten Island Yankees and 2008 with the Class A Charleston RiverDogs. In 2009, he pitched for the Tampa Yankees, the Yankees Class A-Advanced affiliate. Betances had surgery late in the 2009 season, which was erroneously reported as Tommy John surgery, but was instead a ligament reinforcement procedure.

Kobe Bean Bryant (born August 23, 1978) is an American professional basketball player who plays shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bryant enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Lower Merion High School, where he was recognized as the top high school basketball player in the country. He decided to declare his eligibility for the NBA Draft upon graduation, and was selected with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets, then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. As a rookie, Bryant earned himself a reputation as a high-flyer and a fan favorite by winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest.

Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. A heated feud between the duo and a loss in the 2004 NBA Finals was followed by O'Neal's trade from the Lakers after the 2003–04 season. Following O'Neal's departure Bryant became the cornerstone of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. He led the NBA in scoring during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, setting numerous scoring records in the process. In 2006, Bryant scored a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second most points scored in a single game in NBA history, second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962. He was awarded the regular season's Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) in 2008. After losing in the 2008 NBA Finals, Bryant led the Lakers to two consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010, earning the NBA Finals MVP Award on both occasions.

Carsten Charles "CC" Sabathia (born July 21, 1980) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). Upon signing with the Yankees prior to the 2009 season, Sabathia became the highest paid pitcher in MLB history.

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. Sabathia is regarded as one of the most durable pitchers in MLB, having easily amassed an average of over 200 innings pitched per season during his career.

Sabathia was born in Vallejo, California, and attended Vallejo High School, where he lettered in baseball, basketball, and football. As a teenager, Sabathia played summer baseball in the Major League Baseball youth program Rebuilding Baseball in Inner cities (RBI). In baseball, he compiled a win-loss record of 6–0 with an 0.77 earned run average (ERA) with 14 hits, and 82 strikeouts in 46 ²⁄₃ innings pitched during his senior season. Coming out of the draft he was the top high school prospect in Northern California according to Baseball America.