prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What league includes the operating group of Al Janoub Stadium?

The following are given passages.
Context 1: Passage 1:
Huntington Stadium
Huntington Stadium (formerly Ryedale Stadium) is the former stadium of English rugby league teams York Wasps, and York City Knights 

History
The stadium, which was financed by Ryedale District Council and was initially named the Ryedale Stadium, was completed in October 1989 York Wasps played their first ever match at the Huntington Stadium when they lost to Hull Kingston Rovers 36–26 in front of a crowd of 3,105 2009 saw the first ever game at the stadium live on Sky Sports  York were victorious as they beat Oldham 20–18 to go second in the Championship The 2014 season was announced as the final season for the York City Knights  They won the league and lifted the trophy at the final home league game against London Skolars  The final game at Huntington Stadium ended in a 32–24 defeat for the York City Knights by Hunslet Hawks in the Championship 1 Play Off Semi Final 

Demolition and Replacement
It had long been proposed that the Knights should share a new municipal stadium with York City F C  and it was announced in July 2010 that the preferred location would be the site of the current Huntington Stadium A community archaeology project was undertaken by York Archaeological Trust in 2015 to record the site of a Roman Marching Camp Site  The work of the local community project "Dig York Stadium" produced a historical record After the York Dig had concluded on 19 June 2015 it appeared that demolition of Huntington Stadium would be able to commence  However, the project faced more delays after a legal challenge to its planning application The new municipal stadium, known as York Community Stadium, opened in December 2020 
Passage 2:
2014–15 Oman Professional League
The 2014–15 Oman Professional League (known as the Omantel Professional League for sponsorship reasons) was the 39th edition of the top football league in Oman  The season began on 11 September 2014, and concluded on 28 May 2015  Al-Nahda Club were the defending champions, having won their third title in the previous 2013–14 season  On Saturday, 9 May 2015, Al-Oruba SC were crowned the champions of the 2014–15 Oman Professional League with three games to spare after Sur SC was held to a 2–2 draw by Al-Suwaiq Club at the Al-Seeb Stadium  Al-Oruba who had beaten Sohar SC, 1–0 on Friday took their tally to 48 points from 23 matches, gaining an unassailable lead of eight points ahead of second-placed Sur  Sur, which needed to win on Saturday to keep their title hopes alive, and settled for one point to take its tally to 40 points, helping the fierce rivals from Sur city to win their 4th domestic title 

Teams
This season the league has 14 teams  Majees SC and Al-Ittihad Club were relegated to the First Division League after finishing in the relegation zone in the 2013–14 season  Al-Nasr S C S C  however again managed to play in the top division as they won the Relegation/Promotion playoff against Al-Mudhaibi Club  The two relegated teams were replaced by First Division League winners Al-Khabourah SC, runners-up Bowsher Club 
The winner and the runner-up will qualify for the 2016 AFC Cup 

Stadiums and locations
Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order 

Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules  Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality 

Managerial changes
Foreign players
Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries  A team could use four foreign players on the field during each game including at least one player from the AFC country 

League table
Results
Clubs season-progress
Promotion/relegation play-off
As of 31 May 2015

1st leg
2nd leg
Sohar secured promotion after winning 2–1 on aggregate

Season statistics
As of 29 May 2015

Hat-tricks
OFA Awards
Oman Football Association awarded the following awards for the 2014–15 Oman Professional League season 
Top Scorer: Mechac Koffi (Al-Nasr)
Best Player: Eid Al-Farsi (Al-Oruba)
Most Promising Young Player: Mohammed Al-Najashi (Sur)
Best Goalkeeper: Riyadh Al-Alawi (Al-Oruba)
Best Coach: Philippe Burle (Al-Oruba)
Best Team Manager: Hussain Mustahil (Al-Nasr)
Fair Play Award: Al-Suwaiq

Media coverage
Controversies
The league was the subject of controversies like the refusal of Omani referees to officiate in the league matches and boycott of the Professional League by clubs 
Before the beginning of the 2014–15 season, nine top clubs of the Oman Professional League demanded the cancellation of the Professional League  It was reported that the presidents of the nine clubs (Al-Oruba, Dhofar, Al-Seeb, Al-Nahda, Fanja, Bowsher, Sohar, Al-Shabab and Sur) held a meeting in the head office of Sur SC on 7 June 2014 in order to discuss the experience of different clubs of the professional league  The statement released by the clubs after this meeting sparked a wave of controversy as all these nine clubs decided to hold a meeting with Sayyid Khalid Al-Busaidi, Chairman of the Oman Football Association and demand the cancellation of the 2014–15 season of the Oman Professional League  The reason given out was that the clubs were unable to meet the financial demands laid out by the association and also that the association failed to fulfill the promises made before the beginning of the pro-league system In a major embarrassment for the Oman Football Association (OFA), all its top-division referees boycotted the three-day opening round of the prestigious Omantel Professional League (OPL), which began on 11 September 2014, over a payment issue  This was the first ever instance in Oman of OFA-accredited referees boycotting top-flight domestic league matches over a stand-off  The referees refused to officiate in the opening-round matches on 11 September 2014, 12 September 2014 and 13 September 2014 over long-standing bonus payments from the OFA  The row over pending bonus payments for the referees had been brewing since the conclusion of the inaugural edition of OPL last season  The first round match between Sur SC and Al-Seeb Club was postponed from the scheduled time to another time and the match between Dhofar S C S C  and Al-Khaboora SC which was also scheduled to be held on 11 September was postponed to the next day because of the refusal of Omani referees to officiate in the league matches  The OFA, under the chairmanship of Sayyid Khalid al Busaidy, managed to defuse the crisis by requesting the UAE football body to send match officials to get the OPL started  UAE duly responded, sending 16 officials - eight referees and eight linesmen - who officiated in the seven opening-round matches that went ahead as scheduled from Thursday to Saturday at various venues in Oman On 11 December 2014, defending champions Al-Nahda failed to turn up against Dhofar in an OPL match at the Al-Saada Stadium in Salalah; the Oman Professional League's Disciplinary Committee handed the result of the abandoned match in favour of Dhofar (3-0) and docked Al-Nahda a total of nine points - three for skipping the 11 December fixture and six more as penalty On 11 February 2015, 4 (Al-Musannah, Al-Seeb, Bowsher and Fanja) out of the 14 clubs participating in the 2014–15 Oman Professional League along with 8 other Omani clubs decided to go ahead with their demand for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) with the aim of introducing a no-confidence motion against the association's  board members On 7 March 2015, 10 out of 39 clubs attending a consultative meeting of the OFA walked out in protest midway into the proceedings  walkout was triggered by the OFA's decision to call off an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), which was originally scheduled for 7 March 2015  However, the OFA which had previously agreed for an EGM, on 6 March 2015 shelved the summit, citing a letter from the FIFA, football's world governing body  On the very next day, the OFA cancelled the membership of 11 clubs (Ahli Sidab, Al-Ittifaq, Al-Kamel Wa Al-Wafi, Al-Musannah, Al-Seeb, Bowsher, Dhofar, Fanja, Ibri, Ja'lan and Nizwa) for illegally withdrawing from the consultative meeting conducted by the OFA 

See also
Passage 3:
Bassel al-Assad Stadium (Homs)
Bassel al-Assad Stadium (Arabic: ملعب باسل الأسد) is a multi-use stadium located in the Baba Amr district in the city of Homs, Syria  It was opened in 2000, and is mostly used for football matches and serves as a second venue for the football clubs of Al-Karamah SC and Al-Wathba SC  Located in the Baba Amr district of the city, the stadium is able to hold up to 25,000 spectators  It was renovated in 2010 During the Syrian Civil War, Baba Amr was the epicentre of fighting in the 2012 Homs offensive  As a result, the stadium  was heavily damaged and the playing surface was entirely deteriorated  However, the stadium was renovated during 2016 and a new turf was installed 

See also
List of football stadiums in Syria
Passage 4:
Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium
The Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani Stadium (Arabic: ملعب سعود بن عبدالرحمن), also known as Al-Wakrah SC Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar  It is currently used mostly for football matches  It is the home venue of Al-Wakrah Sports Club  The stadium has a capacity of 12,000 seats A new stadium named Al Janoub Stadium is being built in the vicinity in time for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and will be used as Al-Wakrah Sports Club’s home, after the world cup During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the site was used as the training base for England 
Passage 5:
Al Kharaitiyat SC
Al Kharaitiyat Sport Club (Arabic: نادي الخريطيات) is a Qatari sports club based in the town of Al Kharaitiyat, best known for its football team of the Qatari Second Division  They won promotion 
in 2004 and played in the Qatari Stars League the following season  However, they were relegated the following season  They once again regained their position in the top flight in the 2008–09 season 

History
Al Kharaitiyat is among the newest sports clubs in Qatar, having been formed in 1996 as Al-Hilal  Among the founders were:

Upon its formation, it was entered into the Qatari Second Division  After winning the second division title in 2004, they earned a spot in the top tier, the Qatar Stars League  Shortly after, the club was renamed to its current name, Al Kharaitiyat, on 19 October 2004 by a decision of the vice-president of the Qatar Olympic Committee in order to better represent the district it is located in  The team was relegated from the Stars League in the 2004–05 season after a 3–3 draw with Al Ahli on 6 April, 2005 with two matches left to play in the season In 2008 the team was once again promoted to the Stars League 

Supporters
A fan club was established in 2008 after the team won promotion to the Qatar Stars League 

Stadium history
Honours
Domestic
Qatari Second Division
Winners (2): 2004, 2020
Qatari Stars Cup
Runners-up (1): 2012

Current squad
As of Qatari Second Division:

Personnel
Club staff
Last updated 11 November 2018 

Management
Managerial history
Last updated 20 May 2021 

Notes
Note 1: Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani served as the first president of the club 
Passage 6:
Hassan Abyan
Hassan (Arabic: حسان) is a Yemeni football team currently playing in the Yemeni League, where they finished in 2nd place in the 2007 competition  It is based in Abyan   Their home stadium is Al-Shohada'a Stadium 
Passage 7:
San Diego Spirit
The San Diego Spirit was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association  The team played at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego in San Diego, California  The team began play in 2001  The league announced on September 15, 2003, it was suspending operations 
The founding members of the Spirit were Julie Foudy, Shannon MacMillan and Joy Fawcett  The team reached the playoffs in the 2003 season, losing to the Atlanta Beat in the semifinals  Other notable members of the Spirit included Scotland's Julie Fleeting, Brazil's Daniela and Canada's Christine Latham, as well as U S  national team players Jenni Branam, Aly Wagner and Shannon Boxx 

Year-by-year
Players
The "founding players" of the Spirit were Julie Foudy, Shannon MacMillan and Joy Fawcett of the 1999 U S  Women's World Cup team 2003 Roster 
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules  Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality 

Coach: Omid Namazi

Coaches
Carlos Juarez (2001-2002)
Kevin Crow (2002)
Omid Namazi (2003)

League suspension
The WUSA announced on September 15, 2003, that it was suspending operations 

See also
List of soccer clubs in the United States
Women's association football
Passage 8:
Al Karkh Stadium
Al-Saher Ahmed Radhi Stadium (Arabic: ملعب الساحر احمد راضي, lit  'Magician Ahmed Radhi Stadium') is a multi-use stadium in Baghdad, Iraq  It is used mostly for football matches and serves as the home stadium of Al-Karkh  The stadium holds 5,150 people 
The stadium was originally called Al-Mansour Local Administration Stadium and was renamed Al-Rasheed Stadium when Al-Rasheed SC took over the ground in 1984  It became known as  Al-Karkh Stadium after Al-Karkh replaced the dissolved Al-Rasheed in the top division in 1990 
In June 2020, following the death of former Al-Rasheed player Ahmed Radhi, the stadium was renamed Al-Saher Ahmed Radhi Stadium 

Gallery
See also
List of football stadiums in Iraq
Passage 9:
Mohammed Muddather
Mohmad Mdether Driss Rajeb (born 13 April 1988) is a Sudanese born-Qatari footballer who plays for Qatari club Al-Sailiya in the Qatar Stars League 

Club career
Rajeb started his career with Al-Ahly Shendi in Sudan and joined in the spring of 2007 to Qatar Stars League club Al-Wakrah  In December 2011 left Al-Wakrah and joined to Qatar Stars League rival Lekhwiya SC  From 2013 to 2016 he played for Al-Arabi SC  In August 2016, he joined Al-Sailiya SC 
Passage 10:
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization  One of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, MLB comprises 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada  Formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903, making MLB the oldest major professional sports league in the world  They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball  MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan Baseball's first all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was founded in 1869  The first few decades of professional baseball saw rivalries between leagues, and players often jumped from one team or league to another  The period before 1920 was the dead-ball era, when home runs were rarely hit  Professional baseball survived the Black Sox Scandal, a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, then rose in popularity in the following decade  It survived the Great Depression and World War II  Shortly after the war, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier 
The 1950s and 1960s saw the AL and NL add clubs; some moved around the country  Modern stadiums with artificial turf surfaces began to change the game in the 1970s and 1980s  Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s  In the mid-2000s, media reports disclosed the use of anabolic steroids among MLB players; a 2006-07 investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which found that many players had used steroids and other performance-enhancing substances, including at least one player from each team 
Each team plays 162 games per season, and six teams in each league advance to a four-round postseason tournament that culminates in the World Series, a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions first played in 1903  The New York Yankees have the most championships with 27  The defending champions are the Houston Astros, who defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 World Series 
MLB is the second-wealthiest professional sport league by revenue after the National Football League (NFL)  Baseball games are broadcast on television, radio, and the internet throughout North America and in several other countries  MLB has the highest total season attendance of any sports league in the world; in 2018, it drew more than 69 6 million spectators MLB also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises lower-tier teams affiliated with the major league clubs  MLB and the World Baseball Softball Confederation jointly manage the international World Baseball Classic tournament 

Organizational structure
MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution  This document has undergone several incarnations since its creation in 1876  Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts  MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball  This is due in large part to the 1922 U S  Supreme Court ruling in Federal Baseball Club v  National League, which held that baseball is not interstate commerce and therefore not subject to federal antitrust law; MLB is the only league that has such a status, and has not faced any competition since this case  This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years  The weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates  There were several challenges to MLB's primacy in the sport, with notable attempts to establish competing leagues occurring during the late 1800s, from 1913 to 1915 with the short-lived Federal League, and in 1960 with the aborted Continental League The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, currently Rob Manfred  The deputy commissioner of baseball administration and chief legal officer is currently Dan Halem  There are seven other executives: executive vice president and general counsel, chief operations and strategy officer, chief communications officer, chief financial officer and senior advisor, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, chief revenue officer, and chief baseball development officer The multimedia branch of MLB is MLB Advanced Media, which is based in New York City  This branch oversees MLB com and each of the 30 teams' websites  Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, but it is under the same ownership group and revenue-sharing plan  MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media  MLB also owns 67 percent of MLB Network, with the other 33 percent split between several cable operators and satellite provider DirecTV  It operates out of studios in Secaucus, New Jersey, and also has editorial independence from the league 

League organization
In 1920, the weak National Commission, which had been created to manage relationships between the two leagues, was replaced with the much more powerful Commissioner of Baseball, who had the power to make decisions for all of professional baseball unilaterally  From 1901 to 1960, the American and National Leagues fielded eight teams apiece 
In the 1960s, MLB expansion added eight teams, including the first non-U S  team (the Montreal Expos)  Two teams (the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays) were also added in the 1970s  From 1969 through 1993, each league consisted of an East and West Division  In 1993, the National League expanded with two teams, the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies, to even up the number of teams in both leagues  A third division, the Central Division, was formed in each league in 1994  Until 1996, the two leagues met on the field only during the World Series and the All-Star Game  Regular-season interleague play was introduced in 1997 In March 1995, two new franchises, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now known as the Tampa Bay Rays), were awarded by MLB, which began play in 1998  This addition brought the total number of franchises to 30  In early 1997, MLB decided to assign one new team to each league: Tampa Bay joined the AL and Arizona joined the NL  The original plan was to have an odd number of teams in each league (15 per league, with five in each division), but in order for every team to be able to play daily, this would have required interleague play to be scheduled throughout the entire season  However, it was unclear at the time if the interleague play would continue after the 1998 season, as it had to be approved by the players' union  For this and other reasons, it was decided that both leagues should continue to have an even number of teams, and therefore, one existing club would have to switch leagues  The Milwaukee Brewers agreed in November 1997 to move from the AL to the NL, thereby making the NL a 16-team league  At the same time, the Detroit Tigers agreed to move from the AL East to the AL Central (to replace Milwaukee), with the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays joining the AL East  Later, when the Houston Astros changed ownership prior to the 2013 season, the team moved from the NL Central to the AL West, resulting in both leagues having three divisions of five teams each and allowing all teams to have a more balanced schedule  Interleague play is now held throughout the season In 2000, the AL and NL were dissolved as legal entities, and MLB became a single, overall league de jure, similar to the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL)—albeit with two components called "leagues" instead of "conferences"  The same rules and regulations are used in both leagues, with one former exception: the AL operated under the designated hitter (DH) rule, while the NL did not  This difference in rules between leagues was unique to MLB, as the other major professional sports leagues in the U S  and Canada have one set of rules for all teams In 2020, the National League (NL) used the designated hitter (DH) rule for the first time  As part of the settlement of the 2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout, this change was made permanent thus making the rules in the two leagues identical 

Teams
An asterisk (*) denotes a relocation of a franchise  See respective team articles for more information 

History
Founding
In the 1860s, aided by soldiers playing the game in camp during the Civil War, "New York"-style baseball expanded into a national game and spawned baseball's first governing body, the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP)  The NABBP existed as an amateur league for 12 years  By 1867, more than 400 clubs were members  Most of the strongest clubs remained those based in the Northeastern United States  For professional baseball's founding year, MLB uses the year 1869—when the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was established A schism developed between professional and amateur ballplayers after the founding of the Cincinnati club  The NABBP split into an amateur organization and a professional organization  The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, often known as the National Association (NA), was formed in 1871  Its amateur counterpart disappeared after only a few years  The modern Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves franchises trace their histories back to the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in the 1870s In 1876, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (later known as the National League or NL) was established after the NA proved ineffective  The league placed its emphasis on clubs rather than on players  Clubs could now enforce player contracts, preventing players from jumping to higher-paying clubs  Clubs were required to play the full schedule of games instead of forfeiting scheduled games when the club was no longer in the running for the league championship, which happened frequently under the NA  A concerted effort was made to curb gambling on games, which was leaving the validity of results in doubt  The first game in the NL—on Saturday, April 22, 1876 (at Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia)—is often pointed to as the beginning of MLB 

The early years of the NL were tumultuous, with threats from rival leagues and a rebellion by players against the hated "reserve clause", which restricted the free movement of players between clubs  Teams came and went; 1882 was the first season where the league's membership was the same as the preceding season's, and only four franchises survived to see 1900  Competitor leagues formed regularly and also disbanded regularly  The most successful was the American Association (1882–1891), sometimes called the "beer and whiskey league" for its tolerance of the sale of alcoholic beverages to spectators  For several years, the NL and American Association champions met in a postseason championship series—the first attempt at a World Series  The two leagues merged in 1892 as a single 12-team NL, but the NL dropped four teams after the 1899 season  This led to the formation of the American League in 1901 under AL president Ban Johnson, and the resulting bidding war for players led to widespread contract-breaking and legal disputes The war between the AL and NL caused shock waves throughout the baseball world  At a meeting at the Leland Hotel in Chicago in 1901, the other baseball leagues negotiated a plan to maintain their independence  A new National Association was formed to oversee these minor leagues After 1902, the NL, AL, and NA signed a new National Agreement which tied independent contracts to the reserve-clause contracts  The agreement also set up a formal classification system for minor leagues, the forerunner of today's system that was refined by Branch Rickey 

Other recognized leagues
Several other early defunct baseball leagues are officially considered major leagues, and their statistics and records are included with those of the two current major leagues  In 1969, the Special Baseball Records Committee of Major League Baseball officially recognized six major leagues: the National League, American League, American Association, Union Association (1884), Players' League (1890), and Federal League (1914–1915)  The status of the National Association as a major league has been a point of dispute among baseball researchers; while its statistics are not recognized by Major League Baseball, its statistics are included with those of other major leagues by some baseball reference websites, such as Retrosheet  Some researchers, including Nate Silver, dispute the major-league status of the Union Association by pointing out that franchises came and went and that the St  Louis club was deliberately "stacked"; the St  Louis club was owned by the league's president and it was the only club that was close to major-league caliber  In December 2020, Major League Baseball announced its recognition of seven leagues within Negro league baseball as major leagues, and in 2021, baseball reference website Baseball-Reference com began to include statistics from those seven leagues into their major-league statistics 

Dead-ball era
The period between 1900 and 1919 is commonly referred to as the "dead-ball era"  Games of this era tended to be low-scoring and were often dominated by pitchers, such as Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Mordecai Brown, and Grover Cleveland Alexander  The term also accurately describes the condition of the baseball itself  The baseball used American rather than the modern Australian wool yarn and was not wound as tightly, affecting the distance that it would travel  More significantly, balls were kept in play until they were mangled, soft and sometimes lopsided  During this era, a baseball cost three dollars, equal to $50 64 today (in inflation-adjusted USD), and owners were reluctant to purchase new balls  Fans were expected to throw back fouls and (rare) home runs  Baseballs also became stained with tobacco juice, grass, and mud, and sometimes the juice of licorice, which some players would chew for the purpose of discoloring the ball Also, pitchers could manipulate the ball through the use of the spitball  (In 1921 use of this pitch was restricted to a few pitchers with a grandfather clause ) Additionally, many ballparks had large dimensions, such as the West Side Grounds of the Chicago Cubs, which was 560 feet (170 m) to the center field fence, and the Huntington Avenue Grounds of the Boston Red Sox, which was 635 feet (194 m) to the center field fence, thus home runs were rare, and "small ball" tactics such as singles, bunts, stolen bases, and the hit-and-run play dominated the strategies of the time  Hitting methods like the Baltimore Chop were used to increase the number of infield singles  On a successful Baltimore chop, the batter hits the ball forcefully into the ground, causing it to bounce so high that the batter reaches first base before the ball can be fielded and thrown to the first baseman The adoption of the foul strike rule in the early twentieth century quickly sent baseball from a high-scoring game to one where scoring runs became a struggle  Prior to the institution of this rule, foul balls were not counted as strikes: a batter could foul off any number of pitches with no strikes counted against him; this gave an enormous advantage to the batter  In 1901, the NL adopted the foul strike rule, and the AL followed suit in 1903 After the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds, baseball was rocked by allegations of a game fixing scheme known as the Black Sox Scandal  Eight players—"Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, Claude "Lefty" Williams, George "Buck" Weaver, Arnold "Chick" Gandil, Fred McMullin, Charles "Swede" Risberg, and Oscar "Happy" Felsch—intentionally lost the World Series in exchange for a ring worth $100,000 ($1,712,780 35 in 2022 dollars)  Despite being acquitted, all were permanently banned from Major League Baseball 

Rise in popularity
Baseball's popularity increased in the 1920s and 1930s  The 1920 season was notable for the death of Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians  Chapman, who was struck in the head by a pitch and died a few hours later, became the only MLB player to die of an on-field injury, a tragedy which led directly to both leagues requiring the placing into play new, white baseballs whenever a ball became scuffed or dirty, helping bring the "dead-ball" era to an end  The following year, the New York Yankees made their first World Series appearance  By the end of the 1930s, the team had appeared in 11 World Series, winning eight of them  Yankees slugger Babe Ruth had set the single-season home run record in 1927, hitting 60 home runs; a few years earlier, Ruth had set the same record with 29 home runs Affected by the difficulties of the Great Depression, baseball's popularity had begun a downward turn in the early 1930s  By 1932, only two MLB teams turned a profit  Attendance had fallen, due at least in part to a 10% federal amusement tax added to baseball ticket prices  Baseball owners cut their rosters from 25 men to 23 men, and even the best players took pay cuts  Team executives were innovative in their attempts to survive, creating night games, broadcasting games live by radio, and rolling out promotions such as free admission for women  Throughout the period of the Great Depression, no MLB teams moved or folded 

World War II era
The onset of World War II created a significant shortage of professional baseball players, as more than 500 men left MLB teams to serve in the military  Many of them played on service baseball teams that entertained military personnel in the US or in the Pacific  MLB teams of this time largely consisted of young men, older players, and those with a military classification of 4F, indicating mental, physical, or moral unsuitability for service  Men like Pete Gray, a one-armed outfielder, got the chance to advance to the major leagues  However, MLB rosters did not include any black players through the end of the war  Black players, many of whom served in the war, were still restricted to playing Negro league baseball Wartime blackout restrictions, designed to keep outdoor lighting at low levels, caused another problem for baseball  These rules limited traveling and night games to the point that the 1942 season nearly had to be canceled  On January 14, 1942, MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis wrote a letter to U S  President Franklin D  Roosevelt and pleaded for the continuation of baseball during the war in hopes for a start of a new major league season  President Roosevelt responded, "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going  There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before  And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before "With the approval of President Roosevelt, spring training began in 1942 with few repercussions  The war interrupted the careers of stars including Stan Musial, Bob Feller, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio, but baseball clubs continued to field their teams 

Breaking the color barrier
Branch Rickey, president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, began making efforts to introduce a black baseball player to the previously all-white professional baseball leagues in the mid-1940s  He selected Jackie Robinson from a list of promising Negro league players  After obtaining a commitment from Robinson to "turn the other cheek" to any racial antagonism directed at him, Rickey agreed to sign him to a contract for $600 a month  In what was later referred to as "The Noble Experiment", Robinson was the first black baseball player in the International League since the 1880s, joining the Dodgers' farm club, the Montreal Royals, for the 1946 season The following year, the Dodgers called up Robinson to the major leagues  On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than 14,000 black patrons  Black baseball fans began flocking to see the Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning the Negro league teams that they had followed exclusively  Robinson's promotion met a generally positive, although mixed, reception among newspaper writers and white major league players  Manager Leo Durocher informed his team, "I don't care if he is yellow or black or has stripes like a fucking zebra  I'm his manager and I say he plays "After a strike threat by some players, NL President Ford Frick and Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler let it be known that any striking players would be suspended  Robinson received significant encouragement from several major-league players, including Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese who said, "You can hate a man for many reasons  Color is not one of them " That year, Robinson won the inaugural Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award (separate NL and AL Rookie of the Year honors were not awarded until 1949) Less than three months later, Larry Doby became the first African-American to break the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians  The next year, a number of other black players entered the major leagues  Satchel Paige was signed by the Indians and the Dodgers added star catcher Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe, who was later the first winner of the Cy Young Award for his outstanding pitching 

Women in baseball
MLB banned the signing of women to contracts in 1952, but that ban was lifted in 1992  There have been no female MLB players 

Relocation and expansion
From 1903 to 1953, the major leagues consisted of two eight-team leagues whose 16 teams were located in ten cities, all in the northeastern and midwestern United States: New York City had three teams and Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and St  Louis each had two teams  St  Louis was the southernmost and westernmost city with a major league team  The longest possible road trip, from Boston to St  Louis, took about 24 hours by railroad  After a half-century of stability, starting in the 1950s, teams began to move out of cities with multiple teams into cities that had not had them before  In three consecutive years from 1953 to 1955, three teams moved to new cities: the Boston Braves became the Milwaukee Braves, the St  Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles, and the Philadelphia Athletics became the Kansas City Athletics 
The 1958 Major League Baseball season was perhaps the pivotal season in making Major League Baseball a nationwide league  Walter O'Malley, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, moved his team to Los Angeles, marking the first major league franchise on the West Coast  Called "perhaps the most influential owner of baseball's early expansion era," O'Malley appeared on the cover of Time as a result of his efforts to move baseball to a more nationwide sport O'Malley was also influential in persuading the rival New York Giants to move west to become the San Francisco Giants  The Giants were already suffering from slumping attendance records at their aging ballpark, the Polo Grounds  Had the Dodgers moved out west alone, the St  Louis Cardinals—1,600 mi (2,575 km) away—would have been the closest NL team  The joint move made West Coast road trips economical for visiting teams  O'Malley invited San Francisco Mayor George Christopher to New York to meet with Giants owner Horace Stoneham  Stoneham was considering moving the Giants to Minnesota, but he was convinced to join O'Malley on the West Coast at the end of 1957  The meetings between Stoneham, Christopher and O'Malley occurred against the wishes of Ford Frick, the Commissioner of Baseball  The dual moves were successful for both franchises—and for MLB  The Dodgers set a single-game MLB attendance record in their first home appearance with 78,672 fans In 1961, the first Washington Senators franchise moved to Minneapolis–St  Paul to become the Minnesota Twins  Two new teams were added to the American League at the same time: the Los Angeles Angels (who soon moved from downtown L A  to nearby Anaheim) and a new Washington Senators franchise  The NL added the Houston Astros and the New York Mets in 1962  The Astros (known as the "Colt  45s" during their first three seasons) became the first southern major league franchise since the Louisville Colonels folded in 1899 and the first franchise to be located along the Gulf Coast  The Mets established a reputation for futility by going 40–120 during their first season of play in the nation's media capital—and by playing only a little better in subsequent campaigns—but in their eighth season (1969) the Mets became the first of the 1960s expansion teams to play in the postseason, culminating in a World Series title over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles 
In 1966, the major leagues moved to the "Deep South" when the Braves moved to Atlanta  In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics moved west to become the Oakland Athletics  In 1969, the American and National Leagues both added two expansion franchises  The American League added the Seattle Pilots (who became the Milwaukee Brewers after one disastrous season in Seattle) and the Kansas City Royals  The NL added the first Canadian franchise, the Montreal Expos, as well as the San Diego Padres 
In 1972, the second Washington Senators moved to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to become the Texas Rangers  In 1977, baseball expanded again, adding a second Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays, as well as the Seattle Mariners  Subsequently, no new teams were added until the 1990s and no teams moved until 2005 

Pitching dominance and rule changes
By the late 1960s, the balance between pitching and hitting had swung in favor of the pitchers  In 1968—later nicknamed "the year of the pitcher"—Boston Red Sox player Carl Yastrzemski won the American League batting title with an average of just  301, the lowest in the history of Major League Baseball  Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain won 31 games, making him the only pitcher to win 30 games in a season since Dizzy Dean in 1934  St  Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Bob Gibson achieved an equally remarkable feat by allowing an ERA of just 1 12 Following these pitching performances, in December 1968 the MLB Playing Rules Committee voted to reduce the strike zone from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits and lower the pitcher's mound from 15 to 10 inches, beginning in the 1969 season In 1973, the American League, which had been suffering from much lower attendance than the National League, sought to increase scoring even further by initiating the designated hitter (DH) rule 

New stadiums and artificial surfaces
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, as baseball expanded, NFL football had been surging in popularity, making it economical for many of these cities to build multi-purpose stadiums instead of single-purpose baseball fields  Because of climate and economic issues, many of these facilities had playing surfaces made from artificial turf, as well as the oval designs characteristic of stadiums designed to house both baseball and football  This often resulted in baseball fields with relatively more foul territory than older stadiums  These characteristics changed the nature of professional baseball, putting a higher premium on speed and defense over home-run hitting power since the fields were often too big for teams to expect to hit many home runs and foul balls hit in the air could more easily be caught for outs Teams began to be built around pitching—particularly their bullpens—and speed on the basepaths  Artificial surfaces meant balls traveled quicker and bounced higher, so it became easier to hit ground balls "in the hole" between the corner and middle infielders  Starting pitchers were no longer expected to throw complete games; it was enough for a starter to pitch 6–7 innings and turn the game over to the team's closer, a position which grew in importance over these decades  As stolen bases increased, home run totals dropped  After Willie Mays hit 52 home runs in 1965, only one player (George Foster) reached that mark until the 1990s 

Scandals and a changing game
During the 1980s, baseball experienced a number of significant changes the game had not seen in years  Home runs were on the decline throughout the decade, with players hitting only 40 home runs just 13 times and no one hitting more than 50 home runs in a season for the first time since the Dead-ball era (1900–1919) The 1981 Major League Baseball strike from June 12 until July 31 forced the cancellation of 713 total games and resulted in a split-season format 
In 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's all-time hits record with his 4,192nd hit, and in 1989 Rose received a lifetime ban from baseball as a result of betting on baseball games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds  Rose was the first person to receive a lifetime ban from baseball since 1943  1985 also saw the Pittsburgh drug trials which involved players who were called to testify before a grand jury in Pittsburgh related to cocaine trafficking 
The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike from August 12, 1994, to April 25, 1995, caused the cancellation of over 900 games and the forfeit of the entire 1994 postseason In 2019, Major League Baseball opened an investigation into allegations that members of the 2017 World Series champion Houston Astros stole signs from opposing teams using technology during the 2017 and 2018 seasons  The Astros were found guilty in January 2020 and while no active players faced any repercussions, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager A  J  Hinch were suspended for the entire 2020 season  The Astros were fined the maximum allowable $5 million and forfeited their first- and second-round picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts 

Steroid era, further expansion and near contraction
Routinely in the late 1990s and early 2000s, baseball players hit 40 or 50 home runs in a season, a feat that was considered rare even in the 1980s  It has since become apparent that at least some of this power surge was a result of players using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs 
In 1993, the NL added the Florida Marlins in Miami and the Colorado Rockies in Denver  In 1998, the Brewers switched leagues by joining the National League, and two new teams were added: the NL's Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix and the AL's Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tampa Bay 
After the 2001 season, the team owners voted in favor of contraction  Several MLB teams had been considered for elimination in early talks about contraction, but the Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins were the two teams that came closest to folding under the plan  Plans for MLB contraction were halted when the Twins landlord was awarded a court injunction that required the team to play its 2002 home games at their stadium  MLB owners agreed to hold off on reducing the league's size until at least 2006 The Montreal Expos became the first franchise in over three decades to move when they became the Washington Nationals in 2005  This move left Canada with just one team, but it also returned baseball to Washington after a 33-year absence  This franchise shift, like many previous ones, involved baseball's return to a city that had been previously abandoned  Not counting the short-lived Federal League, Montreal is the only city to host an MLB franchise since 1901 that, as of December 2022, does not currently have a team 

The modern game
In recent years, with the advent of technologies such as Statcast and its use of Hawk-Eye starting in 2020 as well as with advanced statistics as provided by sites such as FanGraphs and Baseball Savant, MLB has evolved  With the ability to see precise movements of pitchers and batters, teams can assess the mechanics of a player and help them improve  Statcast also provides some features such as tracking the paths of most batted balls, tracking the speed of most batted balls, and tracking the exit velocity of most batted balls  Statcast has allowed for advanced defensive analytics that have not been possible before tracking of players due to how subjective fielding can be 
The rate of teams using a defensive shift has gone up from 13 7% in 2016 to 33 6% in 2022 because advanced statistics support this as an effective way to stop hitters from getting hits  Because the shift reduces the amount of balls in play that result in hits and MLB wishes to increase interest in baseball, MLB announced in September 2022 that extreme infield defensive shifts would be banned starting in 2023  In order to be compliant, there must be two fielders on each side of second base, and those fielders must have both of their feet on the infield dirt at the time the pitch is thrown  If this rule is not followed, the choice of an automatic ball or the outcome of the play is given to the batting team The game of baseball has also slowed down significantly due to an increased number of strikeouts and walks—two outcomes that generally take many pitches to complete—and an increased amount of time taken for a pitcher to pitch  In 2020, it took an average of three hours and six minutes to complete a 9 inning game, a number which has steadily ticked up for years  Along with the restrictions on defensive shifts, MLB announced the introduction of a pitch clock for the 2023 season and beyond, which is something that has been an experiment in MiLB for a few years  The pitch clock starts at 15 seconds  By the time the clock reaches 10 seconds, the catcher must be in their crouch behind home plate  When the clock reaches 8 seconds, the batter must be in the batter's box and be "alert"  Before the 15 second timer reaches 0 seconds, the pitcher must have started their "motion to pitch"  If any of these deadlines are violated, the count of the batter will be increased by one ball if the defending team violated the pitch clock or one strike if it is the offensive team who violated the pitch clock  Additionally, in order to prevent circumventing these rules pickoffs and step-offs which reset the pitch clock are only allowed two times total per plate appearance and, if a pitcher attempts a third pickoff and fails to get the runner out, a balk will be called  Similarly, a batter is restricted to calling a timeout (an action which resets the pitch clock) just once per plate appearance 

Uniforms
A baseball uniform is a type of uniform worn by baseball players, and by some non-playing personnel, such as field managers and coaches  It is worn to indicate the person's role in the game and—through the use of logos, colors, and numbers—to identify the teams and their players, managers, and coaches Traditionally, home uniforms display the team name on the front, while away uniforms display the team's home location  In modern times, however, exceptions to this pattern have become common, with teams using their team name on both uniforms  Most teams also have one or more alternate uniforms, usually consisting of the primary or secondary team color on the vest instead of the usual white or gray  In the past few decades throwback uniforms have become popular The New York Knickerbockers were the first baseball team to use uniforms, taking the field on April 4, 1849, in pants made of blue wool, white flannel shirts (jerseys) and straw hats  Caps and other types of headgear have been a part of baseball uniforms from the beginning  Baseball teams often wore full-brimmed straw hats or no cap at all since there was no official rule regarding headgear  Under the 1882 uniform rules, players on the same team wore uniforms of different colors and patterns that indicated which position they played  This rule was soon abandoned as impractical In the late 1880s, Detroit and Washington of the National League and Brooklyn of the American Association were the first to wear striped uniforms  By the end of the 19th century, teams began the practice of having two different uniforms, one for when they played at home in their own baseball stadium and a different one for when they played away (on the road) at the other team's ballpark  It became common to wear white pants with a white color vest at home and gray pants with a gray or solid (dark) colored vest when away  By 1900, both home and away uniforms were standard across the major leagues In June 2021, MLB announced a long-term deal with cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which includes the FTX logo appearing on umpire uniforms during all games  FTX is MLB's first-ever umpire uniform patch partner  On November 11, 2022, FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 

Season structure
Spring training
Spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season  Teams hold training camps in the states of Arizona and Florida, where the early warm weather allows teams to practice and play without worrying about the late winter cold  Spring training allows new players to compete for roster and position spots and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play  The teams that hold spring training in Arizona are grouped into the Cactus League, while teams that hold camp in Florida are known as the Grapefruit League  Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warmer climates to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play, and spring training usually coincides with spring break for many college students  Autograph seekers also find greater access to players during spring training Spring training typically lasts almost two months, starting in mid-February and running until just before the season-opening day, traditionally the first week of April  As pitchers benefit from a longer training period, pitchers and catchers begin spring training several days before the rest of the team 

Regular season
Each team plays 162 games per season  A team's schedule is typically organized into three-game series, sets of consecutive games against the same opponent, with occasional two- or four-game series  Postponed games or continuations of suspended games can result in an ad hoc one-game or five-game series  All games of a series are usually hosted by the same team and multiple series are typically grouped together  I e, a team usually hosts several series in a row, called a homestand, and follows that by going on several road series in a row  Teams generally play games five to seven days per week  Most games are scheduled at night, although teams will often play day games on Opening Day, holidays, and for the last game of a series to allow teams extra time to travel to their next opponent  Sunday games are generally played during the afternoon, allowing teams to travel to their next destination prior to a Monday night game 
In the current three-division structure, each team plays 19 games against each of its four divisional opponents  It plays one home series and one away series, amounting to six or seven games, against the 10 other teams in its league  A team also plays one of the divisions in the other league, rotating each year, with two opponents in a three-game home series, two in a three-game away series, and one with four games split between home and away  Furthermore, each team has an interleague "natural rival" (in many cases its counterpart in the same metro area) with which it plays two home games and two away games each year 
With an odd number of teams in each league (15), it is necessary to have two teams participate in interleague play for most days in the season, except when two or more teams have a day off  Each team plays 20 interleague games throughout the season, usually with just one interleague game per day, but for one weekend in late May, all teams will participate in an interleague series  Before 2013, interleague play was structured differently: there would be one weekend in mid-May and another period consisting typically of the last two-thirds of June in which all teams played interleague games (save for two NL teams each day), and no interleague games were scheduled outside those dates  (Before 2013, season-long interleague play was not necessary, because each league had an even number of teams  In 2013, the Houston Astros moved to the American League, so that each league would have 15 teams ) Prior to the adoption of the universal designated hitter in 2022, whether the DH was in use depended on whether the home team was from the AL, where the DH was used, or the NL, where it was not 
Starting with the 2023 season, the scheduling formula is set to change, with each team playing at least one series against every other team every year  Each team will play 14 games against teams in the same division, with one 3-game and one 4-game series at each park, six games against teams within the same league but in other divisions, with one 3-game series at each park, and one 3-game series against teams in the other league, alternating home teams each year, except for each team's designated interleague rival, which will continue to consist of two 2-game series at each of the teams' home parks 
Beginning with the 2022 season, teams compete for the six playoff berths in their respective leagues  To secure a berth, a team must either win its division or capture a wild card spot by having one of the three best records among the non-winners in its entire league  With the adoption of a third wild card, the former practice of breaking ties with an additional regular-season game, known as  game 163, was dropped in favor of a tie-breaker formula 

All-Star Game
In early-to-mid July, just after the midway point of the season, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is held during a four-day break from the regular-season schedule  The All-Star Game features a team of players from the American League (AL)—led by the manager of the previous AL World Series team—and a team of players from the National League (NL), similarly managed, in an exhibition game  From 1959 to 1962, two games were held each season, one was held in July and one was held in August  The designated-hitter rule was used in the All-Star Game for the first time in 1989  Following games used a DH when the game was played in an AL ballpark  Since 2010, the DH rule has been in effect regardless of venue The first official All-Star Game was held as part of the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois, and was the idea of Arch Ward, then sports editor for The Chicago Tribune  Initially intended to be a one-time event, its great success resulted in making the game an annual one  Ward's contribution was recognized by Major League Baseball in 1962 with the creation of the "Arch Ward Trophy", given to the All-Star Game's Most Valuable Player each year  (In 1970, it was renamed the Commissioner's Trophy, until 1985, when the name change was reversed  In 2002, it was renamed the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award )Beginning in 1947, the eight position players in each team's starting lineup have been voted into the game by fans  The fan voting was discontinued after a 1957 ballot-box-stuffing scandal in Cincinnati: seven of the eight slots originally went to Reds players, two of whom were subsequently removed from the lineup to make room for Willie Mays and Hank Aaron  Fan voting was reinstated in 1970 and has continued ever since, including Internet voting in recent years The 2002 contest in Milwaukee controversially ended in an 11-inning tie when both managers ran out of pitchers  In response, starting in 2003 the league which wins the All-Star game received home-field advantage in the World Series: the league champion hosted the first two games at its own ballpark as well as the last two (if necessary)  The National League did not win an All-Star game and thus gain a home-field advantage until 2010; it was able to overcome this disadvantage and win in three of the seven World Series from 2003 to 2009  This was discontinued after the 2016 season MLB All-Stars from both leagues have worn uniforms from their respective teams at the game with one exception  In the 1933 All-Star Game, the National League All-Star Team members wore special gray uniforms with "National League" written in navy blue letters across the front of the jersey On July 3, 2020, it was announced that the 2020 Major League Baseball All-Star Game scheduled to be held in Los Angeles would not be played due to the COVID-19 pandemic  As compensation, Los Angeles was awarded the next available All-Star Game in 2022 

Postseason
The regular season ends after the first Sunday in October (or the last Sunday in September), after which twelve teams enter the postseason playoffs  These twelve teams consist of the six division champions and six "wild-card" teams: the team with the best overall win–loss record in each of the six divisions, and the three teams in each league with the best records other than the division champions  Four rounds of series of games are played to determine the champion:
Wild Card Series, a best of three games playoff between the lowest seeded division champion and three "wild-card teams", the higher seeds will host all three games
American League Division Series and National League Division Series, each a best-of-five-games series 
American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series, each a best-of-seven-games series played between the winning teams from the Division Series  The league champions are referred to as the pennant winners 
World Series, a best-of-seven-games series played between the pennant winners of each league Within each league, the division winners are the No  1, No  2, and No  3 seeds, based on win–loss records  The team with the best record among non-division winners will be the first wildcard and the No  4 seed  The team with the second-best record among non-division winners will be the second wildcard and the No  5 seed  The team with the third-best record will the third wild card and the No 6  seed  In the wildcard round, the No  3 seed will host the No 6 seed and the No  4 seed with host the No 5 seed with the higher team host all three games in the Wild Card Series   For the division series, the matchup will be the No  1 seed against the  winner of the No 3 and  No 6 seed and the No  2 seed against the winner of  No 4 and No 5 seed, unlike the NFL there will be no reseeding   Since 2017, home-field advantage in the World Series is determined by regular-season records of the two league champions, replacing a system used for the prior 14 seasons where the champion of the league that won the All-Star Game would receive home-field advantage Because each postseason series is split between the home fields of the two teams, the home-field advantage does not usually play a large role in the postseason unless the series goes to its maximum number of games, giving one team an additional game at home  However, the first two games of a postseason series are hosted by the same team  That team may have an increased chance of starting the series with two wins, thereby gaining some momentum for the rest of the series 

International play
Since 1986 an All-Star team from MLB is sent to a biennial end-of-the-season tour of Japan, dubbed as MLB Japan All-Star Series, playing exhibition games in a best-of format against the All-Stars from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) or recently as of 2014 their national team Samurai Japan 
In 2008, MLB played the MLB China Series in the People's Republic of China  It was a series of two spring-training games between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers  The games were an effort to popularize baseball in China MLB played the MLB Taiwan All-Star Series in Taiwan in November 2011  It was a series of five exhibition games played by a team made up of MLB players called the MLB All-Stars and the Chinese Taipei national baseball team  The MLB All-Stars swept the series, five games to zero  At the end of the 2011 season, it was announced that the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics would play their season openers in Japan  In October 2013, Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune wrote that MLB was considering postseason all-star tours in Taiwan and Korea; baseball is increasing in popularity in both countries The Arizona Diamondbacks opened the 2014 season against Los Angeles Dodgers on March 22–23 in Australia  The teams played each other at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground, which has a seating capacity of 46,000  The two games represented the first MLB regular-season play held in that country  The games counted as home games for the Diamondbacks, so they played 79 home games at Chase Field In 2019, the Red Sox were the home team in a regular-season two-game series against the Yankees  The games, which were the first regular-season MLB games held in Europe, were played on June 29–30 at London Stadium with the Yankees winning both games Together with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB sponsors the World Baseball Classic, an international baseball tournament contested by national teams 

Performance-enhancing drugs
In 1998, both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa hit more home runs than the record of 61 set by Yankees right fielder Roger Maris in 1961  Barry Bonds topped the record in 2001 with 73 home runs  McGwire, Bonds, and Sosa became the subjects of speculation regarding the use of performance-enhancing substances  McGwire later admitted that he used a steroid hormone that was still legal in baseball during the 1998 season  Baseball's original steroid testing policy, in effect from 2002 to 2005, provided for penalties ranging from a ten-game suspension for a first positive test to a one-year suspension for a fourth positive test  Players were tested at least once per year, with the chance that several players could be tested many times per year A 2006 book, Game of Shadows by San Francisco Chronicle investigative reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, chronicled alleged extensive use of performance enhancers, including several types of steroids and growth hormone by baseball superstars Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Giambi  Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell was appointed by Selig on March 30, 2006 to investigate the use of performance-enhancing drugs in MLB  The appointment was made after several influential members of the U S  Congress made negative comments about both the effectiveness and honesty of MLB's drug policies and Commissioner Selig The day before the Mitchell Report was to be released in 2007, Selig said, "I haven't seen the report yet, but I'm proud I did it " The report said that after mandatory random testing began in 2004, HGH treatment for athletic enhancement became popular among players, as HGH is not detectable in tests  It pointed out that HGH is likely a placebo with no performance-enhancing effects  The report included substance use allegations against at least one player from each MLB team According to ESPN, some people questioned whether Mitchell's director role with the Boston Red Sox created a conflict of interest, especially because no "prime [Sox] players were in the report " The report named several prominent Yankees who were parts of World Series clubs; there is a long-running and fierce Yankees–Red Sox rivalry  Former U S  prosecutor John M  Dowd brought up Mitchell's conflict of interest, but he later said that the former senator had done a good job  Mitchell acknowledged that his "tight relationship with Major League Baseball left him open to criticism", but he said that readers who examine the report closely "will not find any evidence of bias, of special treatment of the Red Sox" On January 10, 2013, MLB and the players union reached an agreement to add random, in-season HGH testing  They also agreed to implement a new test to reveal the use of testosterone for the 2013 season  The current MLB drug policy provides for an 80-game suspension for a first positive test, a 162-game suspension for a second positive test, and a lifetime suspension for a third positive test  In 2009, allegations surfaced against Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for banned substances  In early April 2011, Ramirez retired from baseball rather than face a 100-game suspension for his second positive steroid test  He would later unretire, having the suspension dropped to 50 games, and would serve those in 2012 

Media coverage
Television
Several networks televise baseball games, including Fox, ESPN, TBS, and MLB Network  Since 2008, Fox Sports has broadcast MLB games on Fox Saturday Baseball throughout the entire season; Fox previously only broadcast games from May to September  Fox also holds rights to the All-Star Game each season  Fox also alternates League Championship Series broadcasts, broadcasting the American League Championship Series (ALCS) in odd-numbered years and the National League Championship Series (NLCS) in even-numbered years  Fox broadcasts all games of the World Series  ESPN continues to broadcast MLB games as well, beginning with national Opening Day coverage  ESPN broadcasts Sunday Night Baseball and Baseball Tonight  ESPN also has rights to the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game each July TBS has aired Sunday afternoon regular season games (non-exclusive) nationally, but beginning in 2022 this will be replaced by Tuesday night games  In 2007, TBS began its exclusive rights to any tiebreaker games that determine division or wild card champions  It also airs exclusive coverage of the Division Series round of the playoffs  TBS carries the League Championship Series that are not included under Fox's television agreement; TBS shows the NLCS in odd-numbered years and the ALCS in even-numbered years In January 2009, MLB launched the MLB Network, featuring news and coverage from around the league, and airing 26 live games in the 2009 season  Each team also has local broadcasts for all games not carried by Fox on Saturdays or ESPN on Sunday nights  These games are typically split between a local broadcast television station and a local or regional sports network (RSN), though some teams only air local games through RSNs or through their own team networks  As Canada only contains one team, Sportsnet broadcasts Toronto Blue Jays games nationally  The channel is owned by Rogers Communications, who is also the parent company of the Blue Jays  Sportsnet also televises Fox's Saturday afternoon games, the All-Star Game, playoff games, and the World Series  In April 2011, TSN2 began carrying ESPN Sunday Night Baseball in Canada  TVA Sports airs Blue Jays games in French Several MLB games are broadcast exclusively on Internet television  After a year of exclusive games on Facebook, MLB partnered with YouTube to stream weekly games on the service beginning in the 2019 season, and extending until 2022  In 2022, MLB made a deal with Apple Inc  to launch Friday Night Baseball on its Apple TV+ streaming service, and NBC Sports to broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, a package of early Sunday afternoon games on Peacock 

Blackout policy
MLB has several blackout rules  A local broadcaster has priority to televise games of the team in their market over national broadcasters if the game is not exclusive to the national broadcaster  A market that has a local team playing in a non-exclusive game will receive an alternative programming feed on the national broadcaster  MLB's streaming internet video service is also subject to the same blackout rules 

Radio and Internet
ESPN Radio holds national broadcast rights and broadcasts Sunday Night Baseball weekly throughout the season in addition to all playoff games  The rights to the World Series are exclusive to ESPN  In 2021, TUDN Radio picked up Spanish-language rights to MLB games, starting with that year's postseason In addition, each team employs its own announcers, who broadcast during the regular season  Most teams operate regional networks to cover their fan bases; some of these supposedly regional networks (such as the New York Yankees Radio Network) have a national reach with affiliates located across the United States  Major League Baseball has an exclusive rights deal with XM Satellite Radio, which includes the channel MLB Network Radio and live play-by-play of all games  Many teams also maintain a network of stations that broadcast their games in Spanish; as of 2022, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the only team that produces radio broadcasts in a third language, with selected games broadcast in Korean  Both Canadian teams (the Montreal Expos before their move to Washington, DC in 2005, and the Toronto Blue Jays) have produced radio broadcasts in French MLB games are also broadcast live on the internet  All television and radio broadcasts of games are available via subscription to MLB tv at Major League Baseball's website, MLB com, and radio-only broadcasts are also available via subscription to MLB com Gameday Audio  Radio station affiliates are officially forbidden from streaming games through their Internet feeds  Blackout rules are still applied for live television broadcasts, but not radio broadcasts 

International broadcasting
ESPN Deportes televises many MLB games in Spanish throughout Latin America  Wapa 2 airs games in Puerto Rico, including spring training games and most of the World Baseball Classic games involving the team from Puerto Rico  In Brazil, ESPN Brasil has exclusive rights on TV (ESPN and ESPN2) and Internet (WatchESPN) Five in the United Kingdom previously screened MLB games, including the All-Star Game and the postseason games, on Sunday and Wednesday usually starting at 1 a m  BST  Most recently, Johnny Gould and Josh Chetwynd presented MLB on Five on that station  The channel covered baseball beginning on its opening night in 1997, but for financial reasons, the decision was made not to pick up MLB for the 2009 season  BT Sport ESPN show live and recorded games several times a week—it is available with BT Sport and (on a subscriber-basis) Virgin Media in the UK  ESPN America televised many games in the UK and dozens of other countries; in May 2013, ESPN announced that it would shut down the channel on July 31, 2013 In Australia, MLB games are regularly shown on ESPN Australia (subscription) In the Middle East, North Africa and France, MLB games are broadcast on beIN Sports channels In Germany MLB games will be broadcast from 2022 exclusively on Sport1 until 2026 In Hungary, MLB games are broadcast on Sport1 as of 2020 

See also
Passage 11:
Prince Abdul Aziz bin Musa'ed Stadium
Prince Abdul Aziz bin Musa'ed Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Ha'il, Saudi Arabia   It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Al-Ta'ee   The stadium has a capacity of 12,250 people 
Passage 12:
Pohang Baseball Stadium
Pohang Baseball Stadium is a baseball stadium in Pohang, South Korea  The stadium is currently being used as a second home of the KBO League team Samsung Lions 
Passage 13:
30 June Stadium
The 30 June Stadium is a stadium used mostly for football matches and also sometimes for athletics located in Cairo  It was built by the Egyptian Air Defense Forces  The stadium is the main venue of the Air Defense Sport Village  The stadium has a capacity of 30,000 and it is one of the venues of the Egyptian Premier League  It is the  home ground of the Egyptian Premier League side Pyramids F C 
In March 2019 it was announced that the stadium will host all bar one of the fixtures of Group C in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, as well as one Group A and Group D match and one match each in the round of 16, the quarter-finals, and the semi-finals 

Accidents
Twenty-eight football fans died on 8 February 2015 in a confrontation with the police at the gates of Egyptian stadium during a league match between two Cairo clubs, Zamalek SC and ENPPI  Most of the dead were crushed to death and suffocated when the crowd stampeded after police used tear gas to clear the fans trying to force their way into the stadium  Egypt's hardcore fans are notorious for violent behavior at matches, and Egypt has designated some as terrorist groups 

2019 Africa Cup of Nations
The stadium is one of the venues for the 2019  Africa Cup of Nations 
The following games were played at the stadium during the 2019  Africa Cup of Nations:
Context 2: Passage 1:
A Beautiful Mind (soundtrack)
A Beautiful Mind is the original soundtrack album, on the Decca Records label, of the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly (who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as "Alicia Nash"), Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany  The original score and songs were composed and conducted by James Horner 
The album garnered nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and the Academy Award for Best Original Score  Music critics felt that the musical score fit the film well, but believed it to be similar to several of Horner's previous films 

Development
Composer James Horner was a frequent collaborator with Ron Howard, the director of A Beautiful Mind  Horner desired to feature vocals reminiscent of being midway between a girl and woman, and wrote the score specifically for 15-year-old Welsh singer Charlotte Church  To convey "the beauty of mathematics", Horner decided to use the idea of a kaleidoscope, as its "patterns are always changing, and things move very quickly, but in moving so quickly, they create other patterns that move very slowly underneath"  He added that these changing patterns were conveyed with the piano and Church's voice 

Release and reception
Writing for Empire magazine, Danny Graydon gave the soundtrack four out of five stars  He thought the score contained elements of Horner's previous films Sneakers (1992) and Bicentennial Man (1999), but said "if you can forgive that, this is a clever, masterful and romantic score that captures a brilliant mind in conflict"  In the tracks "Creating Government Dynamics" and "Cracking The Russian Codes", Graydon opined that Church's "poignant vocals mix well with the frenetic piano and strings to represent Nash’s brilliance" and wished that her voice had been used more in the film Dan Goldwasser of Soundtrack net also found similarities to the score in Bicentennial Man, but thought Horner's work fit the film regardless, explaining "it effectively underscores the drama and romance, and even provides a few bits of tension for the action scene"  Goldwasser concluded that "while it all works well in the film, there is enough about this score that just seemed to  [sic] 'familiar' to make it stand out"  Contributing to National Public Radio, Andy Trudeau believed Church's particular voice adds a "human element  It's the sound that, I think, gives a sense of--the center of this character, if you will  I think it's the soul  And it's trying to be normal in a way, and underneath it it's trying to be crazy" Horner's score garnered nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and the Academy Award for Best Original Score  It lost the Golden Globe to the film Moulin Rouge! and the Oscar to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 

Track listing
Adapted from:
Passage 2:
Christel Khalil
Christel Adnana Mina Khalil (born November 30, 1987) is an American actress 

Background
Khalil was born in Los Angeles, California, to a mother of Native American, African American, and European descent and a Pakistani father  Khalil has stated she identifies as mixed race  She has three older brothers and a younger paternal half-sister  In January 2017, in the wake of President Donald Trump's signing of Executive Order 13769, Khalil revealed that her father is an immigrant from his native country of Pakistan 

Career
Khalil is best known for her portrayal as Lily Winters on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless  At the 39th Daytime Emmy Awards on June 23, 2012, she won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series after four nominations in the category  In August 2018, she announced her decision to downgrade from being on contract with the show and instead continue on a recurring basis  Khalil explained the decision was driven by her desire to have more freedom in both her professional and personal life  She continued to make sporadic appearances on the show until being approached by current head writer and co-executive producer Josh Griffith in January 2020, to return to filming on a regular basis Khalil has had small roles in movies such as Dragon Fury, Matilda, Interview With the Assassin and White Like the Moon  She voiced Cornelia Hale in W I T C H , and also appeared on That's So Raven and Malcolm in the Middle, among other shows  Khalil also performed in Los Angeles theater productions before landing her role on The Young and the Restless  In 2012, she was featured in musician Johnny Britt's music video  for his single Beautiful Queen  In  spring 2018, Khalil co-starred in the independent thriller, Good Deed, which premiered on the Lifetime network in November 2018 under the title Sorority Stalker  In spring 2019, she was cast in the independent comedy We Need To Talk by writer and director Todd Wolfe 

Personal life
In September 2008, she married musician Stephen Hensley  The Young and the Restless co-star Elizabeth Hendrickson served as a bridesmaid while Bryton James was a groomsman  Khalil gave birth to their son on April 17, 2010, during an at home water birth  Bryton James is his godfather and actress Fadhia Marcelin is his godmother  She and Hensley split in early 2011 and divorced later that year  In 2015, Khalil stated she had been in a relationship with bar runner Ray Wicks for 4 years  Khalil ended the relationship in August 2015   In the summer of 2018, Khalil stated that she in a relationship with Canadian businessman Sam Restagno, who works in private equity  The two met in 2016, during that years Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California  In 2019, Khalil and her son relocated to Toronto, Ontario to be with Restagno, who was born and based there  In July 2020, Khalil moved back to Los Angeles  In June 2023, she announced she was expecting her second child, her first with Restagno She is best friends with Bryton James, who portrays her character's brother, Devon Hamilton on The Young and the Restless  She is also friends with several former and current The Young and the Restless co-stars, including Mishael Morgan and Nadine Heimann  In October 2015, she modeled for Heimann's non-profit, True Connection In June 2015, after the United States Supreme Court's decision on Obergefell v  Hodges, she voiced her support for same-sex marriage  Khalil has said one of her favorite hobbies is traveling because she loves experiencing different cultures and travel makes her feel connected to who she is as a person 

Filmography
Awards and nominations
Passage 3:
Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)
Black Widow (Natalia Alianovna "Natasha" Romanova; Russian: Наталья Альяновна "Наташа" Романова) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics  Created by editor and plotter Stan Lee, scripter Don Rico, and artist Don Heck, the character debuted in Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964)  The character was introduced as a Russian spy, an antagonist of the superhero Iron Man  She later defected to the United States, becoming an agent of the fictional spy agency S H I E L D  and a member of the superhero team the Avengers 
The character has appeared in numerous forms of media, such as animated television series, video games, and films 
Scarlett Johansson portrayed Natasha Romanoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Black Widow (2021), with Lake Bell voicing the character in the animated series What If   ? (2021) 

Publication history
The Black Widow's first appearances were as a recurring, non-costumed, Russian-spy antagonist in the feature "Iron Man", beginning in Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964)  Five issues later, she recruits the besotted costumed archer and later superhero Hawkeye to her cause  Her government later supplies her with her first Black Widow costume and high-tech weaponry, but she eventually defects to the United States after appearing, temporarily brainwashed against the U S , in the superhero-team series The Avengers #29 (July 1966)  The Widow later becomes a recurring ally of the team before officially becoming its 16th member many years later 
The Black Widow was visually updated in 1970: The Amazing Spider-Man #86 (July 1970) reintroduced her with shoulder-length red hair (instead of her former short black hair), a skintight black costume, and wristbands which fired spider threads John Romita, the artist responsible for the redesign elaborated on how the character was updated  "I did the costume on the Black Widow  One of my favorite strips from when I was a kid was Miss Fury  They had done a Miss Fury book at Marvel, and when I found out they had the rights to her, I said I'd love to do a Miss Fury book sometime  I had done an updated drawing of Miss Fury, and Stan said, "Why don't we redesign the Black Widow costume based on Miss Fury?" So I took the mask off her face, and made the Black Widow, the one in the patent leather jumpsuit "In short order, The Black Widow starred in her own series in Amazing Adventures #1–8 (Aug  1970–Sept  1971), sharing that split book with the feature Inhumans  The Black Widow feature was dropped after only eight issues (the Inhumans feature followed soon, ending with issue #10) Immediately after her initial solo feature ended, the Black Widow co-starred in Daredevil  #81–124 (Nov  1971–Aug  1975), of which #92-107 were cover titled Daredevil and the Black Widow  Daredevil writer Gerry Conway recounted, "It was my idea to team up Daredevil and the Black Widow, mainly because I was a fan of Natasha, and thought she and Daredevil would have interesting chemistry " Succeeding writers, however, felt that Daredevil worked better as a solo hero, and gradually wrote the Black Widow out of the series  She was immediately recast into the super-team series The Champions as the leader of the titular superhero group, which ran for 17 issues (Oct  1975–Jan  1978) Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Black Widow appeared frequently as both an Avengers member and a freelance agent of S H I E L D  She starred in a serialized feature within the omnibus comic-book series Marvel Fanfare #10–13 (Aug  1983–March 1984), written by George Pérez and Ralph Macchio, with art by penciller Perez  These stories were later collected in the oversized one-shot Black Widow: Web of Intrigue #1 (June 1999) 
The Widow guest-starred in issues of Solo Avengers, Force Works, Iron Man, Marvel Team-Up, and other comics  She had made frequent guest appearances in Daredevil since the late 1970s 
She starred in a three-issue arc, "The Fire Next Time", by writer Scott Lobdell and penciller Randy Green, in Journey into Mystery #517–519 (Feb –April 1998) 
A new ongoing Black Widow comic title debuted in April 2010  The first story arc was written by Marjorie Liu with art by Daniel Acuña  Beginning with issue #6 (Sept  2010), the title was written by Duane Swierczynski, with artwork by Manuel Garcia and Lorenzo Ruggiero 
Black Widow appeared as a regular character throughout the 2010–2013 Secret Avengers series, from issue #1 (July 2010) through its final issue #37 (March 2013) 
Black Widow appears in the 2013 Secret Avengers series by Nick Spencer and Luke Ross Black Widow appears in a relaunched ongoing series by writer Nathan Edmondson and artist Phil Noto  The first issue debuted in Jan  2014 In October 2015, it was announced that Mark Waid and Chris Samnee would be launching a new Black Widow series for 2016 as part of Marvel's post-Secret Wars relaunch  The first issue was released in March 2016 

Limited series and specials
Aside from the arcs in Marvel Fanfare and Journey into Mystery, the Black Widow has starred in four limited series and four graphic novels 
The three-issue Black Widow (June-Aug  1999), under the Marvel Knights imprint, starred Romanova and fully introduced her appointed successor, Captain Yelena Belova, who had briefly appeared in an issue of the 1999 series Inhumans  The writer for the story arc, "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" was Devin K  Grayson while J  G  Jones was the artist  The next three-issue, Marvel Knights mini-series, also titled Black Widow (Jan –March 2001) featured both Black Widows in the story arc "Breakdown", by writers Devin Grayson and Greg Rucka with painted art by Scott Hampton Romanova next starred in another solo miniseries titled Black Widow: Homecoming (Nov  2004–April 2005), also under the Marvel Knights imprint and written by science fiction novelist Richard K  Morgan, with art initially by Bill Sienkiewicz and later by Sienkiewicz over Goran Parlov layouts  A six-issue sequel, Black Widow: The Things They Say About Her (Nov  2005–April 2006; officially Black Widow 2: The Things They Say About Her in the series' postal indicia), by writer Morgan, penciller Sean Phillips, and inker Sienkiewicz, picks up immediately where the previous miniseries left off, continuing the story using many of the same characters She starred in the solo graphic novel Black Widow: The Coldest War (April 1990), and co-starred in three more: Punisher/Black Widow: Spinning Doomsday's Web (Dec  1992); Daredevil/Black Widow: Abattoir (July 1993); and Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty (June 1995), also co-starring Marvel UK's Night Raven Black Widow is also featured in the short story Love Is Blindness in I Heart Marvel: Marvel Ai (2006) #1 (April 2006), where she instigates a humorous fight with Elektra over Daredevil's affections  The comic is stylized to look like Japanese animation and uses images, not words, inside the speech and thought bubbles to convey what the characters are saying/thinking In 2010, the year in which the character, called only Natasha Romanoff, made her film debut in Iron Man 2, the Black Widow received two separate miniseries  Black Widow and the Marvel Girls was an all-ages, four-issue series that chronicled her adventures with various women of the Marvel Universe, including Storm, She-Hulk, the Enchantress, and Spider-Woman  It was written by Paul Tobin, with art by Salvador Espin, Veronica Gandini and Takeshi Miyazawa  The second four-issue miniseries, Black Widow: Deadly Origin, was written by Paul Cornell, and featured art by Tom Raney and John Paul Leon 

Fictional character biography
Early life
Natasha was born in Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russian SFSR, USSR  The first and best-known Black Widow is a Russian agent trained as a spy, martial artist, and sniper, and outfitted with an arsenal of high-tech weaponry, including a pair of wrist-mounted energy weapons dubbed her "Widow's Bite"  She wears no costume during her first few appearances but simply evening wear and a veil  Romanova eventually defects to the U S  for reasons that include her love for the reluctant-criminal turned superhero archer, Hawkeye 
The first hints to Natasha Romanova's childhood come from Ivan Petrovich, who is introduced as her middle-aged chauffeur and confidant in the Black Widow's 1970s Amazing Adventures  Petrovich tells Matt Murdock that he had been given custody of little Natasha by a woman who died immediately afterwards, during the Battle of Stalingrad in autumn 1942  He consequently felt committed to raise the orphan as a surrogate father and she eventually trained as a Soviet spy, being eager to help her homeland  In another flashback, set in the fictional island of Madripoor in 1941, Petrovich helps Captain America and the mutant Logan, who would later become the Canadian super-agent and costumed hero Wolverine, to rescue Natasha from Nazis A revised, retconned origin establishes her as being raised from very early childhood by the U S S R 's "Black Widow Ops" program, rather than solely by Ivan Petrovitch  Petrovitch had taken her to Department X with other young female orphans, where she was brainwashed and trained in combat and espionage at the covert "Red Room" facility  There, she is biotechnologically and psycho-technologically enhanced—which provides a rationale for her unusually long and youthful lifespan  During that time she had some training under the Winter Soldier, and the pair even had a short romance  Each Black Widow is deployed with false memories to help ensure her loyalty  Romanova eventually discovers this, including the fact that she had never, as she had believed, been a ballerina  She further discovers that the Red Room is still active as "2R" 
The KGB arranged a marriage between Natasha and the renowned Soviet test pilot Alexei Shostakov  However, when the Soviet government decided to make Shostakov into their new operative, the Red Guardian, he is told that he can have no further contact with his wife  Natasha is told that he died and is trained as a secret agent separately 

The Avengers
Romanova grew up to serve as a femme fatale  She was assigned to assist Boris Turgenov in the assassination of Professor Anton Vanko for defecting from the Soviet Union, which served as her first mission in the United States  Natasha and Turgenov infiltrated Stark Industries as part of the plan  She attempted to manipulate information from American defense contractor Tony Stark, and inevitably confronted his superhero alter ego, Iron Man  The pair then battled Iron Man, and Turgenov stole and wore the Crimson Dynamo suit  Vanko sacrificed himself to save Iron Man, killing Turgenov in the process, using an unstable experimental laser light pistol  Romanova later meets the criminal archer Hawkeye and sets him against Iron Man, and later helped Hawkeye battle Iron Man Later, Natasha again attempted to get Hawkeye to help her destroy Iron Man  The pair almost succeeded, but when Black Widow was injured, Hawkeye retreated to get her to safety  During this period, Romanova was attempting to defect from the Soviet Union and began falling in love with Hawkeye, weakening her loyalty to her country  When her employers learned the truth, the KGB had her gunned down, sending her to a hospital, convincing Hawkeye to go straight and seek membership in the Avengers The Red Room kidnapped and brainwashed her again, and with the Swordsman and the first Power Man, she battled the Avengers  She eventually broke free from her psychological conditioning (with the help of Hawkeye), and successfully defected, having further adventures with Spider-Man, with Hawkeye, and with Daredevil  She ultimately joins the Avengers as a costumed hero herself 

S H I E L D  and Daredevil
Upon Nick Fury's request, she begins freelancing as an agent of the international espionage group S H I E L D  She is sent on a secret S H I E L D  mission to China by Nick Fury  There, with the Avengers, she battles Col  Ling, Gen  Brushov, and her ex-husband the Red Guardian  For a time, as writer Les Daniels noted in a contemporaneous study in 1971,

    her left-wing upbringing was put to better use, and she has lately taken to fighting realistic oppressor-of-the-people types  She helps young Puerto Ricans clean up police corruption and saves young hippies from organized crime       [The splash page of Amazing Adventures #3 (Nov  1970)] reflects the recent trend toward involving fantastic characters in contemporary social problems, a move which has gained widespread publicity for Marvel and its competitor, DC 
She investigates a plot by Egghead, the Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker to blackmail the US government using a laser-firing satellite During her romantic involvement with Matt Murdock in San Francisco, she operates as an independent superhero alongside Murdock's alter ego, Daredevil  There she tries unsuccessfully to find a new career for herself as a fashion designer  Eventually, her relationship with Murdock stagnates, and after briefly working with Avengers finally breaks up with Murdock, fearing that playing "sidekick" is sublimating her identity  During a HYDRA attempt to take over S H I E L D , she is tortured to such an extent that she regresses back to an old cover identity of schoolteacher Nancy Rushman, but she is recovered by Spider-Man in time to help Nick Fury and Shang-Chi work out what had happened and restore her memory, with "Nancy" developing an attraction to Spider-Man before her memory is restored during the final fight against Madam Viper, Boomerang, and the Silver Samurai  She later returns to Matt Murdock's life to find he is romantically involved with another woman, Heather Glenn, prompting her to leave New York  Natasha ultimately realizes that Matt still only thinks of her in platonic terms, and elects to restrain herself from any advances 

The Champions
After their breakup, the Widow moves to Los Angeles and becomes leader of the newly created and short-lived super team known as The Champions, consisting of her, Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Hercules (with whom she has a brief romance), and former X-Men Angel and Iceman Her friends usually call her "Natasha", the informal version of "Natalia"  She has sometimes chosen the last-name alias "Romanoff"  She has hinted to be a descendant of the deposed House of Romanov and a relation to Nicholas II of Russia 

21st century
Natasha crosses Daredevil's (Matt Murdock) path again when he attempts to slay an infant he believes to be the Anti-Christ while under the influence of mind-altering drugs  After Daredevil's one-time love, Karen Page, dies protecting the child, Natasha reconciles with Murdock, revealing she still loves him, but noting that he is too full of anger to commit to a relationship with her Natasha is challenged by Yelena Belova, a graduate from the training program through which Natasha herself was taught the espionage trade, who is the first to ever surpass Natasha's marks and considers herself the rightful successor to the "Black Widow" mantle  Natasha refers to her as "little one" and "rooskaya (meaning "Russian"), and encourages her to discover her individuality rather than live in blind service, asking her "why be Black Widow, when you can be Yelena Belova?" After several confrontations, Natasha subjects Yelena to intense psychological manipulation and suffering in order to teach her the reality of the espionage business, and an angry but disillusioned Yelena eventually returns home and temporarily quits being a spy  Although Matt Murdock is appalled by the cruelty of Natasha's treatment of Yelena, Nick Fury describes the action as Natasha's attempt at saving Yelena's life  After bringing the Avengers and the Thunderbolts together to overcome Count Nefaria, Natasha supported Daredevil's short-lived efforts to form a new super-team to capture the Punisher, originally believed to be Nick Fury's murderer  Despite recruitment endeavors, however, this vigilante group folded shortly after she and her teammate Dagger fought an army of renegade S H I E L D  androids; ironically, she soon afterward worked with both Daredevil and Punisher against the European crime syndicate managed by the Brothers Grace  Months later, her pursuit of war criminal Anatoly Krylenko led to a clash with Hawkeye, whose pessimism regarding heroic activities now rivaled her own Shortly after the Scarlet Witch's insanity seemingly killed Hawkeye and again disbanded the Avengers, Natasha, weary of espionage and adventure, travelled to Arizona but was targeted  Andrea discovers that other women had been trained in the Black Widow Program, and all are now being hunted down and killed by the North Institute on behalf of the corporation Gynacon  Natasha's investigations led her back to Russia, where she was appalled to learn the previously unimagined extent of her past manipulation, and she discovered the Widows were being hunted because Gynacon, having purchased Russian biotechnology from Red Room's successor agency 2R, wanted all prior users of the technology dead  Natasha finds and kills the mastermind of the Black Widow murders: Ian McMasters, Gynacon's aging CEO, who intended to use part of their genetic structure to create a new chemical weapon  After killing McMasters, she clashed with operatives of multiple governments to help Sally Anne Carter, a girl Natasha had befriended in her investigations, whom she rescued with help from Daredevil and Yelena Belova  She soon returned the favor for Daredevil by reluctantly working with Elektra Natchios to protect his new wife, Milla Donovan, from the FBI and others, although Yelena proved beyond help when she agreed to be transformed into the new Super-Adaptoid by A I M  and HYDRA 

Civil War / Initiative
During the Superhero Civil War, Natasha becomes a supporter of the Superhuman Registration Act and a member of the taskforce led by Iron Man  Afterward, the registered Natasha joins the reconstituted Avengers  S H I E L D  director Nick Fury is presumed killed, and deputy director Maria Hill incapacitated, so Natasha assumes temporary command of S H I E L D  as the highest-ranking agent present Later, Tony Stark assigns Natasha to convey the late Captain America's shield to a secure location, but is intercepted by her former lover, Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, who steals the shield  Natasha and the Falcon then rescue Barnes from the Red Skull's minions and bring him to the S H I E L D  Helicarrier, where Stark convinces Bucky to become the new Captain America  Afterward, Natasha accompanies Bucky as his partner for a brief time until she is called back by S H I E L D  She later rejoins him and Falcon for the final confrontation with the Red Skull, helping to rescue Sharon Carter  She and Bucky have restarted their relationship  She later plays an important role in the capture of Hercules  However, due to her respect of the Greek god, she let him go  Soon Natasha, along with the rest of the Avengers, gets involved in the current Skrull invasion  Afterwards, she stayed as Bucky's partner  She also assists former director Maria Hill in delivering a special form of data to Bucky 

Thunderbolts
Norman Osborn discovered Yelena Belova breaking into an abandoned S H I E L D  facility, and offered her the position of field leader of the new Thunderbolts  On her first mission, she and Ant-Man take control of Air Force One with the Goblin, Doc Samson, and the new President aboard  It was suggested she faked her apparent death (as the Adaptoid) but it is never explained how 
A conversation with the Ghost implies that Yelena is working as a mole for someone else and that she may even be someone else disguised as Yelena  She is later seen talking privately through a comm-link to Nick Fury Osborn orders Yelena to lead the current Thunderbolts to kill former Thunderbolt, Songbird  Fury orders "Yelena" to rescue and retrieve Songbird for the information she might possess about Osborn and his operations  Yelena finds Songbird and reveals to her that she was really Natasha Romanova in disguise  She tries delivering Songbird to Fury but the Thunderbolts have also followed them  The trio are captured as Osborn reveals he had been impersonating Fury in messages all along to set Natasha up in order to strengthen the Thunderbolts and lead him to Fury  She and Songbird are brought to be executed but manage to escape when Ant-Man, Headsmen, and Paladin turn on the rest of the Thunderbolts and let them go 

Heroic Age
At the start of the "Heroic Age," Natasha is recruited by Steve Rogers into a new black-ops wing of the Avengers dubbed the Secret Avengers  She travels to Dubai with her new teammate, Valkyrie, where they steal a dangerous artifact which the Beast then studies, noting that it seems like a distant cousin of the Serpent Crown  In the story "Coppelia", she encounters a teenage clone of herself, code named "Tiny Dancer", whom she rescues from an arms dealer 

Fear Itself
During the "Fear Itself" storyline, Black Widow and Peregrine are sent on a mission to free hostages being held in a Marseille cathedral by Rapido  He and a group of mercenaries are trying to exploit the panic over the events in Paris to steal France's nuclear arsenal 

Ends of the Earth
During the "Ends of the Earth" storyline involving one of Doctor Octopus' schemes, Natasha is one of only three heroes left standing after the defeat of the Avengers by the Sinister Six, joining Silver Sable and Spider-Man to track the Six (albeit because she was closest to Sable's cloaked ship after the Avengers were defeated rather than for her prowess)  She is later contacted by the Titanium Man to warn her and her allies about Doctor Octopus' attempt to rally other villains against Spider-Man  She is knocked out along with Hawkeye by Iron Man during a battle against the Avengers when they were temporarily under Octavius' remote control 

Secret Wars
During the incursion event between Earth-616 and Earth-1610, Natasha is involved in the final battle between the Marvel Universe's superheroes and the Ultimate Universe's Children of Tomorrow  She pilots a ship holding a handpicked few to restart humanity after the universe ends, copiloted by Jessica Drew  Her ship is shot down during the battle though, and she is killed in the ensuing explosion As the evacuation of Earth-616 begins in light of the fact that Earth-1610 is about to come crashing down as part of the "Last Days" storyline, Black Widow is seen standing atop a building with Captain America who gives her a list of people to save and bring aboard the lifeboat  As she tells Sam she cannot save them all, Sam explains it's Natasha's job to assist in the effort to save as many people as possible before Earth as they know it is destroyed  As she leaves, her mind transitions to Cold War Russia, where a young Natasha (here called Natalia) speaks with two Russian functionaries in the infamous "Red Room"  She is given her first mission: travel to Cuba and locate a family called the Comienzas, who are at risk from Raúl Castro's regime and who may have information of vital importance to Russia  She is told to rendezvous with another agent, her classmate Marina, and befriend the family under the guise of a Russian businesswoman  Natasha assures them of her competency and leaves  When one of the officers questions her youth, the other assures him, "she's a killer  She will not disappoint " Natasha meets Marina in Cuba and the two friends catch up before meeting with the Comienzas that night at a local bar  Using her talent for deception, she casually and politely convinces the husband and wife that she's seeking inside information to help her import various goods into the country  The Comienzas explain they cannot reveal said information, prompting Natasha to later explain to Marina that the family might need "a little push"  Not too soon she effectively began terrorizing the family into desperation  First, she plants an American flag on their doorstep to mimic someone accusing them of defecting to the United States  Later after meeting with one of the Russian officers from the Red Room to report her progress, she detonated a car bomb outside their home when the first attempt did not make them "nearly desperate enough"  Following the car bomb explosion, Natasha declares the family is indeed desperate enough to reproach for information  Before letting Natasha go, the officer announces she has one additional task before her mission is over: Marina has become too much enamored with her civilian guise, and is now a security risk  Natasha will have to eliminate her  Flipping to the present, Black Widow is saving as many people as she can, but she quickly flashbacks to Havana  Natasha and her then Red Room partner Marina are trying to help a family defect  Natasha's orders are simple: Kill the parents and make it public  When Natasha asks if she should kill the child too, her boss looks horrified that she would be so OK with that and tells her no  Having no problem following orders she sets up a meet and using a sniper rifle she takes out the pair without blinking  Next she shoots Marina's boyfriend then Marina herself  Next she shoots Marina's cat  Flipping back to the present, Black Widow is back saving people from the incursion as the reason that triggered Natasha's flashback is revealed     a man she saved is holding his cat  This dark, heartless side of the Black Widow shows why she is trying so hard to do good today 

Secret Empire
During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Black Widow appears as a member of the underground resistance at the time when most of the United States has been taken over by Hydra and Captain America who was brainwashed by Red Skull's clone using the powers of the sentient Cosmic Cube Kobik into believing that he was a Hydra sleeper agent  While Hawkeye assembles a strike force of Hercules and Quicksilver to find the Cosmic Cube fragments, Black Widow sets off to kill Rogers herself reasoning that even if Rick's theory is true, the man Rogers was would prefer to die than be used in this manner  She finds herself followed by the Champions as she establishes her version of the Red Room  While preparing to shoot Captain America with a sniper rifle, she rushes to prevent Miles Morales from killing him as predicted by Ulysses, and is struck by his shield, breaking her neck and killing her  Despite the return of the real Steve Rogers and the downfall of Hydra, Natasha's death, along with other casualties, remains 

Clone of Natalia Romanova
However, while observing a dictator who recently rose to power due to his support of Hydra, Bucky witnesses the man being assassinated in such a manner that he believes only Natasha could have pulled off the kill and believes he sees the Black Widow (actually Yelena Belova) depart from her chosen vantage point It was later discovered that a series of clones of the original Black Widow had been produced by the Black Widow Ops Program following her death  Its member Ursa Major bribed Epsilon Red to let him add the current memories of the deceased Natalia Romanova to one such clone while secretly disposing of the bad programming  The Black Widow Ops Program tasked the clone into taking out the remnants of Hydra and S H I E L D  She revealed herself to Winter Soldier and Hawkeye while also killing Orphan Maker  To keep them from interfering, the Black Widow clone locked Winter Soldier and Hawkeye in a safe room within the Red Room  The Black Widow clone rose to the ranks of the Red Room while secretly persuading the recruits to turn against their masters  When Winter Soldier and Hawkeye arrived at the Red Room, the Black Widow clone dropped her cover where she began to kill her superiors, liberate the recruits and destroy all the clones and Epsilon Red  When the authorities arrived, The Black Widow clone, adopting the name Natasha Romanoff, left the Red Room, where she left a note for Hawkeye to stop following her and for Winter Soldier to join her in ending the Red Room During the "Infinity Countdown" storyline, the Black Widow clone traced a dead drop signal left by a revived Wolverine in Madripoor  She discovered that Wolverine had left the Space Infinity Gem in her care  The Black Widow clone meets up with Doctor Strange who wants to dispose of the Space Stone  Doctor Strange did not want to take it as he knows what would happen if they are in the same proximity  She is among the Infinity Gem holders who are contacted by Doctor Strange stating that they need to reform the Infinity Watch in order to safeguard the Infinity Gems from such calamities like Thanos Captain America had Black Widow's clone infiltrate Roxxon as an ex-S H I E L D  operative-turned-contractor named Angel to spy on Roxxon and keep an eye on Weapon H  As Angel, she accompanied Weapon H and his assigned team to Weirdworld up to the point where Morgan le Fay of Earth-15238 exposed her identity to Weapon H  After getting out of the wreckage of the Roxxon Research Outpost, Black Widow reveals to Blake that she was sent to get the Roxxon group out of Weirdworld  Dr  Carrie Espinoza and the Roxxon soldiers with her salvage a Weirdworld Adamantine Crystal filled with Morgan le Fay's mystic energies which Dr  Esponoza states to Black Widow and Blake that it can power all of New York for 10 years  As the group arrives near the Inaku village, they witness Weapon H fighting Korg as Black Widow is contacted by Sonia Sung from Roxxon's headquarters  Black Widow tries to help Sonia get through to Weapon H until Dario Agger arrives  Black Widow is among those that are evacuated through the portal 

Powers and abilities
Black Widow has been enhanced by biotechnology that makes her body resistant to aging and disease and she heals faster than the average human  The white blood cells in her body are also enhanced by these implants, making them efficient enough to fight off most microbes, foreign bodies and other threats to her body, keeping her healthy and immune to most, if not all, infections, diseases and physical disorders Romanova has a gifted intellect  She displays an uncanny affinity for psychological manipulation and can mask her real emotions perfectly  Like Steve Rogers, she possesses the ability to quickly process multiple information streams (such as threat assessment) and rapidly respond to changing tactical situations, as well as having extensive espionage training Black Widow is a world-class athlete, gymnast, acrobat, and aerialist, capable of numerous complex maneuvers and feats  She can coordinate her body with balance, flexibility, and dexterity easily, and is an accomplished ballerina  She has mastered several martial arts such as jiu jitsu, aikido, boxing, judo, karate, savate, ninjutsu, various styles of kung fu and kenpo, as well as the Russian martial art sambo  She also underwent training on how to masterfully use sidearms, marksman rifles and melee weapons such as batons and combat knives 
She is also a skilled hypnotist  She uses a combination of techniques such as direct eye contact, hypnotic speech patterns and a soothing voice to influence a subjects' mind, planting thoughts, ideas or post-hypnotic commands, or even affecting memories and personality traits 

Equipment
Black Widow uses a variety of equipment invented by Soviet scientists and technicians, with later improvements by S H I E L D  scientists and technicians  She usually wears distinctively shaped bracelets which fire the Widow's Bite electro-static energy blasts that can deliver charges up to 30,000 volts, as well as "Widow's Line" grappling hooks, tear gas pellets, and a new element introduced during her ongoing series during the "Kiss or Kill" arc called the "Widow's Kiss"—an aerosol instant knock-out gas she has modified  She wears a belt of metallic discs; some are disc-charges containing plastic explosives, while others have been shown to be compartments for housing other equipment  Her costume consists of synthetic stretch fabric equipped with micro-suction cups on fingers and feet, enabling her to adhere to walls and ceilings  In the 2006 "Homecoming" mini-series, she was seen using knives, unarmed combat, and various firearms, but she has since begun using her bracelets again  While in disguise as Yelena Belova, when infiltrating the then Osborn-sanctioned Thunderbolts during "Dark Reign", she used a specialized multi-lens goggle/head-carapace that demonstrated various technical abilities, such as enhancing vision and communication  Later, she has used a modified gun based on her Widow's Bite wrist cartridge during her adventures alongside the new Captain America 

Supporting characters
Reception
Critical response
Laura Bradley of Vanity Fair included Black Widow in their "Stan Lee’s Most Iconic Characters" list  Jesse Schedeen of IGN included Black Widow in their "Marvel's Femme Fatales" list, writing, "Whatever happens, at least it can be said that Natasha's life still hasn't become boring after all these years," and ranked her 42nd in their "Top 50 Avengers" list, and 74th in their "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes" list  Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy ranked Black Widow 1st in their "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic" list  Matthew Perpetua and Daniel Kibblesmith of BuzzFeed ranked Black Widow 3rd in their "84 Avengers Members Ranked From Worst To Best" list  Madeline Catalano of MovieWeb ranked Black Widow 4th in their "Toughest Female Superheroes" list  Gavia Baker-Whitelaw of The Daily Dot ranked Black Widow 9th in their "Top 33 female Superheroes Of All Time" list  The A V  Club ranked Black Widow 10th in their "100 Best Marvel Characters" list Jo-Anne Rowney of Daily Mirror ranked Black Widow 11th in their "Best female superheroes of all time" list  Rob Bricken of Gizmodo ranked Black Widow 13th in their "Every Member Of The Avengers" list, saying, "She's been one of the most venerable Avengers " Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly ranked Black Widow 14th in their "Let's Rank Every Avenger Ever" list  Sarah Prado of Game Rant ranked Black Widow 14th in their "Marvel: 14 Best Villains Turned Heroes" list  Comics Buyer's Guide ranked Black Widow 31st in their "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list  Lance Cartelli of Comicbook com ranked Black Widow 41st in their "50 Most Important Superheroes Ever" list  Lance Cartelli of GameSpot ranked Black Widow 46th in their "50 Most Important Superheroes" list  Wizard Magazine ranked Black Widow 176th in their "Top 200 Comic Book Characters" list Screen Rant included Black Widow in their "10 Best Villains Who Became Heroes In Marvel Comics" list, and in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Lady Liberators" list  CBR com ranked Black Widow 6th in their "Avengers' Greatest Leaders" list, 6th in their "10 Most Powerful Russians In Comics" list, and 32nd in their "35 Strongest Avengers" list 

Other versions
1602
In Marvel 1602, a world where superheroes have started to appear several hundred years early, Natasha is a freelance spy and "the most dangerous woman in Europe " Initially allied with Matthew Murdoch (Daredevil's 1602 counterpart), she later betrays him to Count Otto Von Doom, whom she shares a romantic relationship with  It is Natasha who later comes to Doom's rescue when he is horribly burned by Thor's lightning & the accompanying discharge of Blake's golden sphere Natasha is still working with Count von Doom during Marvel 1602: Fantastick Four where she is the captain of his flying ship  However, when she questions his plan to take the ship to the edge of the world, he pushes her over the side and appoints the Wizard captain 

1872
The Secret Wars War Zone of 1872 reimagines Natasha in the Wild West in the town of Timely  Natasha Barnes is a widow who was married to Deputy Bucky Barnes, who was killed by Mayor Fisk's men when he tried to stop a lynching  Fisk had her believe the Native Americans were responsible for his death until Sheriff Rogers told her the truth  After Sheriff Rogers was killed by Fisk and his men, Natasha teams up with Red Wolf and Doctor Bruce Banner to take Fisk down and destroy the dam separating the Cheyenne from their water 

Age of Ultron
In the Age of Ultron story, Black Widow is shown after Ultron's attack with disfiguring scars on the right side of her face from an unknown source, disarming a desperate and panicked man who attempts to threaten her for resources before meeting up with Moon Knight in one of Nick Fury's old bases 

The Avengers: United They Stand
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow appeared in the comic-book series based on the animated television series The Avengers: United They Stand 

Earth X
Natasha Romanova appeared in the Earth X miniseries much the same as her 616 counterpart  After Absorbing Man was broken to pieces by The Vision after killing The Avengers (Giant Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye), part of his body was given to her to guard in order to prevent anyone from putting Absorbing man back together   She was killed sometime before the start of Earth X  Later in the series, she is revealed in the Realm of the Dead and is recruited by Mar-Vell into his legion of the undead 

House of M
Natasha is seen as a member of the Soviet Super Soldiers  Natasha later appears a member of Shang-Chi's Red Dragons, and is mentioned as a member of S H I E L D 

Marvel Mangaverse
She appears in the New Dawn arc where The Executioner and she are hired by Mordo to kidnap Bruce Banner  They manage to succeed in doing so, with her escaping with Bruce while Tigra is dealing with The Executioner intent on keeping the reward for the job herself  However, during her escape, Bruce turns into The Hulk and destroys the submarine they were in, presumably killing her 

Marvel Zombies
Black Widow is among the Avengers who are infected by the Sentry in Marvel Zombies vs  the Army of Darkness  She is seen consuming a Yorkshire Terrier puppy  Later, in the original Marvel Zombies series, she is among the zombies who attack the Silver Surfer 

Ultimate Marvel
Under the Ultimate Marvel imprint Natasha Romanova is a member of the Ultimates, this universe's analogue of the Avengers  She debuted in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #14 (June 2002) in a story written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Terry Moore, before becoming one of the major characters in writer Mark Millar and penciller Bryan Hitch's The Ultimates, debuting there in #7 (Sept  2002) Romanova is a former KGB spy and assassin, code-named the Black Widow, known for killing her ex-husbands, notably Alexi Shostakov  She was originally part of the Ultimates' covert operations ("black ops") team, but with the emergence of the Chitauri threat was subsequently moved to public status after a publicly acceptable background was written for her  She has genetic or cybernetic enhancements making her far better in combat than the average human  After accepting a marriage proposal from Tony Stark, she receives a black suit of Iron Man armor as an engagement present, along with a set of nanites to control the armor Romanova is later revealed as a traitor—claiming that she betrayed the Ultimates because she feels that America has turned her country into a collection of drug-runners and prostitutes—responsible for killing Hawkeye's wife and children, revealing Bruce Banner's connection to the Hulk to the public, helping to frame Captain America as a traitor, and collaborating with the Liberators in their invasion of the United States  After she murders Edwin Jarvis and holds Stark hostage in an attempt to extort his fortune, Stark activates the nanites in her bloodstream, freezing her body in place, before knocking her unconscious with a wine bottle  She appears later in an emergency clinic, having cut open her wrists to bleed out the disabling nanites  Hawkeye kills her in revenge for her part in the murder of his family By The Ultimates 3 #1 a sex tape between Natasha and Stark has been leaked to the public  According to Janet Pym, the tape is of unknown origin and seems to have been professionally done with "close ups"  Stark is shown to be in a state of depression over Natasha's betrayal and subsequent death  It is later revealed that one of the Ultrons calling himself Yellowjacket had leaked the tape  During the Brotherhood's attack on the Stark Mansion, Mystique shapeshifts into Natasha to get close to Tony in an attempt to kill him but is knocked unconscious by Wasp 

What If?
In What If? Age of Ultron #3, where Thor was killed, Natasha becomes the new wielder of Mjolnir to hold off an assault by the World-Serpent in Thor's absence 

In other media
Television
Black Widow was to appear in a proposed live-action 1975 series, portrayed by series creator Angie Bowie  However, the series was not picked up by a studio 
Black Widow appears in the "Iron Man" segment of The Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Margaret Griffin 
Black Widow appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Deadly is the Black Widow's Bite!," voiced by Lena Headey 
Black Widow appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Vanessa Marshall  This version is an agent of S H I E L D  and member of Nick Fury's Secret Warriors 
A young Black Widow appears in Iron Man: Armored Adventures, voiced by Ashleigh Ball  This version is initially a freelancer before eventually joining S H I E L D 
Black Widow appears in Avengers Assemble, voiced by Laura Bailey  This version is a member of the Avengers 
Black Widow appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload, voiced by again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced again by Laura Bailey  This version is a member of the Avengers 
Black Widow appears in Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers 
Black Widow appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassembled, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears in the Spider-Man episode "Spider-Island" Part 2, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes - Black Panther: Trouble in Wakanda, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears in Marvel Future Avengers, voiced by Mayumi Asano in Japanese and Laura Bailey in English 

Film
In 2004, Lionsgate Entertainment announced that a Black Widow motion picture by screenwriter-director David Hayter and starring Natasha Romanoff was in the script stage  Lionsgate subsequently dropped the project 
The Ultimate Marvel incarnation of Black Widow appears in Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers 2, voiced by Olivia d'Abo 
Black Widow makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, in which she joined the Avengers in stopping Ultron  Though she was killed in battle, she is survived by her and Captain America's son James Rogers 
Black Widow appears in Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, voiced by Clare Grant 
Black Widow appears in Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher, voiced by Jennifer Carpenter 

Marvel Cinematic Universe
Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow appears in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), portrayed by Scarlett Johansson  This version is a former assassin for the Red Room before joining S H I E L D  and becoming an Avenger  She first appears in the live-action film Iron Man 2 before making subsequent appearances in the live-action films The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and a self-titled film (2021)  Additionally, alternate timeline versions of Romanoff appear in the Disney+ animated series What If   ?, voiced by Lake Bell 

Video games
Black Widow appears in The Punisher, voiced by Saffron Henderson 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in PlayStation Portable (PSP) and the PC versions of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, voiced by Nika Futterman 
Black Widow appears in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, voiced by Salli Saffioti 
Black Widow appears as a boss in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, voiced again by Nika Futterman 
Black Widow, based on the MCU incarnation, appears in the Iron Man 2 tie-in game, voiced by Catherine Campion 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet, voiced by Grey DeLisle 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, voiced by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Strike Force 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance 
Black Widow appears as a card in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3's Heroes vs Heralds mode
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Contest of Champions 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth 
Black Widow appears in LittleBigPlanet via the "Marvel Costume Kit 5" DLC 
Black Widow appears in Zen Pinball 2 via the "Women of Power" DLC pack's A-Force table 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Julianne Buescher 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers Alliance Tactics 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Disney Infinity 2 0, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Disney Infinity 3 0, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Five variants of Black Widow appear in Marvel Puzzle Quest 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel: Future Fight 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel's Avengers, voiced by Scarlett Johansson 
A teenage version of Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers Academy, voiced by Alison Brie 
Black Widow appears as a downloadable playable character in Marvel vs  Capcom: Infinite, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, voiced by Maria Teresa Creasey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Powers United VR, voiced again  by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel's Avengers, voiced again by Laura Bailey 
Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Future Revolution, voiced again by Laura Bailey  Additionally, several alternate universe incarnations of Black Widow appear as NPCs, such as one who went undercover in the Hydra Empire and one who joined a secret rebellion against the Maestro on Sakaar 
Black Widow's mainstream and MCU incarnations, with the latter based on her appearances in Avengers: Endgame and her self-titled film, appear as unlockable outfits in Fortnite Battle Royale 
Black Widow appears in Marvel Snap 

Novels
Black Widow appears in the novels Black Widow: Forever Red (2015) and Black Widow: Red Vengeance (2016), by Margaret Stohl 
Black Widow appears in the prose novel adaptation of The Death of Captain America 
Black Widow appears in the prose novel adaptation of Civil War 
The MCU incarnation of Black Widow appears in Avengers: Everybody Wants To Rule The World 

Miscellaneous
Black Widow appears in the Spider-Woman motion comic, voiced by JoEllen Anklam 
Black Widow appears in Marvel Universe: LIVE!, portrayed by Louise Forsley  This version is a member of the Avengers 
Black Widow appears in the Black Widow: Bad Blood audio novel 

Collected editions
See also
List of Russian superheroes
List of Marvel Comics superhero debuts
Passage 4:
Jeremy Staat
Jeremy Ray Staat (born October 10, 1976) is a former American football defensive lineman and offensive lineman who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1998 through 2000 and the St  Louis Rams for two games in 2003  He also played for the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League (AFL)  After his football career, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq  On September 17, 2019, Staat, a registered Republican, announced his candidacy for Congress in California's 8th District 

Football career
Staat was a two-sport star in Bakersfield High School in Bakersfield, California, where he was All-Area selection  He then attended Bakersfield College, a junior college, where he played offensive and defensive line for two years while also excelling in track and field  After initially expressing interest in transferring to the University of Nebraska as a walk on, he was offered a full ride scholarship to Arizona State University as a defensive lineman At ASU, Staat became friends with free safety Pat Tillman, and was a roommate with Tillman's brother for a semester  While playing for the Sun Devils, he won the Morris Trophy as the best defensive lineman in the Pac-10 Conference in 1997 and was named a FWAA First-team All-American [1]In the 1998 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Staat with the 41st overall pick  The Steelers had debated about whether to take Staat or Alan Faneca with their first round pick but ultimately was able to take both  He played three seasons in Pittsburgh, starting in eleven games in the 1999 season  He would sign with the Seattle Seahawks in 2001 but would be cut from the team following the preseason  Cut by a football team for the first time in his life, Staat began seriously considering joining the military following the September 11, 2001 attacks  However, Tillman, who had quit a lucrative career with the Arizona Cardinals to become a U S  Army Ranger after the attacks, talked Staat into staying in the league for at least three more games to earn his NFL retirement benefits [2]In 2002, he signed with the Oakland Raiders and was moved to offensive guard by Bill Callahan  He would be cut during the preseason, however, after Jon Gruden was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers  Despite speculation that he would reunite with Jake Plummer on the Arizona Cardinals, following an injury to defensive lineman Tom Burke, he would ultimately remain unsigned  Staat eventually earned his pension during a stint with the St  Louis Rams during the 2003 season after transitioning back to the defensive line  The following season, he joined the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League  During the season, he learned Tillman had been killed in action in Afghanistan, in what was later revealed to be a "friendly fire" incident  The loss of his friend further reduced his interest in football  He would throw his helmet during the middle of practice and storm off the field, leaving the Avengers and professional football forever 

Post-football career
Immediately after football, one of Staat's friends got him a job working at a Walgreens drug store  Staat, like Tillman's family, was dismayed by the United States Army's handling of the story surrounding Tillman's death; himself noting that "The fog around his death was thickened by lies " However, after spending time deciding on his own future, he opted to follow his deceased friend and teammate's example and join the military; but instead of the Army, he joined the United States Marine Corps [3]Staat joined the Marine Corps in 2006 [4] In March 2007, Lance Corporal Staat deployed with 1st Battalion 3rd Marines for a seven-month mission in Iraq [5] He was an infantry machine gunner and drove around in seven-ton armored trucks used to transport soldiers Staat's Iraq tour was fairly quiet, his unit suffered two injuries and no one was killed in action  His opinions changed: "It wasn't a blood fest, like some people make it out to be  It was pretty controlled  We had a pretty good sense of security  My eyes were opened up  They [the Iraqis] were just people  I expected to see guys running around with AK-47s, shouting about Allah and shooting into the sky " After returning from his tour, he started to have back, hip and heart problems  He was put on light duty and began the process of seeking a medical discharge Following his military career, Staat opted to return and finish his degree  He graduated from Arizona State University in 2009 with a master's degree, and returned to his hometown of Bakersfield, where he teaches welding at Bakersfield College In 2019, Staat announced that he would be running for Congress in the 2020 Election on the Republican Party ticket for California's 8th congressional district  He lost in the March primary to Jay Obernolte 
Passage 5:
Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany (born 27 May 1971) is a British actor  He is best known for his roles as J A R V I S  and Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and for starring in the Disney+ miniseries WandaVision (2021), for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie 
Bettany first gained popularity for appearing in the films Gangster No  1 (2000), A Knight's Tale (2001) and A Beautiful Mind (2001)  He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for playing Stephen Maturin in the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)  Other films in which Bettany has appeared include Dogville (2003), Wimbledon (2004), The Da Vinci Code (2006), The Tourist (2010), Margin Call (2011), Legend (2015) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)  He made his directorial debut with the film Shelter (2014), which he also wrote and co-produced 
In television and theatre, Bettany has portrayed Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll in the series A Very British Scandal and Andy Warhol in the play The Collaboration in the West End, which is set to transfer to Broadway 

Early life
Bettany was born on 27 May 1971 in London, to Anne (née Kettle), a stage singer, theatre teacher, and stage manager, and Thane Bettany, a dancer, actor, drama teacher and godfather to Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh  Bettany was raised Roman Catholic, although his church attendance drifted after his confirmation  Bettany then experimented with other Christian denominations among which were Methodist and Church of England congregations with his father  Bettany is now an atheist  While his father taught at the all-girls boarding school Queenswood School, near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, the family lived on the school grounds When Bettany was 16, his brother Matthew died at age 8 after falling onto concrete from a tennis pavilion roof at Queenswood  Soon after, Bettany dropped out of school, left home, and became a street performer in London  He lived in a small flat and earned money by playing his guitar in the streets as a busker  His parents later divorced  After two years, he found a new job in a home for the elderly  After working there for a year, Bettany enrolled at the Drama Centre London  He had dyslexia prior to it being recognised as a learning difficulty 

Career
In 1990, at the age of 19, Bettany began a three-year course at the Drama Centre London in Chalk Farm  He made his stage debut in Stephen Daldry's acclaimed West End revival of An Inspector Calls at the Aldwych Theatre, playing the part of Eric Birling  He also appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar (for which he received a Charleson Award nomination)  When Bettany was 21, he appeared in a BBC production of Oliver Twist, playing Bill Sikes 
After appearing in the finale of Sean Bean's series Sharpe as William II of the Netherlands at the Battle of Waterloo, he made his film debut with a small part in Bent, a Holocaust drama which also featured Clive Owen, Jude Law, and Ian McKellen  He continued doing work in stage and television: these included Joe Penhall's Love and Understanding, which played at London's Bush Theatre and then ran in Connecticut  He had roles in the television productions Killer Net and Coming Home, during which he met and dated Emily Mortimer  His last stage work was in One More Wasted Year and Stranger's House at the Royal Court Theatre  He filmed several more movies, including his first leading role in Gangster No  1  The British Independent Film Awards nominated him for Best Actor, and the London Film Critics' Circle nominated him for British Newcomer of the Year Back in Hollywood, writer/director Brian Helgeland (L A  Confidential) was planning a new film called The Sin Eater (also known as The Order)  He was impressed by Bettany's audition tape, though Helgeland eventually decided to film A Knight's Tale instead  The studio executives were not impressed, but Helgeland was determined to cast him, even writing the part of Chaucer for him  A Knight's Tale would be Bettany's first big Hollywood production  He received critical acclaim for A Knight's Tale, including winning the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Supporting Actor  After the movie wrapped, Helgeland, determined that Hollywood should recognize Bettany's talent, showed the audition tape to many of his peers, including Ron Howard, who promptly cast Bettany in A Beautiful Mind alongside Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly  After A Beautiful Mind, Bettany was offered the role of serial killer Francis Dolarhyde in Red Dragon, opposite Edward Norton and Anthony Hopkins  He turned down the role due to his commitment to a role in Lars von Trier's Dogville Bettany's next major project saw him starring again alongside A Beautiful Mind costar Russell Crowe in Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World  His portrayal of surgeon and naturalist Stephen Maturin brought him a BAFTA nomination, and he was named British Actor of the Year (London Film Critics' Circle), and Best Actor (Evening Standard) 
On 28 June 2004, Bettany and 13 other actors were included in the 2004 invitation to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences  Dogville and The Reckoning were released in limited cinemas in 2004  In September of that year, Bettany made his leading-man debut in Wimbledon, a romantic comedy with Kirsten Dunst  The film's cast would also introduce him to Jon Favreau, playing his manager, a relationship that would return when Favreau cast him as the voice of J A R V I S  in Iron Man  In mid-2005, Bettany filmed Firewall in Vancouver, Canada, a thriller also starring Harrison Ford and Virginia Madsen, which reunited him with Wimbledon director Richard Loncraine  He spent the autumn of 2005 filming The Da Vinci Code, based on Dan Brown's best-selling novel and starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou and Ian McKellen  In the film, he played an Opus Dei monk named Silas 
In 2007, Bettany went to London to star in There For Me, written by his friends Dan Fredenburgh and Doraly Rosen  In 2008, he appeared in the New Line Cinema family fantasy Inkheart, playing the part of a fire-eater named Dustfinger  In 2009, he appeared as Charles Darwin in Creation, starring opposite his own wife Jennifer Connelly  In 2010, Bettany appeared alongside Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in The Tourist and portrayed the archangel Michael in Legion, a film depicting divine vengeance upon humanity  He starred in the films Priest and Margin Call, both released in 2011 
Bettany reprised his voice role as J A R V I S  in 2010's Iron Man 2, 2012's The Avengers, 2013's Iron Man 3, and Disneyland's Innoventions attraction  In 2014, Bettany starred alongside Johnny Depp and fellow British actor Rebecca Hall in the feature film Transcendence  He was once again paired with Depp in Mortdecai, a 2015 motion picture also starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan McGregor  After voicing J A R V I S  for five years, Bettany made his first onscreen appearance in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron, playing Vision  He reprised the role in the sequels Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Bettany portrayed Ted Kaczynski in the Discovery Channel television show, Manhunt: Unabomber  Bettany replaced Michael K  Williams in Solo: A Star Wars Story, after Williams was removed from the final film, as he was unable to return to set during the film's reshoots  Bettany was cast in his place, with the character being reworked from a motion-capture alien to a human  On 20 January 2018, it was reported that Bettany was nearing a deal to play Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on the Netflix series The Crown, succeeding Matt Smith  Days later, on 25 January, it was reported by TVLine that Bettany was ultimately unable to sign on due to scheduling conflicts Bettany starred alongside Elizabeth Olsen in the Marvel television miniseries WandaVision, portraying a new version of his Marvel Cinematic Universe character, Vision, with Olsen portraying the titular Wanda  It premiered on Disney+ in January 2021, garnering praise from critics  Reviewing the series, Matt Purslow of IGN wrote Bettany "effortlessly takes to the comedic skits" and that he and Olsen "provide a fantastic amount of life, wit, and emotion"  For his performance, Bettany received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film Bettany starred in the 2021 miniseries A Very British Scandal  He played artist Andy Warhol in a production of the play The Collaboration by Anthony McCarten at the Young Vic in London from February to April 2022  He is slated to reprise the role in a film adaptation of the play  Bettany is attached to portray businessman Alexander Nix in a film about the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal as well as co-write and star in the dramedy film Harvest Moon Bettany will reprise his role as Vision in the television series Vision Quest 

Personal life
On 1 January 2003, Bettany married American actress Jennifer Connelly in Scotland; they met when they starred together in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind  They did not become a couple until some time after filming, as both were in other relationships at the time  As a teenager, he had developed a crush on her after seeing her in the 1986 film Labyrinth  The September 11 attacks motivated him to act on his feelings for her, and after two days of attempting to contact her, he proposed, despite the fact that they were not yet in a relationship  Soon after their marriage, they moved to Brooklyn Heights after living in Tribeca  The couple have two children together  Bettany is stepfather to Connelly's son from a previous relationship Bettany is close friends with actor Johnny Depp  Text messages between Bettany and Depp from 2013 were used as evidence in 2020 during Depp's defamation trial against The Sun and in 2022 as part of Depp's defamation trial against his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard 

Acting credits
Film
Television
Theatre
Awards and nominations
Notes
Passage 6:
The New Adventures of the Elusive Avengers
The New Adventures of the Elusive Avengers (Russian: Новые приключения Неуловимых, translit  Novye prikluchenya Neulovimykh) is a 1968 Soviet action film, a sequel of The Elusive Avengers, directed by Edmond Keosayan and made on Mosfilm  The film was followed by The Crown of the Russian Empire, or Once Again the Elusive Avengers released in 1971 

Plot
The film continues the story of the Elusive Avengers, a posse of young Red Partisans, including Valerka, a former schoolboy, Yashka, a devil-may-care gypsy, and two orphan siblings, Danka and his sister Ksanka  They join the Red Army and fight Baron Wrangel's White Guards  They intercept an airplane that was carrying a letter to the Baron  The letter reveals that the map of fortifications in Crimea is in possession of the White counter-intelligence officer, Colonel Kudasov  This map is vital for the Red Army assault, and the Avengers are sent on a secret mission to steal the map 
They enter Sevastopol on a fishing boat and disguise themselves  Danka assumes the guise of a shoe cleaner, and Valerka fashions himself as a young monarchist nobleman  Meanwhile, the Red agent they were sent to is arrested by Kudasov and killed when he tries to escape, leaving the Avengers on their own 
Ksanka meets Bubba Castorsky, a popular singer and dancer who helped the Avengers in the first film, and Bubba tells them about a White officer who probably knows the combination for Kudasov's safe  Valerka visits the cabaret often visited by this officer, captain Ovechkin, and befriends him  But Danka is arrested, because Ataman Burnash comes to the city and recognizes him  Yashka meets the local Gypsies and persuades them to help freeing Danka 
Then Captain Ovechkin recognizes Valerka for what he is, gloats at him and tells him the combination, intending to arrest him immediately, but Valerka detonates a pool ball filled with explosives and escapes  He dashes to the Counterintelligence Service headquarters, infiltrates it and steals the map  The headquarters is surrounded by soldiers, but Danka, Yashka and Ksanka distract the soldiers and let him escape with the map  The Avengers, along with Bubba, flee the city, but a White officer shoots Bubba when they are already escaping on a boat 

Cast
Mikhail Metyolkin – Valerka Meshcheryakov
Vasily Vasilyev – Yashka the Gypsy
Viktor Kosykh – Danka Shchus
Valentina Kurdyukova – Ksanka Shchus
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan – captain Pyotr Sergeyevich Ovechkin
Boris Sichkin – Buba Kastorsky, actor and singer
Arkady Tolbuzin – colonel Leopold Sergeyevich Kudasov
Vladimir Ivashov – lieutenant Perov, Kudasov's adjutant
Yefim Kopelyan – chieftain Ignat Burnash
Konstantin Sorokin – Mefody Kuzmich, carousel owner
Ivan Pereverzev – Smirnov, chief of staff of Red Cavalry Army
Nikolay Fedortsov – Andrei, underground fighter
Yevgeny Vesnik – drunk colonel
Sergey Filippov – Koshkin, apothecary, expert on explosions
Savely Kramarov – Ilyukha Verekhov, cross-eyed convoy, former bandit
Eduard Abalov – episode
Yan Frenkel – violinist (uncredited)

External links
The New Adventures of the Elusive Avengers at IMDb



ground_truth: Qatar Stars League

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: Who is the spouse of the actor that plays vision in avengers age of ultron?

The following are given passages.
Context 3: Passage 1:
History of Chelsea F C 
The History of Chelsea F C  spans the period from 1905 to the present day:

History of Chelsea F C  (1905–1952)
History of Chelsea F C  (1952–1983)
History of Chelsea F C  (1983–2003)
History of Chelsea F C  (2003–2022)
History of Chelsea F C  (2022–present)For a season-by-season account of Chelsea's history, see List of Chelsea F C  seasons 

See also
Chelsea F C  § History
Passage 2:
Second City derby
In English football, the Second City derby or Birmingham derby, is the local derby between the two major clubs in the city of Birmingham – Aston Villa and Birmingham City, first contested in 1879  Villa play at Villa Park while Birmingham play at St Andrew's, the two grounds separated by roughly 2 4 miles (3 9 km)  It is known as the Second City Derby based on Birmingham being referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom  The two clubs are generally regarded as each other's most fierce rivals  In addition both sides have affiliated women's sides, Aston Villa W F C  and Birmingham City W F C 

History
The clubs first met on 27 September 1879, when Birmingham City were called Small Heath Alliance  The game, on a pitch at Small Heath's Muntz Street ground described by the Villa players as "only suitable for pot-holing", finished 1–0 – recorded as "one goal and a disputed goal to nil" – to the home side  Villa won the first competitive game between the clubs, in the Second Round of the FA Cup at Wellington Road in 1887, by four goals to nil, and their first league encounter, in the First Division in the 1894–95 season, 2–1 The two teams have engaged in several hotly contested matches  In the 1925 league game at Villa Park, with the home side 3–0 ahead with eleven minutes to go, Blues scored three times in a dramatic final spell to draw the match  The following year, Aston Villa made headlines with the signing of Tom 'Pongo' Waring, and his first appearance was for the reserves against Birmingham City's reserves, which famously drew a crowd of 23,000  Waring scored three times in the match The most significant clash was the final of the 1963 League Cup, which was staged not long after Aston Villa had beaten Birmingham City 4–0 in the league  Blues won 3–1 on aggregate over the two-legged final to claim their first major domestic honour During the late 1970s to early 1980s both Villa and Blues met regularly in the First Division and both teams had some memorable successes in the fixture  In 1980–81 Villa did the double over Blues and went on to win the First Division title  Blues scored a memorable 3–0 victory at St Andrew's in the first meeting following Villa's European Cup triumph in 1982  Both teams promptly went into decline  Blues racked up a 3–0 win in a relegation battle at Villa Park in March 1986 but were relegated at the end of that season  Villa would be demoted the following campaign  The next time Villa met Blues in a league fixture at Villa Park again was in the Second Division and saw a 2–0 Blues victory  The reverse fixture at St Andrew's was a 2–1 Villa victory with both goals coming from Garry Thompson  The two sides would only meet again in the 1980s in cup competitions  Villa won 7–0 on aggregate when they clashed twice in the 1988–89 League Cup  The same season Villa also won a Full Members Cup clash 6–0 

The Premier League Era
Following the creation of the Premier League, Aston Villa and Birmingham City met twice in the second round of the 1993–94 League Cup  Villa won both matches 1–0  The game at St Andrew's was settled by a Kevin Richardson goal after his keeper Mark Bosnich had saved a penalty from John Frain to keep the game at 0–0  The second leg at Villa Park was notable for a winning goal from Villa's Dean Saunders and a red card for Blues' Paul Tait  Villa went on to win the trophy 
Blues' promotion to the Premier League in 2002 saw fans eagerly anticipating the first league derbies in 15 years  Blues won both derbies 3–0 and 2–0, respectively  Both matches saw goalkeeping errors by Villa goalkeeper Peter Enckelman, including a goal scored directly from an Olof Mellberg throw-in  Violence between both sets of fans occurred before both matches as evening kick-off times had allowed fans to get drunk over the course of the day  In March 2003, during the game at Villa Park, two Villa players were sent off, Dion Dublin for a head-butt on Blues' Robbie Savage and Joey Guðjónsson for a reckless two-footed tackle on Matthew Upson  Trouble also took place following the game on Witton Lane outside Villa Park, where missiles were hurled at police who were attempting to keep both sets of fans apart 
The 2003–04 Premiership season saw games ending in 0–0 and 2–2 draws  The 2–2 draw saw Blues recover a two-goal deficit thanks to a 90th-minute equaliser from Stern John  Both games were lunchtime kick-offs to avoid drunken behaviour, which was achieved although the games lost none of their passionate edge  The following season Blues got back to winning ways, with 2–1 victory at Villa Park just before Christmas and 2–0 at home in March, Villa keeper Thomas Sørensen making mistakes in both matches, though it's debatable if his errors directly affected the respective results  In the 2005–06 Premiership Season, Villa finally beat Blues in the Premiership, thanks to a Kevin Phillips goal  This was followed up by another Villa victory on 16 April 2006, Easter Sunday, with Aston Villa winning 3–1 thanks to two goals from Milan Baroš and a bicycle kick from Gary Cahill  Blues were relegated in 2006 but subsequently promoted in 2007 
In November 2007, Villa won their third consecutive derby match with a 2–1 victory at St Andrew's  Former Villa defender Liam Ridgewell scored an own goal to put Villa 1–0 up, Blues equalised through Mikael Forssell only for Gabriel Agbonlahor to clinch it with a late header for Villa, having cleared off his own line seconds before  Violent clashes took place outside the ground after the game in which over 20 police officers were hurt  The derby on 20 April 2008 between the two sides ended in a 5–1 win for Aston Villa at Villa Park, the biggest winning margin for either side in a league match for 40 years 
Villa continued their winning ways in the derby, when they won both of the meetings between the clubs in the 2009–10 Premier League season  The first took place on 13 September 2009 at St Andrew's, and ended 1–0 to Aston Villa, with Agbonlahor scoring the winner in the 85th minute, once again there was trouble with 14 arrests  Villa then went on to beat Blues 1–0 at Villa Park thanks to a disputed penalty from James Milner in the 82nd minute  This was the 3rd time in 4 derbies that Villa had scored the winning goal in the final 10 minutes of the game  Villa also possess the record of six straight wins from 1987 to 1993, including five cup matches  This record was then achieved in the Premier League after Villa beat Blues 1–0 on 25 April 2010, setting a record of six straight league wins from 2005 to 2010  The record was finally ended at the next derby match on 31 October 2010, which resulted in a 0–0 draw at Villa Park  The return match at St Andrew's also ended in a draw, with it finishing 1–1 
In those games in October and December 2010 where Aston Villa played Birmingham City, at Villa Park (Premier League, 31 October) and St Andrew's (League Cup, 1 December, which was the first mid-week game between the two sides since 2003) violence between the two sets of supporters and hooligan firms occurred, with many fans being arrested  In the first game, there were scenes of violence outside Villa Park and there were a small amount of arrests including a Birmingham City club chef  In the second of the two games (and larger scale violence) after Blues had beaten Villa 2–1, Blues supporters came onto the pitch and confronted the visiting Villa fans, this resulted in flares, ripped out seats and other missiles being hurled by Villa fans into the Blues supporters, there were also flash points before and after the game including the attack on a Blues supporters pub by Villa hooligans, the events were described as a "warzone" by a supporter who attended the game  Birmingham City were later fined £40,000 by the Football Association for failing to control their fans On 10 April 2011, an episode of Police Academy UK, a TV show aired on BBC Three which documents overseas police officers' introduction to British crime and policing, was set in Birmingham and covered the violence that occurred at the game between Birmingham City and Aston Villa on 1 December 2010 On 17 June 2011, Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish swapped Blues for Villa in a move that shocked the football world  The reaction from both sets of supporters was one of anger  Blues supporters were angry at McLeish, who guided them to only their second ever major trophy win in February 2011, for betraying them to join bitter rivals Villa, and Villa fans were unhappy with the appointment of a manager that had got Blues relegated twice in four seasons, and was perceived to play a negative style of football; that he came from Blues only served to rub salt into the wound of the board making such an unambitious and negative appointment  Several hundred Villa supporters protested at Villa Park when it emerged that Villa owner Randy Lerner has begun talks with McLeish  McLeish received death threats from followers of both teams following his appointment as Aston Villa manager  This controversial move only increased tension and hostility between the players, supporters and owners of both clubs even more as Blues directors threatened legal action against Villa for allegedly "tapping up" McLeish, who resigned as Blues manager on 12 June 2011, while he was still under contract at Birmingham City  McLeish's appointment marked the first time in history that a manager had moved directly from Birmingham City to Aston Villa  On 14 May 2012, one day after the 2011–12 Premier League season ended, McLeish was sacked as Villa manager after a massively disappointing one season in charge 

The EFL Championship Era
After being relegated in 2011, Birmingham are still yet to gain promotion back to the top flight of English football  However, since Alex McLeish was sacked as Villa manager, Villa's poor form continued  Despite several manager changes over the next few years, after several close calls they were finally relegated at the end of the 2015/16 season  Earlier on in the 2015/16 season, the two teams were drawn to play each other in the third round of the League Cup  Aston Villa ran out 1–0 winners thanks to a goal from Rudy Gestede  
In the 2016–17 season the two teams faced off in the second tier of English football for the first time since 1987  The first game at St Andrew's ended in a 1–1 draw  Villa won the second match 1–0 with a 69th-minute goal scored by Agbonlahor  The two sides faced each other again in the league during the 2017/18 season, producing a dismal 0–0 draw at St  Andrews marred by Birmingham fans throwing clappers at the Villa players all throughout the game, before Villa emphatically fortified their second city superiority with a 2–0 victory in front of 41,232 spectators at Villa Park  Some fans believed this game to be a coming of age for lifelong Villa fan and local Jack Grealish, who produced a match-winning man-of-the-match display  
The teams next met on 25 November in one of the most exciting derby games in recent times, Villa ran out 4-2 winners after goals from Jonathan Kodjia, Jack Grealish, a Tammy Abraham penalty and Alan Hutton who ran half the length of the pitch to score, Pedersen and Lukas Jutkiewicz scored for Birmingham On 10 March 2019, a Birmingham City fan invaded the pitch during the reverse fixture at St  Andrew's and assaulted Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish on the pitch by punching him from behind in the head, which was labelled as "disgraceful and cowardly" by supporters of both teams  The man was arrested and charged by West Midlands Police  St Andrew's' security was criticised as a result  The game ended in an ironic twist with a 1–0 win for Aston Villa with Grealish scoring the winning goal  At the end of the same season, Villa were promoted as they won ten in a row including that game  Since then, this fiercely contested fixture hasn't been played between the two rivals 

Women's Sides
Birmingham City W F C  were founded in 1968, whilst Aston Villa W F C  were founded in 1973 as Solihull F C , and took on their current Aston Villa guise in 1996  During the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons both teams competed in the second tier FA Women's Premier League North  Birmingham were then promoted to the Women's Premier League National with Villa joining them for one season in 2003-04 before being relegated  Then followed 18 years of the teams being in different divisions, Birmingham being in the top tier and Villa elsewhere, until the 2020–21 Women's Super League season when Villa were promoted up to join Blues  In the first ever WSL match between the two sides Birmingham beat Villa 1–0 at an empty Villa Park (due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom), while the Birmingham's home match which was also played behind closed doors at Damson Park, Solihull was a 1–1 draw  In the 2021–22 season, Aston Villa won 1–0 at St  Andrew's  Birmingham returned the favour and won 1–0 at Villa Park on 8 May 2022, the final day of the season, as they were relegated to the FA Women's Championship As of the 2021–22 Birmingham currently play at St Andrew's, home of the men's team, having played at Redditch Utd, Stratford Town and Solihull Moors in the 21st century  Villa play at Walsall's Bescot Stadium, having moved from Boldmere St Michaels - although important games such as the Second City Derby will often take place at Villa Park 

Statistics and records
As of the end of the 2010–11 season, there have been 120 meetings in major competition between the two teams since the first FA Cup meeting in 1887, of which Aston Villa have won 52 and Birmingham City 38  The most goals in one game were scored in a league game on 7 July 1895, in the First Division, as Small Heath lost to Aston Villa 7–3  The biggest winning margin was 6–0 to Aston Villa on 9 November 1988, in a Full Members Cup fixture  The last Birmingham City league victory over Aston Villa was on 20 March 2005, when Blues won 2–0 at St Andrew's  Villa won six encounters in a row, most recently on 25 April 2010 (2005–2010)  The two teams drew for the first time in over six years in the next match (the first of three in the 2010–11 season), with the match finishing 0–0 (the other Premier League match of the season also finished as a draw)  The second match of the season resulted in the first Blues win since 2005, as they beat Villa 2–1 in the 2010–11 League Cup Quarter Final on 1 December 2010 

All-time results
Cup matches
Women's matches
Summary of results
Stats correct as of 10 March 2019 

Records
Firsts
First competitive meeting: Aston Villa 4–0 Small Heath Alliance (FA Cup), 5 November 1887 
First league meeting: Aston Villa 2–1 Small Heath, 1 September 1894 
First away victory for Aston Villa: Small Heath 1–4 Aston Villa, 26 October 1895 
First away victory for Birmingham City: Aston Villa 1–3 Birmingham, 20 January 1906 

Results
Highest scoring game: Aston Villa 7–3 Small Heath, 7 September 1895 
Largest winning margin (Aston Villa): 6 goals – 6–0, 9 November 1988 
Largest winning margin (Birmingham City): 4 goals – 4–0, 21 September 1968 

Players
Most goals in a match (Aston Villa):
Most goals in a match (Birmingham City):

Trends
Most games won in a row (Aston Villa): 6, 16 October 2005 to 25 April 2010 
Most games won in a row (Birmingham City): 5, 3 April 1976 – 25 February 1978 
Most games without defeat (Aston Villa): 14, 16 October 2005 – on going
Most games without defeat (Birmingham City): 6, 8 March 1933 – 23 November 1935 and 16 September 2002 – 20 March 2005 
Most drawn games in a row: 4, 10 December 1949 – 21 September 1955 
Whenever the clubs have met in the Premier League the result has always been the same during that particular season: 2002/2003– 2 Blues wins, 2003/2004– 2 draws, 2004/2005– 2 Blues wins, 2005/2006– 2 Villa Wins, 2007/2008– 2 Villa wins, 2009/2010– 2 Villa wins, 2010/11- 2 draws 

Top scorers
The following is a list of the top goal scorers for each team in the fixture  Only players who have scored 4 or more goals feature 

Crossing the divide
Players
Unlike, for example, the Old Firm derby, there is no shortage of players who have appeared for both clubs  Villa legend Harry Hampton transferred to Blues after the First World War and helped the club to the Second Division title  The last established first-team player to make this move was Des Bremner in 1984, though there had been loan signings and movement of youth players during this period  The most recent permanent transfer from Aston Villa to Birmingham City was that of Gary Gardner in Summer 2019, his brother Craig was the previous player to move from Villa to Birmingham in 2010  The last player to move directly in the other direction was Spanish Winger Jota in the same transfer window 
Notable players who have been transferred directly between the clubs are listed below 

Aston Villa to Birmingham City
Notes
The players listed above made a direct transfer from Villa to Blues  In addition, there are several players who have "crossed the divide" but done so via another league club 
European Cup winner Dennis Mortimer – regarded by Villa fans as one of their greatest ever players – also played for Birmingham City in the 1986/7 season 
Kevin Phillips played for Villa in the 2005/06 season before moving to Blues in 2008 via West Bromwich Albion 

Birmingham City to Aston Villa
Notes
The players listed above made a direct transfer from Blues to Villa  In addition, there are several high-profile players who have "crossed the divide" but done so via another league club  Notable examples include former England international Emile Heskey and European Cup winner Peter Withe 
Chris Sutton was released by Birmingham City at the end of the 2005–06 season  His next club was Aston Villa, for whom he signed for in October 2006 
Scott Sinclair has played on loan at both clubs  He was on loan at Birmingham City while he was playing for Chelsea during the 2008–09 season and he was on loan at Aston Villa during the 2014–15 season before signing permanently from Manchester City 

Managers
Former Aston Villa Manager Ron Saunders, who managed Villa to League Cup success in 1975 and again in 1977 before taking the club to its first Championship success for 70 years in 1981, also moved across to Birmingham City following his resignation in 1982 
Alex McLeish's appointment as Aston Villa manager in June 2011 after resigning from Birmingham City five days before was the first time in history a manager has moved from Birmingham City to Aston Villa  The move shocked the football world and increased tension between the two clubs even more Former Birmingham City Manager Steve Bruce was appointed Villa manager in 2016 

Aston Villa to Birmingham City
Birmingham City to Aston Villa
Chairmen
Doug Ellis was a director of Birmingham City in the late 1960s before becoming part of a consortium which took over at Aston Villa in 1968 

See also
Aston Villa Hardcore (hooligan firm)
Birmingham Zulu Warriors (hooligan firm)
List of Aston Villa F C  seasons
List of Birmingham City F C  seasons
List of Aston Villa F C  records and statistics
List of Birmingham City F C  records and statistics
Passage 3:
1914 FA Cup Final
The 1914 FA Cup final was a football match between Burnley and Liverpool on 25 April 1914 at Crystal Palace, London  It was the final match of the 1913–14 FA Cup, the 43rd season of the country's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, better known as the FA Cup  Both teams were appearing in their first final Both teams entered the competition in the first round  Burnley's matches ranged from comfortable victories to close affairs  They beat Bolton Wanderers 3–0 in the third round, but beat Sheffield United 1–0 in a replay of their semi-final which finished 0–0  Liverpool matches were generally close affairs, two of their five ties went to a replay  Apart from a 5–1 victory in their third round replay against West Ham United, their biggest margin of victory was by two goals 
Watched by a crowd of 72,778, including King George V, who became the first reigning monarch to attend a FA Cup Final and to present the trophy to the winners, the first half was goalless  Burnley opened the scoring the 57th minute, when ex-Evertonian Bert Freeman scored  Liverpool could not find an equaliser in the remaining minutes and Burnley won the match 1–0 to win their first and to date only FA Cup 
The match was the last FA Cup Final to be played at Crystal Palace 

Match
Details
Passage 4:
1985 FA Cup Final
The 1985 FA Cup final was the 104th final of the FA Cup  It took place on 18 May 1985 at Wembley Stadium, and was contested by Manchester United and holders Everton  United won by a single goal, scored in extra time by Norman Whiteside, when he curled the ball into the net past the reach of Neville Southall after a run from the right 

Match
Summary
Everton were playing for the opportunity to win an unprecedented Treble, having won the First Division title by a margin of 13 points with three games to spare and beaten Rapid Wien in the 1985 European Cup Winners' Cup Final in Rotterdam just three days earlier  Meanwhile, Manchester United had finished fourth in the league and reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup  The two sides met three times during the 1984–85 season prior to the FA Cup final; first, a 5–0 Everton win in the league at Goodison Park on 27 October 1984, followed by a 2–1 Everton win in the third round of the League Cup at Old Trafford three days later (Everton were ultimately knocked out of the League Cup by Grimsby Town in the following round)  The third meeting, also at Old Trafford, was a 1–1 league draw on 2 March 1985 
Eight of United's starting 11 had been members of the cup-winning side from two years earlier, while Arthur Albiston was the only remaining player from the team that won the 1977 FA Cup Final  When United next won the trophy in 1990, Mark Hughes and Bryan Robson were the only players from the 1985 side to feature in the winning team  Everton's last remaining player from this match was Neville Southall, who stayed with them until 1998 and helped them win a league title in 1987 and the FA Cup in 1995, also against United – where he and Welsh compatriot Hughes were the only survivors from the 1985 final 
The match was preceded by a minute's silence in memory of those who had died in the Bradford City stadium fire a week earlier 
Everton's Peter Reid had the first chance of the game after about 15 minutes; Manchester United goalkeeper Gary Bailey came to meet a long throw-in from Gary Stevens, but his punch was poor and only went as far as Reid on the edge of the penalty area  Reid volleyed the ball goalwards, but it was deflected onto the post by a sliding John Gidman With just under 15 minutes left in the second half, Kevin Moran of Manchester United became the first player to be sent off in an FA Cup Final, for committing a professional foul on Peter Reid, who was clean through on goal 
The match remained goalless after 90 minutes and went to extra time  Five minutes after half-time in extra time, Manchester United's Norman Whiteside scored the winner, curling a low shot around Everton's Pat Van Den Hauwe and past goalkeeper Neville Southall into the bottom corner of the net 
Having been sent off, Moran was not allowed to collect his medal with the rest of the Manchester United team as they received the trophy, although The Football Association later voted to allow him to receive one while the team was on holiday in Trinidad 
Two weeks after the match, rioting by Liverpool fans towards Juventus fans at the 1985 European Cup Final caused the Heysel disaster, in which 39 Juventus fans were unlawfully killed  As a result, UEFA banned all English clubs from competing in European competitions indefinitely, which meant United were unable to compete in the following season's Cup Winners' Cup  Everton were also banned from competing as league winners in the 1985–86 European Cup  The ban stood for five years, with Liverpool receiving a further year's exclusion 

Details
Passage 5:
Terry Twell
Terence Keith "Terry" Twell (21 February 1947 – 27 February 2013) was an English professional footballer who played in the Football League for Birmingham City  He played as a goalkeeper 
Twell was born in Doncaster, which is now in South Yorkshire  He began his football career with Bourne Town, and turned professional with Birmingham City in October 1964  Manager Stan Cullis gave him his debut in place of Jim Herriot in the Second Division on 14 October 1967 at home to Portsmouth  He was beaten by a 30-yard lob in that game, which finished as a 2–2 draw, conceded four goals in the next, and that was the end of his career in the Football League  He moved into non-league football with Stamford the following year, and was on the books of Bromsgrove Rovers during the 1969–70 season Twell died on 27 February 2013, aged 66 
Passage 6:
Michael Waltrip Racing
Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC, doing business as Michael Waltrip Racing ("MWR"), was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series  The company was as a 50–50 partnership between Robert Kauffman, the founder and managing partner of Fortress Investment Group,  and two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, who first established the team in 1996 in the Busch Series (now Xfinity Series)   The team was the first full-time three-car team to field Toyota Camrys when Toyota entered the Sprint Cup racing fold in 2007, before being joined by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008  MWR was also the last original Toyota team in the Sprint Cup Series to still be in operation, as Bill Davis Racing and Red Bull Racing Team had both ceased operations in the preceding years 
The team last fielded the No  15 Toyota Camry for Clint Bowyer and the No  55 Camry for David Ragan  Brian Vickers would normally drive the No  55, but repeated health problems including blood clotting forced him out for much of 2015  Development driver Brett Moffitt and team owner Waltrip also competed in the car 

History
Michael Waltrip Racing began racing in the Winston Cup Series in 2002, making its debut at the 2002 Aaron's 499  The car was the No  98 Aaron's Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Kenny Wallace   Wallace qualified 27th and finished 21st  Following that first race, Waltrip sold the No  98 and its owner points to Innovative Motorsports 
After that, MWR fielded one Cup Series car, the No  00, on an intermittent basis through 2005  In 2006, MWR, in partnership with Bill Davis Racing, added a second car, Waltrip's No  55, but neither car had manufacturer support due to DaimlerChrysler suing BDR for breach of contract In 2006, MWR signed an agreement with Toyota to field multiple Toyota Camrys in the Nextel Cup Series for 2007   Waltrip was then able to add a third car driven by Dale Jarrett to his team for 2007, along with new sponsors However, the MWR team had a disastrous season  In February, Waltrip's teams were disallowed from their starting spots in the Daytona 500 due to an illegal fuel additive  The team members each faced a $100,000 fine and many team members were suspended  Though they backed up their qualifications by using back-up cars they suffered a terrible year  The team was unable to recover, failing to qualify for many events and losing sponsors such as Burger King and Domino's Pizza  Waltrip partnered with British-American billionaire Rob Kauffman as a 50% co-owner in order to fix the problem After the season, an ugly controversy emerged with Jack Roush of Roush Fenway Racing, who accused MWR of stealing one of his team's sway bars after a September 2007 race   While Waltrip and some other drivers, such as Jeff Gordon, argued that parts are often inadvertently swapped during post-race inspection, Roush held a lengthy news conference in March 2008 to accuse "the non-descript Toyota team" (MWR) of deliberately stealing the bar and threatened legal action   However, Roush, who had previously accused Toyota teams of being "ankle-biting Chihuahuas" and brought up Pearl Harbor in his effort to keep Toyota out of NASCAR, did not pursue such a lawsuit as NASCAR declared that the Toyota teams did nothing wrong and that Roush's ideas against Toyota were ridiculous 
For 2008, MWR once again added Aaron's as a sponsor and ran competitively, but again managed only one pole and just one top-5 finish, and UPS withdrew as a sponsor after Jarrett retired and transferred its sponsorship to MWR's archrivals Roush Fenway   In 2009, MWR was forced to form a technical alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing to have sponsorship for its third car   However, during this season, MWR finally achieved success as a Sprint Cup team, including winning a race and placing two cars in the top six two weeks later   Both of those cars ended up in the top 20 for the year   For 2010, MWR added Martin Truex Jr  as a full-time Sprint Cup driver   Michael Waltrip continued as a part-time driver, while also adding on talent such as former RCR crew chief Scott Miller, and hiring drivers Mark Martin, Clint Bowyer, and Brian Vickers 
In 2013, controversy arose in the Federated Auto Parts 400   Clint Bowyer spun out with seven laps to go, forcing a caution   Rumors abounded postrace that Bowyer had deliberately forced a caution to help Truex into the Chase   Truex was just ahead of Ryan Newman for the final Chase wildcard slot   They gained even further credence when it was revealed the third MWR driver, Brian Vickers, had pitted after the restart on orders from general manager Ty Norris, who was serving as his spotter   As it turned out, by the time Gordon was able to pit, he lost several spots and ultimately finished third, tying him with Truex in points   However, Truex got the final wildcard spot in the Chase via a tiebreaker  An investigation was unable to turn up conclusive evidence that Bowyer's spin was deliberate, but did find that Norris had tried to manipulate the race and Chase standings by having Vickers pit   As a result, NASCAR issued some of the stiffest penalties imposed on a team in its history   It fined MWR a record $300,000 and docked all three MWR teams 50 driver/owner points prior to points being reset for the Chase   The point penalty had the effect of ejecting Truex from the Chase and putting Gordon in (as 13th entrant after NASCAR was unable to eject Joey Logano from the Chase due to his involvement in another race manipulation scheme that same race)  Norris was suspended indefinitely, while crew chiefs Brian Pattie, Scott Miler and Chad Johnston were placed on probation until December 31  To make matters worse NAPA Auto Parts, who had sponsored Waltrip in both his driving and ownership roles since 2001, elected to end its business relationship with MWR following the incident, a decision that forced Waltrip to release Truex from his contract  On August 19, 2015, co-owner Rob Kauffman announced that MWR would cease full-time racing after 2015  Much of the MWR equipment and several employees went to BK Racing for 2016  They also sold their two charters to Stewart-Haas Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, which currently use them as the No  41 and No  19, respectively After shutting down, MWR was embroiled in an ugly lawsuit with former tire changer Brandon Hopkins who sued the team for wrongful firing, defamation, and interference with finding work at another team  MWR counterclaimed that Hopkins stole pit road guns which was the cause of the firing  The suit was settled out of court in November, 2017 

Sprint Cup Series
Car No  00 history
Part Time (2002-2006)The first race for the No  00 was at the Tropicana 400, with Jerry Nadeau driving  Nadeau qualified 34th but finished 37th after suffering a steering failure  MWR attempted another race that season, the NAPA 500 with Buckshot Jones driving with a sponsorship from Charter Pipeline, but he failed to qualify due to rain  Jones ran the EA Sports 500 the following season, where he started 16th and led 19 laps before being relegated to 40th due to a crash  He attempted Atlanta again, but failed to qualify  Mike Skinner closed out the year for MWR at the Ford 400, qualifying 17th, but finishing 39th after a wreck 
In 2004, Kenny Wallace returned to MWR in the No  00  Running four races for the team, his best finish was a 22nd at Homestead-Miami Speedway  Wallace ran two races in 2005, finishing 27th at Darlington Raceway  Johnny Benson ran a pair of races that season as well, but did not finish any higher than 42nd  David Reutimann, who drove for Waltrip's brother Darrell in the Craftsman Truck Series, made his Cup debut at Lowe's Motor Speedway that season, qualifying 26th and finishing 22nd  In 2006, the No  00 ran under two separate entries  The first ran with listed owners Mike and Bonnie Anderson under the name MBA Racing  It campaigned Ford Fusions with Hermie Sadler driving  He made only three starts, with his best finish 40th at the Daytona 500  The other was the MWR car with Waltrip as the listed owner  Bill Elliott drove the Monte Carlo in five races in 2006 with a sponsorship from Burger King 

David Reutimann (2007-2008)David Reutimann was tapped to drive the No  00 Toyota Camry in 2007, with full-time primary sponsorships from Burger King and Domino's Pizza  He competed for the Rookie of the Year title as well as the Nextel Cup championship  However, the team struggled to qualify for races, as did other Toyota teams, making only 26 of 36 races in the season  Reutimann experienced one of the hardest crashes ever recorded at the 2007 Auto Club 500 at California Speedway  Because of the struggles, the team finished 39th in points and had a best finish of 13th  Burger King and Domino's then pulled their sponsorship for 2008 

Michael McDowell (2008)Reutimann opened 2008 in the No  00 with backing from Aaron's  After the first five races Reutimann moved to MWR's No  44 UPS Toyota and Michael McDowell took over the No  00  However, McDowell struggled to keep the car in the Top 35 in owner points, which is necessary for automatic qualification into each race, and was replaced near the end of the season by Mike Skinner in an effort to reclaim a Top 35 spot   In October 2008, MWR transferred its third team to the No  47 Toyota of JTG Daugherty Racing, driven by Marcos Ambrose, and discontinued the No  00 team for the balance of the season 
David Reutimann (2009-2011)
In 2009, the No  00 was once again driven by Reutimann with an Aaron's sponsorship for the entire 2009 season  This became Reutimann and MWR's breakthrough season, as Reutimann won a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 on May 25, 2009, giving Michael Waltrip Racing its first victory in a Sprint Cup race, which was considered vindication for a team that had struggled for years   After a strong start to the season, Reutimann ranked among the Top 12 drivers (who qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup) after finishing third at the Pocono 500 in race No  14  He was caught by an early wreck at Daytona in race No  18 that dropped him to 14th, however, and he narrowly finished outside the Chase  He also won his second pole at Texas Motor Speedway in April and his third at Dover in the race after his first victory For 2010, Reutimann and the No  00 team returned with minimal changes  On July 10, they won the LifeLock com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, for MWR's 2nd Sprint Cup win  On November 4, 2011, MWR announced that Reutimann would not return as driver of the No  00 for 2012 
For 2012, the No  00 was renumbered to 55 in honor of Aaron's founding in 1955 

Car No  00 results
Car No  15 history
Part Time (2010-2011)The 15 began as the No  51 because Michael Waltrip's move away from full-time driving, the team began fielding a fourth car for him in selected races in 2010   Instead of continuing to use the No



ground_truth: Jennifer Connelly

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: When was the last time the team that Terry Twell was a member of beat the 194-95 winner of the FA Cup?

The following are given passages.
Context 3:  55, Waltrip decided to go with the No  51, which is the inverse of the No  15, which is the car that Waltrip drove for DEI to four victories at Daytona and Talladega in the early 2000s   Waltrip first drove the No  51 for the 2010 Daytona Speedweeks, and he became the final qualifier in the 2010 Daytona 500 despite wrecking in the qualifying race In 2011, the car was renumbered as the No  15, with Waltrip driving the car at Daytona and Talladega  Waltrip also attempted to qualify for the first ever Cup race at Kentucky (Waltrip's home track), but qualifying was rained out and the No  15 was too low in points to make the field 

Clint Bowyer (2012-2015)The No  15 ran full-time in the Sprint Cup in 2012 as Clint Bowyer joined the team from Richard Childress Racing  Bowyer ran with 5-Hour Energy as his sponsor  In June 2012, Bowyer won at Sonoma  He won again at Richmond International Raceway in September 2012 for MWR's fourth win, also becoming the first MWR driver to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup   Bowyer would win for the third time in 2012 at Charlotte in October, and ended up finishing second in the points standings after a mechanical failure on Jimmie Johnson's car in the final race 
Bowyer and MWR struggled more to find speed in both 2014 and 2015, failing to win any races nor contend for a championship  Bowyer and MWR  parted ways after the season ended with MWR not fielding full-time teams in 2016 

Car No  15 results
Car No  44 history
Dale Jarrett (2007-2008)

1999 series champion Dale Jarrett and his sponsor UPS moved over from Robert Yates Racing's No  88 car to MWR's No  44 car for the full season 
Jarrett started the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season on a high note as he drew pole position for the annual exhibition race, the Budweiser Shootout, at the Daytona International Speedway  He finished 18th out of 21 cars  Since Jarrett's team was a brand new team and had no owner points, and due to a rule change, he was eligible to use the Past Champion's Provisional five times as his 1999 championship was the most recent among past champions who were driving for teams not in the top 35 in owner points; prior to the rule change the use of a Past Champion's Provisional was not limited 
Jarrett was forced to use all five of his provisionals at the start of the season, starting at Daytona mainly because Michael Waltrip Racing was penalized by NASCAR for an illegal fuel additive during Speedweeks and the penalties knocked Jarrett, Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann out of the top 35 in owner points-the safety net for qualifying regardless of rain and cancellations of qualifying 
Jarrett started 43rd in the Daytona 500 and finished 22nd  Jarrett used his last champion's provisional at the Spring Talladega race, Aaron's 499  For the rest of 2007, Jarrett had to get into that weekend's race on time  Like the other two teams, Jarrett struggled, failing to qualify for twelve races and not scoring a single pole or top 10 finish, leading to a dismal 41st-place points finish 
During an interview on Speed, Jarrett said after his contract is up with MWR (which was expected to be in the 2009 season), he would retire, but the timetable was pushed up in October 2007 prior to the 2007 Bank of America 500  Jarrett retired from points racing after the 2008 Food City 500, turning the No  44 Toyota ride to David Reutimann  His final race was the All-Star race in May 2008 
In 2008, Jarrett planned to run the first five races and the All Star Race before retiring from Sprint Cup Series competition  
However, Jarrett was not guaranteed to start the first five races using the champion's provisional as he had the year before as Kurt Busch, the 2004 champion, had his team's owner points transferred to his teammate Sam Hornish Jr  and would be first to receive it 
In his abbreviated final season, Jarrett had a best finish of 16th in the Daytona 500 but no finish higher than 26th otherwise 

David Reutimann (2008)For the rest of the 2008 season, David Reutimann moved over from the 00 Aaron's Dream Machine to pilot the 44 car  David had four top 10s in his entire season, including a pole at the season finale Ford 400 

Car No  44 results
Car No  55 history
Michael Waltrip (2006-2009)Michael Waltrip formed an alliance with Bill Davis Racing in 2006 as Davis was going to switch to Toyota in 2007, which was the selected manufacturer for Waltrip's new team as well  This enabled Waltrip to have a car to drive as he built his team  NAPA Auto Parts, Waltrip's sponsor, followed him to his new team and Waltrip ran a Dodge Charger for 2006, although unbranded due to the team already burning bridges with DaimlerChrysler  The team bought points from Penske Racing's No  77 team, which shut down after it lost sponsorship  Since the listed owner of the No  77 was Doug Bawel, whose Jasper Motorsports team was absorbed by Penske a few years earlier, his name was registered as owner and the No  55 ran under the Waltrip-Jasper Racing banner for 2006  The arrangement called for the points to be transferred to Waltrip's new ride at MWR for 2007, which they were; however, Waltrip failed to make the top-35 in points, which meant Waltrip would have to qualify on time in 2007 

Waltrip took his Bill Davis points to his own then-new Toyota Camry team for the 2007 season with sponsor NAPA Auto Parts in the Nextel Cup Series  It was a dismal first year for the No  55 Toyota Camry in NASCAR top series competition, as Waltrip's team faced stiff penalties for using illegal fuel additives during qualifying for the Daytona 500  The team rebounded to qualify 15th via the Gatorade Duels, but finished 30th, leaving Daytona with negative driver and owner points (the team's finish in the Daytona 500 earned them 73 points, but the 100 point penalty they received from NASCAR left them last in the standings at −27 points)  Waltrip proceeded to fail to qualify for 11 consecutive races before qualifying for his second race at Dover International Speedway on June 2  Making just his third start of the season at Michigan International Speedway on June 18, Waltrip posted the team's first top-10 finish and Toyota's third by finishing 10th and leading a lap  In order to take advantage of the champions provisional, Terry Labonte drove the No  55 in 2007 at Infineon, Indianapolis, and Watkins Glen  Waltrip gave Toyota its second pole in Cup competition at Talladega on October 7 and grabbed another top-10 finish at Lowe's the following week, bringing his team barely inside the top 43 in points by the end of the season 
Waltrip continued to run the No  55 during 2008 and 2009   The car qualified in the Top 35 in owner points for 2008, and Waltrip recorded his best finish as a Sprint Cup owner with a second place in the 2008 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 in June   In 2009, Waltrip started the season with a seventh-place finish in the 2009 Daytona 500   However, because Waltrip consistently qualified and finished behind both his teammate Reutimann and MWR satellite driver Marcos Ambrose during the first half of 2009, he began to discuss retirement as a driver, stating that, as his team's owner, he would make himself retire as a driver if he was no longer competitive 
Prism Motorsports (2010)In 2010, Prism Motorsports, a mostly start and park team in a technical alliance with MWR, ran a second car full-time, numbered No  55  For Talladega, Bristol, Michigan and Sonoma, Waltrip drove the No  55 as part of Prism (Waltrip started and parked at Bristol and would have at Michigan had he qualified) 

Mark Martin and Brian Vickers (2012-2013)The No  55 returned in 2012 with Aaron's moving from the No  00 car and Mark Martin hired to drive 24 races in the car for the next two seasons  Michael Waltrip drove the car in the Budweiser Shootout and also drove in the Aaron's 499, Coke Zero 400, Quaker State 400, and Good Sam Club 500  Former Red Bull Racing Team driver Brian Vickers was hired to drive at both races at Bristol, Martinsville, New Hampshire, and the two road courses 
In 2013, the No  55 was again split  This time Waltrip would race 3 times under the No  55 team, Martin would race 24 more times, and Vickers would race 9 times  In 2013, the No  55 got its third NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Loudon with Vickers driving  In the final laps, Vickers stole the lead from Tony Stewart and after a debris caution fought Stewart for the lead, ending with Stewart running out of gas in turn 3 just before the white flag; locking up the victory for Vickers  On August 13, it was announced that Vickers would run the No  55 full-time in 2014 and 2015 In early August, Tony Stewart broke his leg in a sprint car accident  It was determined that he would miss the rest of the year  Martin was hired to replace Stewart for most of the rest of the season except Talladega  Michael Waltrip Racing ultimately agreed to release Martin from the rest of his deal and give the No  55 over to Vickers early (except for Talladega, where Waltrip was going to drive the car)  However, blood clots discovered in Vickers' leg after the Charlotte race ended his season, necessitating the team to hire Elliott Sadler to drive the car for the remaining four races of the year 

Brian Vickers (2014-2015)Vickers returned from his medical issues in 2014, but missed the Chase in only his second full season since 2009 
Vickers will miss the first two races of the 2015 season after off-season surgery to repair a patch placed over a hole in his heart  Vickers Team owner and race driver Michael Waltrip will race the Daytona 500, while Brett Moffitt raced the No  55 for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500  Vickers returned for two races before he was sidelined again just before Fontana  Moffitt was named the interim driver and later declared his candidacy for Rookie of the Year 

David Ragan (2015)On April 24, it was announced that David Ragan would take over the No  55 beginning at Kansas  Ragan had several strong runs in the 55, with potential top 10 finishes at Sonoma, Bristol, Daytona, Pocono, Watkins Glen, Martinsville, and Charlotte, but fell victim to bad racing luck, with crashes or mechanical failures in many events  He was ultimately released and left for BK Racing when MWR closed its doors 

Car No  55 results
Car No  56 history
Martin Truex Jr  (2010-2013)

In 2010, Martin Truex Jr  replaced Waltrip as the driver for this team, renumbered as No  56  The No  56 team used the No  55's owner's points for 2010  Truex would join Bowyer in qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2012  On June 23, 2013, Truex won the Toyota Save/Mart 350 at Sonoma by 8 seconds over Jeff Gordon, his 2nd career victory (breaking a 218-race winless streak as a driver stretching back to June 3rd, 2007), and the 7th as well as final victory for MWR in the Series  Truex also had initially joined Bowyer again in the 2013 Chase, but controversy arose in the final race before the Chase at Richmond, in which MWR was found to have deliberately manipulated the end of the race in order to allow Truex to hold off Ryan Newman for a Chase spot (see above)   On September 9, NASCAR ejected Truex from the Chase and placed Newman in  On September 19, NAPA announced that it will no longer sponsor the No  56  On October 14, it was announced that due to the lack of sponsorship or a driver, the car's points would be moved to a new research and development team starting in 2014, later named Identity Ventures Racing  It was also announced three days later that Truex was picked up by Furniture Row Racing to takeover the No  78 from the departing Kurt Busch 

Car No  56 results
Car No  66 history
In 2009, MWR fielded a car for Dave Blaney and Prism Motorsports at the Coca-Cola 600  The car was sponsored by Aaron's and used Prism's No  66 
In 2014, with no driver or sponsor lined up, the points from the former No  56 car was transferred to Identity Ventures Racing, owned by Nat Hardwick and Jay Robinson, and the number was changed to 66  The car was fielded out of the MWR shop for select races for Michael Waltrip, Jeff Burton, and Brett Moffitt, with Waltrip and Moffitt running select races with MWR support out of Robinson's shop  The other primary drivers were Joe Nemechek and Mike Wallace  Identity Ventures Racing folded after one season due to ownership issues, ending the satellite team 

Car No  98 history
Michael Waltrip Racing began racing in the Winston Cup Series in 2002, making its debut at the 2002 Aaron's 499  The car was the No  98 Aaron's Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Kenny Wallace  Wallace qualified 27th and finished 21st  Following that first race, Waltrip sold the No  98 and its owner points to Innovative Motorsports 
In October 2015, MWR leased the owner points from the No  98 of Premium Motorsports to field a car for Waltrip himself at the fall Talladega race  Premium is owned by  Jay Robinson, who was a partner in MWR's research and development team the previous season 

Nationwide Series
Car No  99 history
Michael Waltrip (1996-2006)
Waltrip made his debut as a car owner in 1996 driving the No  12 MW Windows Ford Thunderbird  He ran thirteen races that season, winning the pole at Richmond International Raceway and posting three top-five finishes  The next season, MWR switched to the No  21 with sponsorship from Band-Aid and had three fourth-place finishes, and had six top-ten finishes the following season  In 1998, Waltrip fielded a second car, the No  14 Rhodes Furniture Ford for Patty Moise full-time  Moise made 19 starts and a best finish of tenth at Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing 37th in points 
In 1999, Waltrip got his first career win as an owner/driver at the All Pro Bumper to Bumper 300  The next year, he switched to the No  7 as well as driving the No  99 car with Aarons sponsorship for three races, his best finish coming at Michigan International Speedway, where he placed second  Ted Christopher drove the No  99 at Memphis Motorsports Park with sponsorship from LesCare Kitchens, qualifying 29th and finishing 28th  MWR switched to the No  99 full-time in 2001, as Waltrip drove twelve races, his best finish third at the Aaron's 312  Waltrip also fielded the 99 for three races for Shawna Robinson, who had a 19th at Talladega Superspeedway, and Kerry Earnhardt, whose best finish was a 20th at Kentucky Speedway 
Waltrip had sole driving duties in 2002, running nineteen races and winning at Michigan International Speedway  The following season, he won at Bristol Motor Speedway  After making 31 starts in 2004 and winning at Nashville Superspeedway, Waltrip had only four top-tens in 2005  In 2006, Waltrip partnered with FitzBradshaw Racing to pick up FitzBradshaw's No  40 car's owner's points  He drove a majority of the races in 2006, with his brother Darrell and David Reutimann driving additional races using Evernham engines 

David Reutimann (2006-2008)David Reutimann drove the No  99 Aaron's Toyota Camry for Waltrip in 2007  He won his first career Nationwide Series race with the team at Memphis Motorsports Park in October, and finished second in points  In the latter part of 2007, MWR also fielded a second car with Michael McDowell to prepare him for a possible Sprint Cup career 

Trevor Bayne (2009-2010)
In 2009, the No  99 Toyota carried split by Michael Waltrip with sponsorship from Aaron's and Best Western, Trevor Bayne, and Scott Speed with sponsorship from Red Bull Energy Drink  For 2010 the team was co-purchased by former Diamond Ridge Motorsports owner Gary Betchel to form Diamond-Waltrip Racing to field development driver Trevor Bayne in the No  99 full-time for 2010, though they had limited sponsorship  Trevor Bayne left the team before the Kansas Speedway race in September  Martin Truex Jr  is the replacement driver for the rest of the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series  Also, the team fielded the No  00 NAPA Auto Parts/OUT! Pet Care Toyota for Ryan Truex and Truex Jr  on a limited basis in 2010 

Shut Down (2011)Travis Pastrana announced his intent to drive 7 races in 2011 with Boost Mobile, with Ryan Truex intending to run the remaining schedule minus the superspeedways  However, Pastrana was injured at X Games XVII and sat out the rest of 2011, stating that he would run the Nationwide Series in 2012  Truex's bid for Rookie of the Year was cut short when a lack of sponsorship forced the team to shut down briefly  The No  99 team returned for some races in 2011, with Cole Whitt driving at Charlotte and Patrick Carpentier driving his final race at Montreal  In 2012, MWR allied itself with Nationwide Series team RAB Racing to field Pastrana for 7 races  He would later join Roush Fenway Racing for 2013 

Craftsman Truck Series
Truck No  1 history
In 1996, Michael Waltrip drove the No  1 truck with sponsorship MW Windows at Las Vegas where he started 27th and finished 4th 
In 1997, Michael drove three races this season starting at Daytona, Martinsville and Fontana  The No  1 truck has new sponsorship Citgo, and Band-Aid 

Partnerships and alliances
MWR-AF Corse
In 2011 MWR entered into a technical alliance with AF Corse to provide them sportscars to race in the FIA World Endurance Championship and Tudor United SportsCar Championship (formerly Rolex Sports Car Series) competing under the AF Corse-Waltrip banner 

MWR-Prism Motorsports
At the start of the 2009 season, MWR entered into a technical alliance with Prism Motorsports for the 2009 season   Prism entered the No  66 car in each race, normally driven by Dave Blaney but also driven by Terry Labonte at the Daytona 500 and Michael McDowell at the Aaron's 499, with one-race sponsorship also provided by Aaron's for the 2009 Coca-Cola 600   MWR provided Prism with cars, engines and technical support   Prism became notorious as a start and park operation, only running a full race when the team had full sponsorship for the race, but the team has qualified for almost every race of the 2009 Sprint Cup season using the MWR equipment, sometimes beating out fully sponsored teams For 2010, Prism added a second car provided by MWR, the No  55, driven by former MWR Sprint Cup driver Michael McDowell   As of the start of the season, Prism had no sponsorship for either car   Prism co-owner Phil Parsons credited MWR with "allow[ing] us to purchase the cars and equipment we needed to grow our program "  Although Blaney failed to qualify for the Daytona 500, McDowell succeeded in qualifying for the starting field, using Michael Waltrip's old No  55 car   For Talladega, Waltrip drove the No  55 car for Prism, with Aaron's providing sponsorship 

MWR-Germain Racing
Germain Racing was an existing NASCAR Nationwide Series team that entered into Sprint Cup racing through a technical alliance with MWR beginning with two races during the 2008 season, with MWR supplying the No  13 Toyota Camry and technical support for Germain and driver Max Papis   Papis had previously driven for MWR vice president Cal Wells in the CART series In 2009, Germain Racing attempted to run a limited schedule in the Sprint Cup Series with Papis and sponsor GEICO  The team qualified for 15 races in 21 attempts   Germain planned to run full-time in 2010, but it might be required to start and park some unscheduled events due to its limited sponsorship from GEICO and lack of additional sponsorship   In the first event of the 2010 season, Papis qualified for the Daytona 500,  and since then, the No  13 Toyota Camry has qualified for four of the first five races 
In 2004, Michael Waltrip Racing began at partnership with Best Western that continues today  In 2011 for example, the hotel served as the primary sponsor for the Number 00 Toyota Camry driven by David Reutimann for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 

Diamond-Waltrip Racing
After the 2009 season, MWR sold the assets of its Nationwide team to Gary Bechtel and his Diamond Ridge Motorsports  Running the under the moniker of Diamond-Waltrip Racing, Bechtel's team ran the No  99 Toyota for MWR drivers Trevor Bayne, Ryan Truex, And Martin Truex Jr  and received technical support, equipment, owner's points, and employees from Waltrip 

Waltrip-Jasper Racing
On January 20, 2006, Michael Waltrip and president of Jasper Motorsports, Doug Bawel, announced the forming of Waltrip-Jasper Racing  Waltrip-Jasper Racing fielded the No  55 NAPA Auto Parts Car in the 2006 Nextel Cup Series, driven by Waltrip  Bawel, as the listed owner of the No  77 that he fielded with Roger Penske in 2005, had a guaranteed starting spot in the first five races of 2006 by virtue of finishing 34th in the 2005 owner points  This enabled Waltrip to make the first five races in 2006 without qualifying on time The Waltrip-Jasper partnership ceased at the end of the 2006 season 

Waltrip-PPI Racing
The partnership of Michael Waltrip Racing and PPI Motorsports was officially announced on February 10, 2007  The partnership was limited to the No  00 car, driven by David Reutimann  Cal Wells was listed as the owner and the 2006 owner points for the No  32 were transferred to the No  00 for the 2007 season  The partnership included the purchase of all equipment and personnel at PPI Motorsports, as the former No  32 pit crew became the No  00 pit crew The Waltrip-PPI partnership ceased at the end of the 2007 season, with Cal Wells moving to a management position at Waltrip Racing 

MWR-RAB Racing / Pastrana-Waltrip Racing
For 2011, MWR and X-Games gold medal driver Travis Pastrana announced a partnership known as Pastrana-Waltrip Racing  Pastrana would run seven races out of the MWR shop in the Nationwide Series for 2011, with Boost Mobile sponsoring the effort  Pastrana would then run 20 races in 2012  Pastrana would also run in the K&N Pro Series East, making his stock car debut in the Toyota All-Star Showdown  MWR development driver Ryan Truex would fill out the rest of the schedule  Red Bull development driver Cole Whitt ran at Charlotte in May  An ankle injury to Pastrana in X Games competition, however, sidelined him for the season prior to making any starts, and lack of funding forced the team to shut down mid-season MWR and Pastrana planned to restart Pastrana's NASCAR career in 2012, with the team being renamed Pastrana 199 Racing  On April 17, 2012, the team announced a partnership with Nationwide Series team RAB Racing  With RAB lacking a sponsor for regular driver Kenny Wallace and MWR unable to afford fielding the Nationwide team, the two teams formed a partnership to have Pastrana run in his previously assigned 7 races  RAB's number was changed from No  09 to No  99, and the team received additional cars and support from MWR  RAB crew chief Scott Zippadelli worked with Pastrana in his starts  Coincidentally, Ryan Truex ran several races for the team under RAB though he had been granted his release from MWR  RAB fielded MWR driver Patrick Carpentier with NAPA at Montreal in July  Though the partnership ended after the 2012 season, RAB continues to use the number 99 

MWR-Identity Ventures Racing
In 2014, a MWR satellite team, Identity Ventures Racing, was formed, fielding the No  66 Toyota Camry   MWR provided tires and technical assistance, with some races receiving more support than others (depending on sponsorship)  Races with more sponsorship received more support for MWR   Michael Waltrip, Joe Nemechek, Jeff Burton and Brett Moffitt were the primary drivers in 2014  As the season continued, Nemechek and Burton's races began getting handed to younger drivers  Moffitt began to take Burton and Nemechek's races, with neither veteran finishing the season in the No  66  IVR shut down after just one season when team co-owner Nat Hardwick was involved in an embezzlement scandal involving his companies Landcastle Title and Morris-Hardwick-Schneider (which were the team's primary sponsors) 

Michael Waltrip Racing executive team
Ty Norris
Norris was the E V P  of Business Development and was also the General Manager  Ty Norris’ career in NASCAR span the course of 15 years and includes some of the sport's most recognizable names – Dale Earnhardt, Inc , Speedway Motorsports, Inc  and RJ Reynolds  Over the past few years, Norris applied his industry knowledge to help grow Michael Waltrip Racing and negotiate key partnerships with sponsors, such as, NAPA Auto Parts, Aaron's and TUMS 
Larry Johns
Larry Johns was the E V P  and CFO  As Chief Financial Officer Larry Johns was primarily responsible for managing the 250-employee company's cash flow as well as communicating the team's strategic direction for execution from the shop floor to the racetrack  Johns previously served as CFO of PPI Motorsports, LLC and prior to that owned his own business for almost a decade 
Scott Miller Executive Vice President of Competition
Bobby Kennedy
Kennedy was the E V P  of Race Operations  Kennedy's NASCAR career began in 1987 and includes affiliations with organizations such as SABCO and Petty Enterprises  He joined Michael Waltrip Racing in January 2001 

Former employees
Cal Wells – 
Wells was the E V P  and COO  Wells has a rich racing history and his motorsports experience spans over 30 years  Wells has achieved quite a bit in his career and his business savvy has allowed him to become
an owner himself in a variety of racing series  In his most recent role, Wells was in charge of overseeing day-to-day operations for three NSCS teams and one NNS team at Michael Waltrip Racing  Wells was terminated from his position in July 2011 Steve Hallam
Hallam was the E V P  and Director of Competition  Hallam moved from England to North Carolina when he joined Michael Waltrip Racing before the 2009 season, giving up his job as head of race operations for McLaren after 27 years as an engineer and manager in Formula One  His resume includes 445 Grands Prix and six world championships  Hallam was terminated from his position in July 2011 

Raceworld USA
Raceworld USA, located in Cornelius, North Carolina, was the race shop and center of operations for Michael Waltrip Racing   The main shop facility consisted of 107,000 square feet (9,900 m2) while the fabrication shop consisted of the remaining 35,000 square feet (3,300 m2) Raceworld USA was also intended to be a tourist attraction  The shop featured elevated walkways and flat screen televisions, providing fans with an interactive inside look on how a race team functions  Also, Raceworld USA allowed patrons to hold events at the race shop 
The exhibit content in the facility was designed by Portland, Oregon–based Downstream 

Controversy
In 2010, Michael Waltrip Racing filed a lawsuit against the Williams F1 team, for reportedly stealing one of their employees while he was under contract with MWR  The employee in question was Mike Coughlan, who was a F1 engineer involved in a cheating scandal in 2007  While he was suspended from F1, Coughlan worked as an engineer for the team  When his suspension from F1 was over, he allegedly went back to the Williams team while still under contract with MWR, which MWR alleged caused the team to suffer financially  The lawsuit was settled out of court in October 2011; the settlement was very amicable, as Waltrip later invited Coughlan to a future race as a guest of the team Just before its shutdown at the end of 2015, MWR was sued by former tire carrier Brandon Hopkins  Hopkins was injured in a pit road accident that required surgery while serving Clint Bowyer's car  Hopkins accused MWR of blacklisting him, wrongfully terminating his contract with the team, libel, and intentional interference with his efforts to find work at another team  Michael Waltrip Racing counter-sued Hopkins, saying that he stole pit guns from the team which was the cause of his firing  In their countersuit against Hopkins, MWR asked to be reimbursed for the pit guns and for any claims by Hopkins to be dismissed  After years of back-and-forth between Hopkins and the defunct team, it was announced in November 2017 that "both parties are pleased to announce that they have amicably resolved their disputes in their entirety and wish each other well in the future "
Passage 7:
1894–95 FA Cup
The 1894–95 FA Cup was the 24th season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup)  The cup was won by Aston Villa, who defeated West Bromwich Albion 1–0 in the final of the competition, played at Crystal Palace in London  This was Villa's second victory in the FA Cup 
The Trophy was stolen from a display in the shop window of W  Shillcock (a football fitter) in Newton Row, Birmingham, after the Final and never recovered despite a £10 reward  According to the Police, it was taken sometime between 21:30 on Wednesday 11 September and 7:30 the following morning, along with cash from a drawer  The cup was replaced by a copy of the original, made by Howard Vaughton, the former Aston Villa player and England international, who had opened a silversmith's business after his retirement from the game 
Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday  If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week  If the replayed match was drawn further replays would be held at neutral venues until a winner was determined  If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played in a replay, a 30-minute period of extra time would be played 

Calendar
The format of the FA Cup for the season had a preliminary round, four qualifying rounds, three proper rounds, and the semi-finals and final 

First round proper
The first round proper contained sixteen ties between 32 teams  The 16 First Division sides were given a bye to this round, as were Notts County, Darwen, Bury, Newcastle United, Newton Heath and Woolwich Arsenal from the Second Division  The other Second Division sides were entered into the first round qualifying, with the exceptions of Burton Swifts, who started in the second round qualifying, and Manchester City, who played no part in the season's competition  Of the qualifying League sides, only Burton Wanderers and Leicester Fosse qualified to the FA Cup proper  Eight non-league sides also qualified 
The matches were played on Saturday, 2 February 1895  One match was drawn, with the replay taking place in the following midweek fixture  The Barnsley St Peter's – Liverpool game was voided following a dispute over extra time being played   The match was replayed nine days later, resulting in a 4–0 win to Liverpool 

Second round proper
The eight Second Round matches were scheduled for Saturday, 16 February 1895  There were two replays, played in the following midweek fixture 

Third round proper
The four Third Round matches were scheduled for Saturday, 2 March 1895  There were no replays 

Semi-finals
The semi-final matches were both played on Saturday, 16 March 1895  Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion went on to meet in the final at Crystal Palace 

Final
The Final was contested by Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion at Crystal Palace  Aston Villa won 1–0, with Bob Chatt being credited with scoring the fastest goal in FA Cup Final history, scored after just 30 seconds  Devey found Hodgetts, whose cross was laid off by Athersmith to Chatt, whose half volley took a deflection 

Match details
See also
FA Cup Final Results 1872-



ground_truth: 1 December 2010