• Haren is a product of the one-sport, year-round grooming of teenagers that's become more prevalent throughout the country.

• He played one year of football, but his Dad didn't want him playing in high school, even though he was the size of a middle linebacker. His father, Dan Sr., was a hands-on father/coach who pushed his son hard. Before Haren's games as a youth, his Dad would take him across the street to a park for extra batting practice.

  "I didn't like it at first," Haren said. "But my Dad always told me, 'One day you will thank me.' It's funny now because I became a pitcher."

• Haren's Dad grew up in the shadow of the stadium in the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights. And his grandfather ran a train that went alongside the stadium.

  "My Dad told me stories of listening (to games) on transistor radios," he said.

• His sister attended Columbia University. And he has family in New Jersey.

• Dan has a fresh arm. He wasn't even scouted in high school and didn't know the first thing about pitching. "I went to college (at Pepperdine) to hit and got thrown into pitching because that’s something they needed," Haren said. "I just stuck with it."

  Thrust into the Waves rotation as a freshman, the 6-foot-5 Haren proved to be a quick learner. He absorbed as much knowledge as he could, and, by his junior year, had blossomed into one of college baseball’s top players. In his final season, Haren was a second-team All-American as a utility player.

  He batted .308-5-47 while going 11-3, 2.22 on the mound. He was the 2001 West Coast Conference player of the year.

• In 2001, Dan and future Giants' first-round-pick Noah Lowry teamed up to give Pepperdine one of the best pitching tandems in college baseball.

• A long 2001 season wore Dan down. The college and pro season took 20 pounds off his big body. He was down to 195 by the end of the summer with New Jersey.

  But he gained endurance, worked hard over the winter before 2002 spring training, and is now a workhorse on the staff.

• In 2002, Haren led the minor leagues in innings pitched with 194.
• In 2003, Dan was named to the Futures Game roster, played at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago.
• Haren goes by "Dan" or "Danny," but not "Daniel."

• Dan grew up 10 miles east of Los Angeles. He tends to validate every Southern California stereotype. He has the shaggy brown hair draping over his eyes and ears, and he is very quiet and laid-back most of the time.

  However, Haren can also be an emotional guy. He gets excited when he watches a game and is not shy about exposing his feelings, sometimes jumping up and down in the bullpen during a come-from-behind effort by his team. But he doesn't show that much emotion when on the mound.

• Haren has leadership qualities. Teammates feed off his competitive nature. He is humble yet confident, easy-going and gregarious.

• In May 2005, he volunteered to become one of the A's two union reps.

  "It's just something I've been interested in," Haren said in 2006 spring training camp, "and when they met in Las Vegas, I went out to try to learn all I could about it, especially with the new rules about steroids and amphetamines. I want to be able to explain them to anyone who needs to know so that something doesn't get screwed up, because sometimes guys get memos left at their lockers and they just throw them inside without looking at them."

• During the winter of 2005, Dan and his then-future wife, Jessica, spent 10 days visiting family in New York City. Every day, Haren would grab his backpack, pull on a hoodie, and head out into the Queens chill air. He stood at one end of a blacktop basketball court and played long-toss against the concrete wall of the public bathroom at the other end.

  The first day, a cop told him to knock it off. On the second day, after his Dan had thrown for five minutes, an irate vagrant stormed out of the men's room and cursed at the pitcher for waking him up.

  "I felt awful," Haren said. "The echoes in there must have been terrible."  (Lindsay Berra-ESPN the Magazine-7/30/07)

• Dan met his wife, Jessica, when he was a student at Pepperdine.

  "But she went to UC-Santa Barbara," he said. "We met at a mutual friend's party during my sophomore year and dated from then on. But she was still going to school when I was in the minors, so my first off-season I lived in Santa Barbara with Ryan Spilborghs, who is now a Rockies outfielder. I slept in his garage so I would be able to see my wife, who was, at the time, my girlfriend. It could be absolutely freezing in there," Haren said.

  Spilborghs would let Dan take a shower in his house, but Haren says, "The treat was being able to shower at my wife's. Then I got to use all her herbal stuff and come out of the bathroom smellng like a fruit smoothie."  (Kenny Mayne-ESPN the Magazine-6/15/09)

• On December 11, 2007, Dan's wife, Jessica, gave birth. A couple of years later, their second child was born.

• On August 21, 2006, Haren made history by giving up eight runs in the first two innings of the A's game with Toronto. But the Oakland lineup bailed out the righthander with the biggest comeback since the franchise moved to Oakland in 1968.

  It was certainly the most unusual victory of Haren's career, and one that put him into the record books. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Haren is the first pitcher in American League history to win a game after allowing eight runs in the opening two frames. The last pitcher to accomplish the feat was Hall of Famer Rube Marquard, who earned the win in a 14-11 win for the New York Giants over the Chicago Cubs on May 14, 1913.

• Haren is into the old Seinfeld TV show, and said, "I own all the seasons, one through nine, and I also own every King of Queens season and every Office season. As the years have gone by I've grown to like the newer episodes of Seinfeld. The older ones the characters still had to grow into them. The old Kramer isn't as funny as in the seventh, eighth and ninth seasons."

  As far as The Office, who is his favorite character? " I obviously like Dwight and Michael, but the guy I really like—he doesn't play too big of a role—is Creed. He's got some classic lines—some of my favorite lines ever," Dan said.

  Dan says he likes to be by himself on the road. "I enjoy eating, going to the mall, doing everything by myself on the road." Why? "I don't know. I just like to do my own thing. I have certain routines that I do and I don't want to have to wait around for anyone else. I've always enjoyed going to movies by myself. The guys have given me a hard time about it, too," Haren said.  (Nick Piecoro-The Arizona Republic-8/28/08)

• Other Dan Haren favorites:

  Music: Kanye West, John Mayer, The Killers, Lil WayneMovies: Good Will Hunting, Escape From Alcatraz, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Big FishBookmarks: RotoWorld.com, Weather.com, IMDB.comDinner: Chipotle burrito with chicken, black beans, and hot salsaHero: My Mom. "She's never been in a bad mood—and I'm not kidding," Dan said.  (Jeff D'Alessio-Sporting News-6/22/09)

• Dan's first job was: "When I was 15, in L.A., I distributed stickers for liquor stores to put up that said, 'If you're not 18, you can't buy tobacco.'"

• Dan's teammates say he dominates the sports pools for the guys in the clubhouse.

  "We actually did two random Kentucky Derby pools, and I somehow drew "Mine That Bird" in both of them (in 2009). I was so mad. Before the race I asked Chad Qualls, who had two different long shots, if we could pool our horses. He asked who I had, and when I told him, he said, 'Hell, no." I was starting that night so I was literally getting stretched out on a table while the race was going on. When Mine That Bird won, I jumped up and ran through the clubhouse with my arms up. As I've said, everyone hates me because I always seem to win," Haren said.

• Haren is of Irish and Mexican descent.

• October 23, 2015: Haren announced his retirement from baseball.

  TRANSACTIONS

• June 2001: He signed with the Cardinals after being drafted in the first round out of Pepperdine University in California.

• December 18, 2004: The A's sent P Mark Mulder to the Cardinals; acquiring Haren, P Kiki Calero, and C Daric Barton.

• September 26, 2005: Dan signed a four-year contract with the A's which was supposed to take him through the 2009 season with the club. Oakland had an option for the 2010 season. The pact called for $4 million in 2008, $5.5 million in 2009, and a team option for 2010 worth $6.75 million.

• December 14, 2007: The Diamondbacks sent pitchers Brett Anderson, Dana Eveland, and Greg Smith; outfielders Aaron Cunningham and Carlos Gonzalez; and infielder Chris Carter to the A's—acquiring Haren and P Connor Robertson.

• August 5, 2008: Haren signed a two-year, $31 million contract extension with the Diamondbacks. It is for 2011 and 2012 and includes a club option for 2013—with all three of the years for $15.5 million.

• July 25, 2010: The Angels sent RHP Rafael Rodriguez, LHP Joe Saunders, LHP Patrick Corbin, and a player to be named to the Diamondbacks; receiving Haren.

• November 2, 2012: The Angels declined Haren's $15.5 million option for 2013, making him a free agent. The team paid $3.5 million to buy out Haren's option.

• December 4, 2012: Haren signed a one-year, $13 million contract with the Nationals.

• November 24, 2013: Dan signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Dodgers for 2014. He can make $3 million more if he reaches his incentives based on games started and innings pitched.

  The deal also included a 2015 option that vested at 180 innings pitched. And Dan exercised that $10 million option for 2015.

• December 11, 2014: The Dodgers traded 2BDee Gordon, RHPDan Haren, SSMiguel Rojasand cash tothe Marlins for LHPAndrew Heaney, RHPChris Hatcher, 2BEnrique Hernandez,and CAustin Barnes.

• July 31, 2015: The Marlins traded Dan Haren and cash to the Cubs for RHP Ivan Pineyro and SS Elliot Soto.

• Haren can dominate with an overpowering 90-95 mph, four-seam FASTBALL that has late life, making it bore in on righthanded batters. His sinking two-seamer is in the 87-90 mph range, as well as a CUTTER to keep lefthanded hitters honest. He also has a dominating SPLITTER that has late sink, an 80-82 mph biting power SLIDER, a spiked-CURVEBALL, and good CHANGEUP that he disguises well.

  He has a fine feel for that change and maintains consistent arm speed with it.

  A righthanded hitter facing Haren's cutter watches it tail away from him. A lefty batter sees the ball come inside. His cutter is very hard for a hitter to pick up and distinguish from his slider—it has less break but harder velocity, so you see fastball and you swing, and it breaks enough to miss. If you see the spin on it and you think breaking ball, then you're late.

• 2015 Season Pitch Usage: 4-seam Fastball: 10.6% of the time; Sinker 30.8% of the time; Change .3%; CURVE 12.9%; Cutter 32.1%; and Split 13.2% of the time.
• Dan is a big righthander with a quick arm and solid mechanics. He is tall, coming at hitters from a downward plane. His delivery is nice-and-easy and simple to repeat. And it keeps him healthy.
• Haren gets outs mostly by relying on his fastball and several different versions of a cutter—a pitch he has used more and more as the years go by, and a pitch everyone in baseball is seemingly trying to master these days. He started toying with it every off-season beginning in '05, brought it out in very rare occasions in '07 and '08, then began using it more heavily in '09—from 23 percent of the time that year, to 27 percent in 2010, to a career-high 48 percent during the 2011 season, according to FanGraphs.com.
• July 27, 2004: Dan pitched a perfect ninth inning for the Cardinals, even though he had not pitched in relief in a regular season game since signing a pro contract in 2001. 
• Haren has above average command that enables him to work inside well. He has good mound savvy and knows how to set up hitters. He works quickly, keeping his fielders on their toes. He also has endurance, allowing him to be the workhorse of a pitching staff.
• When Haren has his command, he can dominate the outing. Hitters go back to the dugout mumbling to themselves.
• Dan has a bit of deception in his delivery. It is a slow movement right up until he reaches the balance point of his motion, breaking his hands—then he explodes, going right at the hitter.
• In 2011, Haren's strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.82 led the American League.

• On May 24, 2012, Dan did something unprecedented in Angels history. Pitching against the Mariners, Haren struck out a career high 14 while pitching a four-hit shutout. No Angels pitcher had ever struck out as many as 14 and issued no walks in a shutout.

  Before Haren, the most recent big league pitcher to toss a shutout, walk none and strike out as many as 14 was Erik Bedard, on July 7, 2007. And Dan was the 16th pitcher since 1918 to have a line like this. Only Roger Clemens (three) and Pedro Martinez (two) had more than one such performance.

• On Aug. 9, 2013, Dan became the 13th MLB pitcher to defeat all 30 Major League teams.

  Al Leiter was the first pitcher to accomplish the feat by defeating the D-backs on April 30, 2002.

  The full list includes Al Leiter, Randy Johnson, Barry Zito, A.J. Burnett, Haren, Kevin Brown, Terry Mulholland, Curt Schilling, Woody Williams, Jamie Moyer, Javier Vazquez, Vicente Padilla, and Derek Lowe.

• Anyone watching the radar readings had to be wondering how Haren does it. His fastball tops at 88 mph -- which is appropriate, since his Twitter handle is @ithrow88. How does he do it?

  "He knows how to pitch," Montero (Cubs catcher) said. "He makes good, quality pitches. If you look at it, he is right on the edges with a lot of pitches. When you paint those edges, it doesn't matter how hard you throw. He uses his breaking ball for a strike. It's a pleasure always to catch him." (August, 2015)

• As of the start of the 2016 season, Haren has a career record of 153-131 with 3.75 ERA, having allowed 305 home runs and 2,357 hits in 2,419 innings.

• Dan is a good hitter. He was a designated hitter for Pepperdine University.
• In 2003, In Dan's MLB debut, he showed off his batting skills by hitting the first pitch he saw for a double.
  
  

• In 2008, Haren had 16 hits, 7 of them doubles, and a .211 batting average.

       POST-PLAYING CAREER POSITIONS

• December 7, 2016: Haren got back with the Diamondbacks, as Pitching Strategist.

• July 4-22, 2012: For the first time in his career, Haren was on the D.L. Lower back stiffness was the problem.
  
  "The pain I had was manageable," Haren said. "It's almost like my mind was telling me yes, my body was telling me no. I think I was doing a disservice to the team going out there at less than 100 percent and trying to win ballgames."
• June 23-July 8, 2013: Haren was on the D.L. with right shoulder inflammation.
  
  
• October 22, 2014: Haren underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left (non-throwing) A/C shoulder joint and is expected to be ready for Spring Training.