Roland Glen Fingers (born August 25, 1946) is an American former right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for three teams between 1968 and 1985, when his effectiveness helped to redefine the value of relievers within baseball and to usher in the modern closer role. A seven-time All-Star, he led the major leagues in saves three times, and was named Rolaids Relief Man of the Year four times. He first gained prominence as a member of the Oakland Athletics championship teams of the early 1970s, when his flamboyant handlebar mustache made him perhaps the most identifiable member of The Mustache Gang which led Oakland to become the only non-New York Yankees team ever to win three consecutive World Series titles. Fingers was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1974 World Series after earning a win in the opener and saves in the last three games to secure the title.

Fingers joined the San Diego Padres as a free agent after the 1976 season, and led the major leagues with 35 saves in 1977 before tying the National League (NL) single-season record with 37 saves the following year. Traded to the Milwaukee Brewers after the 1980 season, he led that team to its first playoff appearance in 1981, receiving the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player Award and Cy Young Award after earning 28 saves in the strike-shortened season with an earned run average (ERA) of only 1.04, allowing just 9 runs in 78 innings pitched.

Having surpassed Hoyt Wilhelm's major league record for career saves in 1980, Fingers retired after the 1985 season with 341 saves, which remained the record until surpassed by Jeff Reardon in 1992; Fingers also held the AL record from 1985 to 1987. He set franchise records for career saves for all three of his teams, holding the Athletics mark from 1973 to 1990, the Padres record from 1977 to 1997, and the Brewers record from 1984 to 1989. He is also particularly remembered for his "long saves" of two or more innings, for which he still holds the record of 135. At the end of his career he also ranked third in major league history in career games pitched (944), relief wins (107) and relief innings pitched (1,505+23), and second in strikeouts in relief (1,183); he held the Padres franchise record for career games pitched from 1980 to 1989. His career ERA of 2.90 ranked eighth among pitchers with at least 1,500 innings pitched after 1930. Fingers was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992, making him just the second reliever elected after Wilhelm. Both the Athletics and Brewers retired his uniform number following his induction.

Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two opposing teams, of nine players each, that take turns batting and fielding. The game proceeds when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball which a player on the batting team tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team (fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter). The team that scores the most runs by the end of the game is the winner.

The first objective of the batting team is to have a player reach first base safely. A player on the batting team who reaches first base without being called "out" can attempt to advance to subsequent bases as a runner, either immediately or during teammates' turns batting. The fielding team tries to prevent runs by getting batters or runners "out", which forces them out of the field of play. Both the pitcher and fielders have methods of getting the batting team's players out. The opposing teams switch back and forth between batting and fielding; the batting team's turn to bat is over once the fielding team records three outs. One turn batting for each team constitutes an inning. A game is usually composed of nine innings, and the team with the greater number of runs at the end of the game wins. If scores are tied at the end of nine innings, extra innings are usually played. Baseball has no game clock, although most games end in the ninth inning.

Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century. This game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States. Baseball is popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

In the United States and Canada, professional Major League Baseball (MLB) teams are divided into the National League (NL) and American League (AL), each with three divisions: East, West, and Central. The MLB champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series. The top level of play is similarly split in Japan between the Central and Pacific Leagues and in Cuba between the West League and East League. The World Baseball Classic, organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, is the major international competition of the sport and attracts the top national teams from around the world.