Ryan James Howard (born November 19, 1979) is an American professional baseball first baseman who is currently a free agent. Howard previously played for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2004 to 2016. Howard stands 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) and weighs 240 pounds (110 kg). He bats and throws left-handed.

Howard has a fraternal twin brother named Corey, as well as an older brother and a sister. He says he is the smallest of the Howard sons. His favorite baseball team growing up was the St. Louis Cardinals. Howard has a son named Darian Alexander, who was born January 26, 2001. Howard graduated from Lafayette High School (Wildwood, St. Louis County, Mo.) in 1998, where he played trombone. While attending Missouri State University he became a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and his line name was "Blue Hurt". Howard is a representative for a number of products including Under Armour and the Subway restaurant chain. He also appeared on the cover of MLB 08: The Show.  Howard appeared alongside teammate Chase Utley as himself on the 2010 episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia "The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods". He also appeared as himself during the 7th season of Entourage in the episode "Lose Yourself" and appeared in the final season of The Office; set in Scranton and created during his time in Triple-A there. Howard is the acknowledged namesake of one of the show's characters, who in one episode claimed to be "Ryan Howard, the baseball player" in an attempt to gain entry into a New York nightclub.  Howard married former Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader Krystle Campbell in Maui on December 1, 2012.  A longstanding lawsuit between Howard and his family over finances was settled in November 2014.  In May 2017, Howard also announced his new role as Partner at SeventySix Capital, a Philadelphia-based venture capital firm led by Wayne Kimmel and Jon Powell.Answer this question using a quote from the following article:

who were his parents?