11.   Instead, the Beaverton, Oregon, sneaker and apparel company will run three commercials featuring youth league football players.

12.   Instead of choosing to play for their schools, most youth league players continued playing with their club teams.

13.   Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Dave Nilsson and Colorado Rockies outfielder Dante Bichette were named the American and National league players of the week.

14.   Once, Alonzo Mourning was an NBA pariah, a player the league least wanted to represent it on a national stage.

15.   Often she and other marquee players Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes took backstage to such players as league most valuable player Cynthia Cooper.

16.   Pumpsie Green was there, part of a panel honoring Robinson and the Negro league players of the past.

17.   Statistics of Negro leagues players are incomplete, but it is believed that Stearnes led the Negro National League in home runs six times.

18.   The latest league player to rip New York Jets wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson is New England cornerback Jimmy Hitchcock.

19.   The Mets honored several former Negro league players, and the Mets and the Toronto Blue Jays wore baggy replica uniforms from that era.

20.   The Rangers counter with league most valuable player Juan Gonzalez in right field, perennial All-Star catcher Ivan Rodriguez and World Series MVP closer John Wetteland.