The NBA's free-agency frenzy is mostly over.

The NBA's sneaker free-agency frenzy is just beginning.

Most multiyear sneaker endorsement contracts include an expiration date of October 1 in the year they're up, but they also include a 60-day advance window where players can begin meeting with and negotiating with other brands. Meaning as of August 1, this year's crop of coveted players could begin lining up presentations, mapping out early contract terms and sorting through potential landing places for a new deal.

While the NBA's open market includes both restricted and unrestricted free agents, literally everyone in the sneaker game is a restricted free agent. Brands hold a standard 10-day "right to match clause" across all deals -- a key factor as negotiations get underway.

This year's footwear class could feature the most potential since 2012, when Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, James Harden and Dwyane Wade were all up. Of the four then-Nike athletes, two switched to Jordan Brand, Wade opted for a lucrative deal with Li-Ning, and Harden re-signed with Nike for just two years, before bolting for a 13-year deal with Adidas in 2014.

Once again, each of the top five players in this year's class are currently under contract with Nike. The brand would ideally like to keep all five: Devin Booker, Luka Doncic, Kyle Kuzma, D'Angelo Russell and PJ Tucker.

In addition to the handful of players expected to move the needle, there's a depth to this year's free-agent class rarely seen in the industry. Both Draymond Green and Karl-Anthony Towns have expiring Nike deals this fall. Though no longer in Los Angeles and with Big Baller Brand facing uncertainty ahead, Lonzo Ball is expected to help push the pace for an exciting, young Pelicans team, and could do so with a new multiyear shoe deal in hand by the start of the season.

Other players around the league expected to draw interest include Marcus Smart, as Boston-based Puma has already moved into the lead to eventually sign the nearby Celtics guard. Though talks are ongoing, he was spotted walking into USA Basketball's welcome gathering clad in Puma gear, then laced up the brand's Uproar sneaker in white, blue and red to kick off USAB training camp. Thanks to their overnight free-agency haul, LA Clippers shooter Landry Shamet is also hitting the market at an ideal time, potentially able to take advantage both of the team's LA market size and their expected chance to contend for a championship right away this season.

While the class may feature a host of players that resurgent brands like Puma and New Balance could look to pick off from their existing Nike and Adidas deals, five players in particular are expected to draw the most interest to move the needle for a new company, should they end up signing elsewhere.

Devin Booker

While Booker has been part of a crowded roster at Nike, the company has found ways to spotlight his rise as one of the NBA's best young scorers. He was among a handful of players to be given player exclusive colorways of Kobe Bryant's ongoing signature line the past two seasons, notably the Kobe 1 and Kobe 4 Protro editions.

The company's lifestyle category, Nike Sportswear, also incorporated him into a special release of his very own Air Force 1 Low colorway, in tandem with a commercial and campaign with Foot Locker. He opted for a light blue and tan colorway that pulled away from the Suns' less versatile orange and purple hues, which was an instant hit with sneakerheads.

Booker's potential is seen both on the court in wearing a brand's key performance models, and off the floor, where he's become one of the league's featured players known for his tunnel fashion. With social media accounts like @LeagueFits launching, fully dedicated to highlighting players' arrival fashion, brands are placing more emphasis than ever on off-court style.

During the spring and early summer, which saw fellow rising young gun Jayson Tatum's transfer from Nike Basketball to Jordan Brand, Booker was also often discussed as an ideal candidate to add to Michael Jordan's roster of NBA players.

Luka Doncic

Doncic is in the rare position to immediately capitalize on a stellar rookie season. A year after entering the NBA with more hype than any recent European prospect, Doncic is set to have the Nike deal he signed as a young pro in Europe expire. His teammate Kristaps Porzingis fell into similar luck in 2017, when his lone NBA season under contract with Nike had been paying him shy of six figures and was set to expire. He turned his breakout rookie year in New York into a new seven-year deal with Adidas, paying him between $3 million and $6 million annually.

For Doncic, the market this summer and into the fall is expected to be similarly aggressive, with a variety of US-based brands and Chinese companies looking to enter negotiations.

Just this summer, Giannis Antetokounmpo became the first European-born player to receive a signature shoe. Brands see Doncic, the reigning Rookie of the Year, in the same category. He helped to headline the launch of Nike's auto-lacing Adapt BB sneaker in January and is thought to have potential to headline a variety of styles and designs.

In addition to his on-court production -- he averaged 21.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG and 6.0 APG -- he comes with a built-in global fanbase. His jersey was the 13th-best-selling in the NBA last season, and he finished second in All-Star fan voting among Western Conference forwards, behind only LeBron James.

His production on the floor has met the hype. His potential as a crossover star is already underway. Now Doncic will begin discussing brand deals, with the value of his next sneaker deal and the visibility from it expected to exponentially increase.

Kyle Kuzma

A relatively unknown late first-round pick in 2017, Kuzma's game and fame exploded during his rookie season in Los Angeles.

Now that he's expected to be a Laker for the long haul, having been spared from a potential trade to New Orleans, brands have significant interest in Kuzma. While his rookie shoe deal with Nike paid him less than six figures per year, his next deal will be significantly larger.

Nike quickly realized Kuzma's potential, using him in the Adapt BB launch and featuring him in several of Kobe Bryant's signature pairs as the ongoing torchbearer of the Laker franchise.

"It's been great," Kuzma said. "I've always been a Nike guy growing up. As a sneakerhead, you always have a special place in your heart for the brand with all of the different kinds of shoes they've done. To build that brand together was a no-brainer."

Along the way, he also added an innovative additional deal to his portfolio, signing an ambassador deal with the GOAT app, an online resale marketplace that features tens of thousands of rare and limited-edition sneakers. The concept earned praise from fellow players around the league, and also landed him on an episode of "The Boardroom" to discuss the unique partnership.

"It's definitely exciting," he said. "Going from where I came as an unheralded prospect out of high school and college, going into the NBA, it's going to be pretty cool to see sneaker companies take a big interest in me. It's a credit to my hard work."

D'Angelo Russell

When Russell was drafted by the Lakers in 2015, he immediately became one of the most sought-after players in his rookie class. After blossoming in Brooklyn and signing a max deal with the Warriors, he's once again expected to garner that level of interest.

From a sneaker standpoint, Russell checks several boxes for brands. He's known for both his on- and off-court style and loves to wear flashy colors and graphics in tandem with a series of accessories in games. His "DLoading" persona and signature "ice in my veins" celebration after big shots continue to raise his profile.

While the 23-year-old could continue to wear Nike Basketball's latest and greatest, he's also a prime candidate to stay within the Nike Inc. umbrella at either of its subsidiary brands. A transfer to Jordan Brand has been discussed among executives, which would land the Jumpman logo on a Warriors roster they've been absent from during the team's five consecutive Finals trips. It'd also be a natural fit for Russell, who has an Air Jordan 1 tattoo along his left leg.

As the company continues to invest in its Converse Basketball relaunch, Russell could prove to be a great addition there as well. He'd be joining forces with Kelly Oubre Jr. as one of the few faces of the iconic heritage brand, as it looks for additional expressive and versatile players to wear the new All Star Pro BB sneaker, a modernized take on the classic Chuck Taylor, built with today's materials and technology.

P.J. Tucker

Heading into his 10th season in the NBA, Tucker has established himself not only with his never-ending flow of rare sneakers on the floor, but also in his role as a 3-and-D glue guy on a contending Houston Rockets team. His rise in awareness across social media, at fashion week shows around the world and in legacy fashion magazines in recent years have earned him the title of "sneaker champ of the NBA."

"I never really cared, and I never wanted to be a champion of sneakers. I don't even know what that is," he said with a laugh. "Honestly, it's just something that's pretty cool to be thought of as."

Known for spending $200,000 of his own money on sneakers in each of the past two seasons, Tucker is expected to command a new high-six-figure brand deal this fall. Both New Balance and Puma are thought to be potential suitors, while several Chinese brands have also reached out, given his awareness level throughout the region and the country's longtime connection to the Houston Rockets.

Of course, Nike remains the favorite to sign the player that's provided some of the Swoosh's most coveted kicks with endless visibility, whether it was debuting Nike's Fear of God collaboration with designer Jerry Lorenzo, the Jordan 4 Retro created with musician Travis Scott or the variety of ridiculously rare "OVO" exclusives made only for Drake's inner circle. Wherever he lands, look for Tucker to continue his love for the sneaker game, as he always has.

"If there were no Instagram, if there were no video cameras at games, I would still change shoes and do it every single day like I do," he said. "It's part of my life, and something that I do every day."

NAPA, Calif. -- Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis, who unleashed on his RingCentral Coliseum co-tenants, MLB's Oakland Athletics, in a Thursday afternoon story in The Athletic, clarified his statements to ESPN late Thursday night.

"I am not sorry for the things I said," Davis said in a phone call. "But I am sorry for the way I said them."

Davis had told The Athletic that the Raiders loved the A's as players and as a team, but that "the front office has been real p---ks."

"They've been really f---ing around with us up there, taking advantage of the situation," Davis was quoted in the story. "Which, it is their right to do it, but it makes it hard. Again, though, we love the players, we love the A's."

The cause of Davis' ire? The Raiders, entering what is supposed to be their final season in Oakland, open exhibition play Saturday against the Los Angeles Rams, and they are angered over a new Coliseum configuration created by the A's last winter that displaced 2,500 Raiders season-ticket holders.

The Raiders' Coliseum lease had expired with the end of the 2018 season and the team was exploring playing in other stadiums, including the San Francisco Giants' Oracle Park and the 49ers' Levi's Stadium, in 2019. With the Raiders having no legal right to the Coliseum, and the A's in a 10-year lease extension signed in 2014, the baseball team tore out several sections of seats around the Coliseum to make the areas more spacious for its fans, complete with drink rails that created 250 obstructed view seats for football.

So by the time the Raiders had come to an agreement to return to the Coliseum for 2019 on a $7.5 million lease -- and possibly 2020 for $10.5 million, should the $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas not be ready -- the A's renovation had already occurred.

As such, the Raiders moved those 2,500 season-ticket holders to seats of equal or better value, Davis said, as the team took premium seats from employees and gave them to the displaced fans.

A year earlier, when the Raiders did have a lease with the Coliseum, the football team said it lost about 300 permanent seats (which were replaced by 200 folding chairs) when the A's built their fan-centric "Treehouse" attraction above what is left field for baseball, the north end zone corner for football, without the Raiders' permission.

And while the Raiders are moving to Las Vegas, the A's have their sights set on building a waterfront stadium in downtown Oakland's Jack London Square.

The Raiders and the NFL were hit with a federal lawsuit by the city of Oakland in December in reaction to the team's pending move. And when asked by The Athletic about a conflict between the city of Oakland and Alameda County selling the land on which the Coliseum sits to the A's, Davis unloaded.

"They're f---ing totally dysfunctional," Davis told The Athletic. "It's that f---ing bad over there."

The Raiders, who formerly received funds from stadium naming rights in Oakland, and thus paid minimal rent, had their rent more than tripled in 2016, from $925,000 to $3.5 million, after the team lost a vote to move to Los Angeles. A year later, the Raiders won the right to move to Las Vegas.

Toronto Blue Jays rookie Bo Bichette has had fewer than 50 at-bats in the big leagues, but he already has set a major league record.

Bichette, the son of former Colorado Rockies star Dante Bichette, became the first player in the modern era (since 1900) to double in nine straight games -- and he broke the record in the 11th game of his career, a 12-6 loss to the visiting New York Yankees on Thursday night.

Former Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee had set the previous record of eight games in 2007, and St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina matched it in 2016.

Bichette's double came in the sixth inning. His 441-foot blast an inning earlier made the 21-year-old the first rookie to record an extra-base hit in nine games since Ted Williams did it for the Boston Red Sox in 1939.

"When I hit the homer, that was the first chills moment I've had in the big leagues so far," said Bichette, who went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs.

Bichette's 11-game hit streak is the longest to start a career in Blue Jays franchise history.

"We're watching history," manager Charlie Montoyo said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Second baseman Joe Panik, released by the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday, has agreed to a free-agent deal with the New York Mets, the team announced Friday.

It's a homecoming for Panik, who attended high school in Hopewell Junction, New York, and attended St. John's University. He cleared waivers on Friday.

The Mets, who enter Friday's game against the Washington Nationals just a half-game out of the second National League wild-card spot, need a second baseman after Robinson Cano tore his left hamstring earlier this week.

Panik hit .235 with three homers and 27 RBIs in 103 games for the Giants this season. In 643 career games with San Francisco, he hit .271 with 36 homers and 221 RBIs.

He became the odd man out in San Francisco when the Giants acquired Scooter Gennett from the Cincinnati Reds at the trade deadline.

In a corresponding move, the Mets designated infielder Adeiny Hechavarria for assignment. Hechavarria had hit .204 with five home runs and 18 RBIs in 60 games this season.

Cano, 36, is hitting .252 with 10 homers and 32 RBIs in his first season with the Mets after being acquired from Seattle. Infielder Luis Guillorme, who was called up from Triple-A Syracuse when Cano was placed on the injured list Monday, has been starting at second base this week.

A rookie in 2014, Panik played a large role that postseason as the Giants beat the Kansas City Royals for their third World Series championship in five seasons. In Game 7, Panik started a key double play when he dove to snare an Eric Hosmer grounder, then flipped the ball with his glove to shortstop Brandon Crawford, who threw to first.

Panik also had a clutch two-run homer off Adam Wainwright as the Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series to reach the World Series.

A Texas Rangers fan who directed racist comments and derogatory gestures at a Hispanic family during a game Saturday has been indefinitely banned from the team's games at Globe Life Park.

The Rangers said in a statement on Friday that after reviewing information about the incident, "we are notifying the individual that he violated the club's fan code of conduct and is indefinitely prohibited from attending Rangers home games."

The team said it would have no further comment.

Shortly after Saturday's game against the Detroit Tigers, Jessica Romero posted to Facebook that during the game, a man made racist comments about Hispanics and intentionally made profane gestures in the background of photos her family was taking in the upper-deck bleachers. She included one of the photos in her post.

The Rangers offered the Romeros tickets to any home game in 2019, saying they would "make their next trip to Globe Life Park a memorable and enjoyable experience."

The team also released a statement condemning the fan's conduct.

"The Rangers are committed to providing all of our guests with a safe and enjoyable experience and we are truly sorry that this family was subjected to this offensive behavior at Saturday's game," the team said. "There is no place at Globe Life Park in Arlington for this type of conduct to occur."

Rangers center fielder Delino DeShields was among the players to express concern over what happened.

"That's definitely not OK, especially when this is supposed to be the greatest country in the world," DeShields told reporters. "I feel like everyone should be treated equally, especially at a sporting event when people want to come to enjoy a baseball game or a football game or whatever it is."

Romero said that after posting her account on Facebook, she had received support from people all over the country.

"It's kind of amazing to me how kind people are and the words they're sending," she told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

There is no way to be objective and professional about this: I am very excited about Thursday's news that the Chicago White Sox will "host" the New York Yankees next August at the Field of Dreams near Dyersville, Iowa.

If you've been following along, you've probably noticed that I grew up in Iowa and I'm not too shy about bringing it up. I have used my hometown as a kind of character more than once. Frankly, after this year's one-off staging of a Royals-Tigers game in Omaha, Nebraska (I think it should become an annual event), I kind of figured it would be some time before Iowa would reemerge as a topic in my writings. After all, I am a national writer who focuses on the big leagues and there is no MLB franchise in Iowa*.

* There was kind of a big league team in the state briefly. In 1875, a team set up shop in Keokuk, a once-sizable town in the southeast corner of Iowa along the Mississippi River. The Keokuk Westerns went 1-12 in the National Association -- a circuit not everybody considers "major" -- before folding. The lone victory, according to Baseball-Reference.com, was a 15-2 thumping on May 6 at home against the St. Louis Red Stockings. It's a win so famous in the Hawkeye State that I might be the first person to ever mention it.

The Yankees-White Sox Iowa game is part of MLB's recent attempt to stage games in historic but nontraditional baseball locales. In doing so, the league is kind of rekindling the old barnstorming days, when players would travel the country putting on exhibitions in places where big league tentacles did not reach. It's a tremendous initiative. Just as June's game in Omaha was the first MLB contest in the state of Nebraska, the White Sox-Yankees tilt will be the first in Iowa.

When I sat down to write about this, I had not planned to do it in listicle form. But I find that I have so many embarrassingly euphoric, yet completely disconnected, thoughts about it, it's the only format that makes sense. So here goes.

1. The first pitch

Ray Kinsella to John Kinsella. Obviously. OK, we're talking the movie version of the tale here, because the shooting of "Field of Dreams" in Iowa is what brought us here. Ray, the protagonist of the movie, was played by Kevin Costner. This much you know.

In the final scene of the movie, the much-referred-to but never-seen character of Ray's father -- John -- appears. He's been dead a long time but, hey, it's magical realism, where Shoeless Joe Jackson can come back to life and even hit right-handed. The actor playing the part of John Kinsella is Dwier Brown.

As it happens, during my recent trip to Cooperstown, New York, I saw Dwier Brown. He had set up a table at the corner of Main and Pioneer. I meant to say hello, but every time I got near, Brown was occupied with autograph- and selfie-seekers. As it turns out, Brown has developed a bit of a side career based on that role from a now-30-year-old film, making appearances at ballparks and even penning a novel called "If You Build It," which plays off the father-son themes from the movie.

With that sighting fresh on my mind, I immediately wondered if Brown would have heard the news, because it seemed like he ought to play a role in next year's game. He was way ahead of me:

Doolittle: So, what was the first thing you thought of when you heard the news?

Dwier Brown: I had been told that MLB was going to announce it soon and it seems like just the perfect event for baseball right now. I have been asked to visit 40 minor league games this summer with my book, and fans everywhere have showered me with love for that film.

BD: What do you think it is about that movie that still resonates with people so much? I know you touched on a lot of themes from the film in your novel, so what about it still resonates with you?

DB: Well, in the first place, the film is nostalgic, recalling a time when baseball was played by so many people just for the love of the game. And it's so touching. Whether you deeply loved your dad, or just wanted to, who wouldn't want to have another chance to get it right? Just a wordless conversation of tossing a ball back and forth, that simultaneously means nothing, but at the same time means everything.

BD: Absolutely -- the image of a father and son playing catch is transcendent, and I've used it to wind up baseball stories more than once. That of course is the final, enduring image of the film -- your character, John Kinsella, having a redemptive catch with his son, Ray. Which brings me to the obvious: It's a no-brainer for you to receive the first pitch from Kevin Costner, right? How do we make this happen?

DB: Well, from your mouth to God's ear! (Actually the Big Man is on board -- we just need to convince MLB!)

After that exchange, I decided to ask Costner about it, but, as it turns out, it's not that easy to simply call up a movie star, or even his publicist. So instead I reached out to the MLB office, where I actually know people. The response: "We are looking forward to playing at the 'Field of Dreams' site and celebrating the movie's message of how baseball brings people together. We will be planning all aspects of the event in the months ahead."

Plan this aspect: Kevin Costner having a catch with Dwier Brown. Come on, Costner. You've got to make this happen.

2. The Real Iowa

Obviously, not everybody loved the movie or, if they do, it's become kind of a hipster thing to deny it. It's awfully sentimental in many respects, has a few logical and factual errors, and the nondiegetic music can be a little heavy-handed in terms of telling us what emotions we ought to be feeling. All of these flaws, for me, can be forgiven.

What I don't like is the way small-town Iowans are portrayed as a bunch of medieval, book-burning rubes. In fact, the reason the story is set in Iowa in the first place is because the author of the book that the movie is based on -- W.P. Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe" -- attended the famed Iowa Writers' Workshop and loved the place.

Let's hope that the coverage of the event next August doesn't fall back on those old, tired tropes of what small-town, rural America is like, or used to be.

3. The Yankees?

You put the Yankees in a game at the Field of Dreams and, sure, you then get to make a promo that has Aaron Judge running toward a cornfield. And, admittedly, it was pretty freaking cool. Other than that, I'm not thrilled that New York was picked for this game.

The White Sox? Of course. It's a natural fit, given that the book and the movie depict a return from the afterlife by the Black Sox. And the book is, after all, called "Shoeless Joe." That part of Iowa is Cubs country for the most part, but I don't think that there is the same kind of anti-ChiSox animosity that you might find in certain northerly regions of Chicago. There might be a fair amount of ire directed at the Yankees, but all in all, the fact that there is a game there in the first place and the unassailability of Judge will swamp all of that.

I've seen some suggestions that the Reds would have been the better choice to play the White Sox, given the symmetry with the 1919 World Series. Best I can tell, that wouldn't slot into the interleague scheduling rotation for 2020. Anyway, the better choice would the Indians.

Two reasons for this: Bob Feller and Joe Jackson. Jackson began his career with the Cleveland Naps before moving on to Chicago, so there is that tie-in. And Feller was born and raised in Van Meter, Iowa, and is probably the best big league player from the state. (Yes, I'd rate him ahead of Cap Anson despite a sizable bWAR deficit.) It's not a big deal. The Yankees being involved will boost the television ratings. But from the perspective of an Iowan, given the rare chance to celebrate the big league heritage in the state, the Indians would have been a better choice.

4. Corn ball

Want to know what it's like to play baseball next to a cornfield? Well, it's kind of cool, and the image of fully grown, ready-to-harvest towering stalks of corn remains vividly fixed in my memory. Looking to the west during the crepuscular hours of a summer evening, with the pink-gray sky hovering over those endless fields -- it's positively literary.

Typically, Iowa cornfields are surrounded by short, wire fences, and as a kid, the idea was to set up the field in such a way that if you cleared the fence with a blow, it was a home run. The problem, of course, is that once a ball rolled back into those countless towers of corn, you would have a hell of a time finding it. More than once, I had to wait until fall to recover a lost ball, after harvest, with hopes that it hadn't been chewed up by a combine.

This, folks, is what it's like to grow up as a baseball fanatic in the rural Midwest. As a place to grow up, you can't beat it. That's another aspect of the venue that I hope comes across next August. When I see pictures of that farm where the field was built, with its quaint farmhouse, the outer buildings and the vistas of cornfields extending in every direction, it puts me right back where I began. I wish everybody could experience the kind of peace that comes with living in such surroundings.

5. James Earl Jones

First of all, there is zero chance that James Earl Jones will be in Iowa next August. By then, he'll be about six months shy of his 90th birthday. When he reprised an old role for the recent "The Lion King," he didn't participate in promotion of the film. As Costner's character says to Terence Mann (Jones' character) in the film, "The man's done enough."

But here's hoping they can at least record a fresh voiceover or something to be played that night, because his "people will come" monologue is such an iconic part of "Field of Dreams" and is easily the most oft-cited passage. And, as he suggests, baseball still marks the time. Also, if he could do that voiceover as Darth Vader, that would be ideal.

By the way, you might have noticed that Jones' character in the movie has a backstory that is clearly inspired by the life of J.D. Salinger. If you've read the book you already know this, but in the novel, the writer character actually is J.D. Salinger, or at least a fictional version of him. W.P. Kinsella was a big fan.

In fact, the character name "Ray Kinsella" was lifted from a Salinger short story, called "A Young Girl in 1941 with No Waist at All." The story doesn't mention baseball but does refer to jai alai, so at least there was a ball in it.

5. Comiskey redux

There was a cool tidbit from MLB's news release on the game that will appeal to ballpark aficionados. The design of the temporary ballpark that will be installed in the cornfield adjacent to the actual Field of Dreams will be inspired by the old Comiskey Park. Primarily that will entail, as best I can tell, copying the shape of the outfield, but it's a nice touch, nonetheless.

Also, the right-field wall will be transparent, allowing everyone to see the corn growing beyond it. Alas, given the extreme weather events of recent years, we do have to keep our fingers crossed that there won't be any kind of drought next summer that will prevent the corn from growing tall. It's not the kind of thing you can take for granted.

6. More of these games, please

Again, I think this notion of playing meaningful games in unusual venues is fantastic. The event in Omaha could have hardly gone better. TD Ameritrade Park was jam-packed, the energy was electric and the teams enjoyed it. It's a concept that allows baseball to showcase itself in a way that really underscores the deep connections the game has to our culture and shared history.

Where can baseball go next? I'm sure there are a lot of possibilities. But one thing I'd love to see happen, and it would have to be next season, is for MLB to stage a game in Kansas City to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Negro Leagues.

This event, as I envision it, would have the Royals play an opponent at the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy, located in the historic 18th and Vine district in K.C. That's where the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is headquartered as well, and is near where the actual founding of the Negro Leagues took place at what is to become the Buck O'Neil Research and Education Center.

Obviously, the academy is not set up to host a big league game. But if they can have a game in a cornfield, anything is possible, right? However, if that can't be accomplished, you could still play at Kauffman Stadium. Either way, it's an anniversary that needs to be recognized.

7. The transcendence of having a catch and the power of nostalgia

I have used the imagery of people playing catch as a send-off to feature stories twice. Once was early in my career, in a piece about the owner of the first big league team in Kansas City. The other was just last year, when outside of the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, about an hour after the 2018 Hall of Fame induction ceremony, I saw a man and his son having a catch. It gets me every time.

There is something transcendent about the act. The image makes for a powerful metaphor, especially when it comes to exploring the connections between us. What makes for a more effective objective correlative, one that embodies the connections between us, than the simple act of one person throwing a ball to another? I would argue that for all the sentimental aspects of the movie version of "Field of Dreams," that final image of Brown and Costner playing catch is what hooked us forever -- the redemptive image of a father and son having a catch. Costner has called "Field of Dreams" the modern-day version of "It's a Wonderful Life," but I disagree. The latter is a testament to what we can be to each other. The former is a testament to what we actually mean to each other, even if we have a hard time expressing it.

Geez, that's laying it on thick, but that's the thing with this story. It does that to us. That's why the filming site was preserved in the first place. (There are money-related aspects about the story of the farm at which the movie was made; we can save that for another day.) It's timeless.

And for MLB, there is value in nostalgia. Obviously, the game and the league must always strive to evolve and extend itself to new generations. It's hard to be nostalgic for something you never experienced. Still, more so for baseball than the other major sports, nostalgia is a powerful component -- and a major sales draw. Look at the baseball memorabilia industry or the crowds in Cooperstown or the enduring popularity of long-gone stars like Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.

Nostalgia is big business, and no sport is better positioned to traffic in it than baseball.

Extra innings

1. There just seems to be more negativity when it comes to the New York Mets than most other teams, and not just from the media. Most of the blame for that goes to the Mets, but there ought to be limits. New York has saved its season by winning 13 of 14. And while the strength of opposition during this stretch has been weak, that hardly diminishes the accomplishment. This is the big leagues, and the June version of the Mets could not have won 13 of 14 playing in the Big 12.

This season marks the 50th anniversary of 1969's Amazin' Mets, who stormed from 10 games back on Aug. 13 to win the National League East by eight games. Those Mets, of course, went on to win the franchise's first World Series. If this year's Amazin's keep it up, then you might see a few references to that magical season. But I think there is a better comparison from the franchise's history.

The 1973 Mets were an older version than the 1969 bunch, which was fueled by young-stud pitchers such as Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Jerry Koosman. According to Baseball-Reference.com, the '69 Mets had the NL's youngest group of position players and the third-youngest pitching staff.

By 1973, the shine had come off. Despite the apparent ascendancy of the '69 roster, the Mets finished 83-79 in each of the next three seasons. The '73 Mets had the fourth-oldest set of position players in the NL, including a 42-year-old Willie Mays in his final season. The pitchers were right at league average in terms of age. It felt as if a lot of potential had been squandered.

Like this year's Mets, the '73 club got off to a decent start before going into the tank. New York went from 12-8 and a first-place tie at the end of April to a low-water mark of 13 games under .500. That's where things stood at the end of play on Aug. 17, when New York lost 2-1 to Pedro Borbon and the Reds despite a Mays home run. The season, clearly, was lost.

But in a division race best characterized as mediocre -- just like this season's NL wild-card chase -- one hot streak changed the outlook. The Mets finished the season on a 30-14 run and, despite going 82-79, almost exactly as they finished the three previous campaigns, they ended up in the playoffs. The strength of that team: the starting rotation, led by Seaver, Koosman and Jon Matlack.

New York eventually lost to the Oakland Athletics in the World Series, but doesn't the shape of the narrative carry the potential of perfect symmetry? One question: Who plays the part of Willie Mays on the 2019 Mets?

2. When Jonathan Lucroy was designated for assignment by the Angels last week, it coincided with the hamstring injury suffered by Cubs backstop Willson Contreras. You didn't have to be Nostradamus to figure Chicago would have interest in the veteran Lucroy. Indeed, on Thursday, Lucroy was a member of the Cubs.

In the interim, I saw a couple of stray pieces of analysis that noted Lucroy's slippage in performance this season, including in terms of pitch-framing. I've seen other same observations applied to other backstops not performing as well by that measure, such as Jeff Mathis, Jorge Alfaro and Yan Gomes. I've seen the flip side in observations about framing "breakouts" from catchers such as Austin Hedges and J.T. Realmuto.

My take: We don't have a very good conception of what year-to-year changes in framing metrics mean, and to cite them in relation to some sort of shift in underlying skill feels a bit reckless.

We've long known that BABIP (batting average on balls in play), for batters and pitchers alike, is a flaky metric from year to year. So when someone performs unusually high or low in that category, they tend to get flagged as a regression candidate. Among those who have qualified in each of the past two seasons, the year-over-year correlation in BABIP among hitters from the past two campaigns is .52. (1 is perfect correlation; 0 means no correlation at all). Using one leading set of framing metrics, I calculated the year-over-year correlation in that category as .54. Meaningful but full of noise.

In other words, there is a lot of uncertainty in that metric from season to season. Given a large enough sample size, framing metrics are useful. But be careful about making judgments about actual, on-field skill sets using these still-new measures. There is a lot about them we don't yet know.

3. It was just over a year ago that the Brewers' Christian Yelich made the leap from very good to great. He got hot about the middle of last July and just kept getting hotter for the rest of the season, ending up as the NL's MVP. He's stayed hot through the first few months of 2019 and could be headed for a second consecutive MVP trophy.

What this means is that the "Last 365 days" split for Yelich has gotten increasingly awe inspiring. Here's where the numbers stand at the moment: .336/.433/.712 over 150 games, with 57 homers, 134 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. That's a 1.145 OPS. From this date last year to the end of last season, Yelich put up a 1.170 OPS.

Yelich is nursing an achy back, so let's hope he gets back soon and at full strength. We have almost never seen a player stay this hot for this long.

Sprint hurdler pulls on the British vest for the first time since her Olympic Games fourth place at this weekend’s European Team Championships

Cindy Ofili says she is “super excited” to be returning to GB action at this weekend’s European Team Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, following injury struggles over the past couple of years.

The 25-year-old, whose 100m hurdles PB of 12.60 from 2015 ranks her third on the UK all-time list behind her sister Tiffany Porter and heptathlon star Jessica Ennis-Hill, last pulled on the British vest at the Olympic Games in 2016 in Rio, where she finished a fine fourth.

But she ruptured an Achilles tendon at the start of the summer of 2017 and it has been a long road back.

READ MORE: Cindy Ofili: “I don’t feel scared to compete”

“It’s been a while since I’ve represented GB,” says Ofili, speaking with AW in Poland on the eve of the European event. “My last appearance was probably the Olympics in 2016.

“Just being healthy and getting a lot of sessions in in training has really helped.

“I’m super excited to go out there, take the opportunity to wear the GB vest and represent well.”

On her injury, she adds: “It set me back for about a year and a half. I just returned to competing last year and training has been taking some time because other parts of my body are still getting used to the new Achilles tendon.

“It has been hard but I just need to get more races in. It’s getting there, I’m progressing quite nicely.”

After clocking 13.06 at the Racers Grand Prix in June, Ofili ran 13.24 in the heats at the Müller Anniversary Games in London and targets more Diamond League competition at the Grand Prix in Birmingham before the British Championships and then, she hopes, the IAAF World Championships in Doha.

“I’m excited to show what I’m actually capable of,” says the British indoor champion, who is coached by Jeff Porter, a fellow hurdler and the husband of her sister Tiffany.

The Porters recently welcomed the arrival of their first baby, daughter Chidera Linda, and on becoming an auntie, Ofili says: “It’s amazing, she’s such a cute little kid. My sister is extremely excited, she’s going to be a great mom.”

Asked if the baby has started hurdling yet, Ofili smiles and replies: “No, but she’s going to soon. She’ll be a hurdler!”

Paul Halford shares where he thinks the big points could be heading this weekend in Bydgoszcz

Defending champions Germany are expected to fight it out with hosts Poland when European Team Championships Super League action takes place in Bydgoszcz from August 9-11.

But where are the biggest points likely to be won?

Paul Halford (@pauljhalford) has taken an event-by-event look ahead to the competition and here he shares his predictions.

The final entry list can be found here.

Find our ‘who, what and when?’ guide to the Super League in Bydgoszcz, including ones to watch, a timetable, TV info and more, here, while our full two-page preview is in the August 8 edition of AW magazine, which is available digitally here or to order in print here.

Raneem and Mo top seeds in Oracle NetSuite Open
By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent

A world-class field will descend on San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza between September 24-30 as stars such as women’s World No.1 Raneem El Welily and men’s World No.2 Mohamed ElShorbagy battle it out for the prestigious PSA World Tour Gold titles.

This year’s Oracle NetSuite Open features its largest prize fund in its 10-year history, with $242,000 split equally between the men’s and women’s events, while a best-of-three games scoring format will be used up to and including the semi-finals. The final will revert to the traditional best of five scoring used elsewhere on the tour.

The increase in prize money has seen the tournament attract arguably its overall strongest ever draw, with eight of the world’s top nine female players in attendance.

El Welily headlines the draw alongside reigning World Champion Nour El Sherbini, French World No.3 Camille Serme, Egypt’s World No.4 Nour El Tayeb, Kiwi World No.5 Joelle King, defending champion Sarah-Jane Perry, United States No.1 Amanda Sobhy and Welsh World No.9 Tesni Evans.

Triple Pan American Games gold medallist Sobhy – the 2015 Oracle NetSuite Open champion – is joined by fellow Americans Olivia Blatchford Clyne – who won a gold and silver medal at the Pan American Games – Olivia Fiechter and wildcard Haley Mendez.

The 2017 winner, Mohamed ElShorbagy, tops the men’s draw and will compete alongside fellow top 10 players Tarek Momen, Simon Rösner and Miguel Rodriguez.

ElShorbagy’s younger brother, Marwan, also features, while Welshman Joel Makin, England No.1 Declan James and Australia’s Ryan Cuskelly are the other top eight seeded players.

USA’s Todd Harrity, who won two gold medals at the Pan American Games in Lima last week, also appears in San Francisco, with fellow US player Faraz Khan taking the wildcard spot.

“The Oracle NetSuite Open is one of the most highly-anticipated tournaments on the PSA Tour and I’m delighted to see that this year’s event features arguably our strongest ever draw,” said Tournament Promoter John Nimick.

“To have all but one of the world’s top nine women in attendance, in addition to a host of world-class talent in the men’s draw, is indicative of the ever-increasing prestige of the tournament, and I look forward to welcoming all players to San Francisco in September.”

All round one and two matches will be split between the Bay Club San Francisco, SquashZone, the Olympic Club and The University Club. All matches from the quarter-finals onwards will be held on the Squash Engine Court at Embarcadero Plaza.

Tickets start from $25 and are available through the tournament’s official website. Stay up-to-date with news from the Oracle NetSuite Open by following the tournament on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Fixtures from the Squash Engine Court at the Embarcadero Plaza will be broadcast live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour. 

Looking forward to SF this year for their biggest women’s event yet! It’s been amazing to see the evolution of the women’s draw since I first played in the event in 2015. Hats off to everyone who kept pushing for equal prize money! ???????? #ONO2019 https://t.co/TPXe1OtIIa

— Amanda Sobhy (@itssobhytime) August 9, 2019

2019 Oracle NetSuite Open, Embarcadero Drive, San Francisco, USA.

Men’s Entry List:
1) Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)
2)Tarek Momen (EGY)
3) Simon Rösner (GER)
4) Miguel Rodriguez (COL)
5) Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)
6) Joel Makin (WAL)
7) Declan James (ENG)
8) Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
9) Cesar Salazar (MEX)
10) Tom Richards (ENG)
11) Raphael Kandra (GER)
12) Mostafa Asal (EGY)
13) Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
14) Cameron Pilley (AUS)
15) George Parker (ENG)
16) Arturo Salazar (MEX)
17) Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP)
18) Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT)
19) Campbell Grayson (NZL)
20) Karim Ali Fathi (EGY)
21) Todd Harrity (USA)
22) Alan Clyne (SCO)
23) Ramit Tandon (IND)
Wildcard: Faraz Khan (USA)

2019 Oracle NetSuite Open – Women’s Entry List:
1) Raneem El Welily (EGY)
2) Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
3) Camille Serme (FRA)
4) Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
5) Joelle King (NZL)
6) Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
7) Amanda Sobhy (USA)
8) Tesni Evans (WAL)
9) Joshna Chinappa (IND)
10) Salma Hany (EGY)
11) Nele Gilis (BEL)
12) Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA)
13) Emily Whitlock (ENG)
14) Millie Tomlinson (ENG)
15) Mariam Metwally (EGY)
16) Rachael Grinham (AUS)
17) Tinne Gilis (BEL)
18) Hollie Naughton (CAN)
19) Milou van der Heijden (NED)
20) Coline Aumard (FRA)
21) Danielle Letourneau (CAN)
22) Lisa Aitken (SCO)
23) Olivia Fiechter (USA)
Wildcard: Haley Mendez (USA)
 

Report by SEAN REUTHE (PSA). Edited by ALAN THATCHER.

Pictures courtesy of PSA

LIVE from the Knoxville Nationals
Presented by Mobil 1 Truck & SUV Oil
Brad Sweet Thursday Interview

Last year, Brad Sweet earned his first trip to the famed Knoxville Nationals victory lane. Now that he’s tasted that success, he’s more determined than ever to repeat that feat. On Thursday the Kasey Kahne Racing driver spoke to Ralph Sheheen.

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