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Phylogenetic Comparative Methods: A User's Guide for Paleontologists (Elements of Paleontology)
By David F. Wright, Laura C. Soul. 2021
Recent advances in statistical approaches called Phylogenetic Comparative Methods (PCMs) have provided paleontologists with a powerful set of analytical tools…
for investigating evolutionary tempo and mode in fossil lineages. However, attempts to integrate PCMs with fossil data often present workers with practical challenges or unfamiliar literature. This Element presents guides to the theory behind, and the application of, PCMs with fossil taxa. Based on an empirical dataset of Paleozoic crinoids, it presents example analyses to illustrate common applications of PCMs to fossil data, including investigating patterns of correlated trait evolution and macroevolutionary models of morphological change. It then emphasizes the importance of accounting for sources of uncertainty and discusses how to evaluate model fit and adequacy. Finally, this Element discusses several promising methods for modelling heterogeneous evolutionary dynamics with fossil phylogenies. Integrating phylogeny-based approaches with the fossil record provides a rigorous, quantitative perspective to understanding key patterns in the history of life.Softball Fun (Sports Fun)
By Cari Meister. 2021
Softball is exciting to watch, but it’s even more fun to play! Kids can take the field by learning the…
rules of the sport, the equipment and skills needed to play, and the importance of good sportsmanship. A simple activity helps kids strengthen a basic softball skill.Fall Classics: The Best Writing About the World Series' First 100 Years
By Bill Littlefield, Richard A. Johnson. 2004
Long before there was the Super Bowl, the NBA Championship, the Final Four, or the World Cup, there was the…
World Series. In the beginning, men in derbies sat in the outfield and marveled at Mathewson and McGraw. Today, fans congregate in sports bars, staring at screens big enough to see which players have shaved that day. For a century, the World Series has captured the nation’s imagination. The drama has included Willie Mays’s catch, of course, and Reggie Jackson’s home runs, and the gratifying day when Walter Johnson finally won. But the plot lines have also featured the audacious fixing of the 1919 Series and the unlikely heroics of various journeymen never much heard of before the span of a few brilliant autumn days, and never much heard of since. There has been one perfect game. There have been any number of perfectly inexplicable managerial decisions, not all of them made by managers of the Red Sox. There has been drama, comedy, and pathos. Fall Classicsis a collection of the best writing about the World Series in its first hundred years. Certainly it is a kind of history of the event. It is also a catalog of the work of some of the most accomplished and entertaining writers of the past century, since the World Series has drawn to itself not only our best sports scribblers, but many writers who wouldn’t have dreamed of writing about the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Final Four, or even the Super Bowl. Here you’ll find Jimmy Breslin telling Damon Runyon’s fantastic story of how he got the scoop on where Grover Cleveland Alexander spent the first innings of a seventh game he eventually won. (Hint: It wasn’t the bullpen. ) Satchel Paige recalls his experience of finally getting to pitch in the Series in 1948. Red Smith writes about Willie Mays’s last hurrah with the Mets in 1973 against the A’s. And Peter Gammons and Roger Angell give their takes on the two most famous game sixes of all, Gammons on 1975 and Angell on 1986. The games and the memories go on. For every fan whose heart yearns for a bleacher seat, a ballpark frank, and a slice of October Americana,Fall Classicsis a treasure. From the Hardcover edition.Baseballissimo
By Dave Bidini. 2004
In the spring of 2002, Dave Bidini set off for Nettuno, Italy, with his wife, Janet, and their two small…
children, in search of his favourite summer game, baseball. Nettuno was his destination because this town, south of Rome, has been the baseball capital of Italy since 1944, when the game was introduced by the American GIs who liberated the region. Bidini wanted to spend time in a town where everyone is as nuts about the game as he is, and in Nettuno, they love the game so much that they hand out baseball gloves and bats to children taking their first communion. For six months Bidini followed the fortunes of the Serie B Peones, Nettunese to the core. At the same time he was also learning about his own heritage, having spent his youth vigorously ignoring his Italianness. The result of his summer in Italy is vintage Bidini: a funny, perceptive, and engrossing book that takes readers far beyond the professional sport to the game that people around the world love to play.Ty Cobb: BAD BOY OF BASEBALL
By S. A. Kramer. 1995
The Wrong Stuff
By Bill Lee, Richard Lally. 2006
The return of a sports classic with a new foreword by the author Finally back in print after many years,…
here is Bill Lee's classic tale of his renegade life on and off the mound. Whether walking out on the Montreal Expos to protest the release of a valued teammate or telling sportswriters eager for candid and offbeat comments more about the game than his bosses wanted anyone to know, pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee became celebrated as much for his rebellious personality as for his remarkable talent. Add to the mix his affinity for Eastern religions and controversial causes, and you can see why Lee infuriated the establishment while entertaining his legion of fans. In this wildly funny memoir that became a massive bestseller in the United States and Canada when it was first published, Lee recounts the colorful story of his life--from the drugged-out antics of his college days at USC (where he learned that "marijuana never hammered me like a good Camel") to his post-World Series travels with a group of liberal long-distance runners through Red China (where he discovered that conservatives don't like marathons because "it's much easier to climb into a Rolls-Royce"). Lee also describes his minor league days, joining the Reserves during the Vietnam War, his time with the Red Sox, and the 1975 World Series. He spares no detail while recalling his infamous falling-out with Red Sox management that led to his trade to Montreal. Full of irreverent wit, and an inherent love of the game, The Wrong Stuff is a sports classic for a new generation. From the Trade Paperback edition.Believeniks!: 2005: The Year We Wrote a Book About the Mets
By Ivan Felt, Harris Conklin. 2006
Critic Ivan Felt and poet Harris Conklin are the Don Quixote and Sancho Panza of baseball fandom. Or, perhaps, the…
Felix and Oscar of baseball fandom. Or the Pollock and de Kooning. Or the Bugs and Daffy. The New York Mets are, of course, the New York Mets of baseball. In 2005, Felt and Conklin, lifelong friends and lifelong fans, determined to change the course of their own careers and of baseball history by doing what had never been done: writing their beloved team to a World Championship. The 2005 Mets, with a new manager and some of the spiffiest free agents on the market, seemed ready to take the world by storm. Felt and Conklin believed themselves up to the task. It is, after all, Belief (and free agents) that makes such dreams come true. Believeniks!is the record of a journey. Felt and Conklin would, alas, fail to see their team attain that golden pinnacle in the clouds of baseball glory. AsBelieveniks!reveals, however, the season’s unfolding drama would leave two of baseball’s most erudite and excitable fans forever changed.Class A: Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere
By Lucas Mann. 2013
An unforgettable chronicle of a year of minor-league baseball in a small Iowa town that follows not only the travails…
of the players of the Clinton LumberKings but also the lives of their dedicated fans and of the town itself. Award-winning essayist Lucas Mann delivers a powerful debut in his telling of the story of the 2010 season of the Clinton LumberKings. Along the Mississippi River, in a Depression-era stadium, young prospects from all over the world compete for a chance to move up through the baseball ranks to the major leagues. Their coaches, some of whom have spent nearly half a century in the game, watch from the dugout. In the bleachers, local fans call out from the same seats they've occupied year after year. And in the distance, smoke rises from the largest remaining factory in a town that once had more millionaires per capita than any other in America. Mann turns his eye on the players, the coaches, the fans, the radio announcer, the town, and finally on himself, a young man raised on baseball, driven to know what still draws him to the stadium. His voice is as fresh and funny as it is poignant, illuminating both the small triumphs and the harsh realities of minor-league ball. Part sports story, part cultural exploration, part memoir, Class A is a moving and unique study of why we play, why we watch, and why we remember.From the Hardcover edition.Mount Rushmore, located in the Black Hills of Keystone, South Dakota, is one of the most iconic landmarks in the…
United States. The face of the mountain features 60-foot heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. It depicts four of the greatest men our country has ever known. In recent years, it has become fashionable for sports fans to select the Mount Rushmore of their franchise&’s history. For some franchise&’s, which have been around for 100+ years, it can be a daunting task. Even for younger franchises, such as the New York Mets, picking a Mount Rushmore can be a challenge. Mostly because fans always seem to favor players that they have seen play—leading older and younger fans to differ on who belongs carved on that fictional mountain in Queens. In 2015, Major League Baseball announced its decision for each team&’s Mount Rushmore. For the Mets, voters chose Keith Hernandez, Mike Piazza, Tom Seaver, and David Wright. No one would argue that Tom Seaver is on the franchise&’s Mount Rushmore. He was, after all, &“The Franchise.&” Some might even argue that the Mets&’ Mount Rushmore is Tom Seaver four times! However, that not-withstanding, when it comes to rounding out the other three players, did MLB get it right?? Thankfully, Mount Rushmore of the New York Mets tackles such a question. Covering the team by decade, author Brett Topel share the best players from the team&’s almost sixty-year history. From Jerry Koosman and Ed Kranepool, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, to Edgardo Alfonzo and Jose Reyes, each decade is covered, reliving the highs and lows of the Metropolitans. So whether you remember the Miracle Mets, the Amazin&’ run of 1986, or the almost of the 2000s, Mount Rushmore of the New York Mets breaks down the fan favorites who earned their prominence in the Polo Grounds, Shea Stadium, and Citi Field.Expanded Sampling Across Ontogeny in Deltasuchus motherali: Revealing Ecomorphological Niche Partitioning and Appalachian Endemism in Cenomanian Crocodyliforms (Elements of Paleontology)
By Stephanie K. Drumheller, Thomas L. Adams, Hannah Maddox, Christopher R. Noto. 2021
New material attributable to Deltasuchus motherali, a neosuchian from the Cenomanian of Texas, provides sampling across much of the ontogeny…
of this species. Detailed descriptions provide both information about the paleobiology of this species, particularly with regards to how growth and development affected diet. Overall snout shape became progressively wider and more robust with age, suggesting that dietary shifts from juvenile to adult were not only a matter of size change, but functional performance as well. These newly described elements provide additional characters upon which to base more robust phylogenetic analyses. The authors provide a revised diagnosis of this species, describing the new material and discussing incidents of apparent ontogenetic variation across the sampled population. The results of the ensuing phylogenetic analyses both situate Deltasuchus within an endemic clade of Appalachian crocodyliforms, separate and diagnosable from goniopholidids and pholidosaurs, herein referred to as Paluxysuchidae.Forty Years a Giant: The Life of Horace Stoneham
By Steven Treder. 2021
When New York Giants owner Charles A. Stoneham came home one night in 1918 and told his teenage son, Horace,…
&“Horrie, I bought you a ballclub,&” he set in motion a family legacy. Horace Stoneham would become one of baseball&’s greatest figures, an owner who played an essential role in integrating the game, and who was a major force in making our pastime truly national by bringing Major League Baseball to the West Coast. Horace Stoneham began his tenure with the Giants in 1924, learning all sides of the operation until he moved into the front office. In 1936, when his father died of kidney disease, Horace assumed control of the Giants at age thirty-two, becoming one of the youngest owners in baseball history. Stoneham played a pivotal role in not just his team&’s history but the game itself. In the mid-1940s when the Pacific Coast League sought to gain Major League status, few but Stoneham and Branch Rickey took it seriously, and twelve years later the Giants and Dodgers were the first two teams to relocate west. Stoneham signed former Negro Leaguers Monte Irvin and Hank Thompson, making the Giants the second National League franchise to racially integrate. In the late 1940s, the Giants hired their first Spanish-speaking scout and soon became the leading team in developing Latin American players. Stoneham was shy and self-effacing and avoided the spotlight. His relationships with players were almost always strong, yet for all his leadership skills and baseball acumen, sustained success eluded most of his teams. In forty seasons his Giants won just five National League pennants and only one World Series. The Stoneham family business struggled, and the team was forced to sell off its beloved stars, first Willie Mays, then Willie McCovey, and finally Juan Marichal. Then Stoneham had no choice but to sell the club in 1975. While his tenure came to an unfortunate end, he is heralded as a pioneer and leader whose story tells much of baseball history from the 1930s through the 1970s.Faithful: Two Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
By Stephen King, Stewart O'Nan. 2004
Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan, lifelong Boston Red Sox addicts, chronicle the 2004 baseball season from spring training to the…
last dramatic game, in their dramatic World Series-winning season.Who better to follow the fortunes of a 'cursed' team like the Boston Red Sox than two renowned horror writers and lifelong Red Sox addicts? Red Sox fans have seen it all since 1918... except that elusive World Championship. The memory of 2003's devastating ALCS Game 7 loss and the anticipation of new ace Curt Schilling's impact made this season that much more compelling. Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan joined the rest of the Red Sox Nation to cheer on the Olde Town Team, with the eternal hope that this might be their year. On 27th October 2004, the Red Sox finally prevailed, taking an unassailable 4-0 lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the best of seven World Series. Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan's email correspondence about the dramatic and ultimately heartbreaking 2003 season inspired the idea for FAITHFUL, a book that records the Sox's 2004 baseball season from start to spectacular finish.The Evolution and Fossil Record of Parasitism: Identification and Macroevolution of Parasites (Topics in Geobiology #49)
By Kenneth De Baets, John Warren Huntley. 2021
This two-volume edited book highlights and reviews the potential of the fossil record to calibrate the origin and evolution of…
parasitism, and the techniques to understand the development of parasite-host associations and their relationships with environmental and ecological changes. The book deploys a broad and comprehensive approach, aimed at understanding the origins and developments of various parasite groups, in order to provide a wider evolutionary picture of parasitism as part of biodiversity. This is in contrast to most contributions by parasitologists in the literature that focus on circular lines of evidence, such as extrapolating from current host associations or distributions, to estimate constraints on the timing of the origin and evolution of various parasite groups. This approach is narrow and fails to provide the wider evolutionary picture of parasitism on, and as part of, biodiversity. Volume one focuses on identifying parasitism in the fossil record, and sheds light on the distribution and ecological importance of parasite-host interactions over time. In order to better understand the evolutionary history of parasites and their relationship with changes in the environment, emphasis is given to viruses, bacteria, protists and multicellular eukaryotes as parasites. Particular attention is given to fungi and metazoans such as bivalves, cnidarians, crustaceans, gastropods, helminths, insects, mites and ticks as parasites. Researchers, specifically evolutionary (paleo)biologists and parasitologists, interested in the evolutionary history of parasite-host interactions as well as students studying parasitism will find this book appealing.Josh Gibson: The Power and the Darkness
By Mark Ribowsky. 2004
It is said that Josh Gibson is the only man ever to have hit a fair ball out of Yankee…
Stadium. Some claim he hit as many as seventy-five home runs in a season. All agreed he was a frightening hitter to face. What Satchel Paige was to pitching in the Negro leagues, Gibson was to hitting: their greatest star, biggest gate attraction, and most important symbol. Though Gibson is best remembered as "the black Babe Ruth," Ruth became a beloved symbol of the national pastime, while Gibson lived a life veiled in the darkness that came both from the shadow world of the Negro leagues and from within his own tortured soul. Mark Ribowsky, the widely acclaimed biographer of Satchel Paige, pulls no punches in his portrait of this magnificent, troubled athlete. This is the most complete, thorough, and authoritative account of the life of black ball's greatest hitter, and one of its most important stars.The Classic Mantle
By Buzz Bissinger. 2012
Filled with stunning photos, this book by the #1 New York Times–bestselling sportswriter tells the story of Mickey Mantle’s legendary…
career.Mickey Mantle has long been considered one of baseball's most memorable figures—playing his entire eighteen-year baseball career for the New York Yankees (1951-68), winning three American League MVP titles, playing in twenty All-Star games, and winning seven World Series. Today, decades after his retirement, he still holds six World Series records, including most home runs (18). Buzz Bissinger, Pulitzer Prize winner and acclaimed author of Friday Night Lights and Three Nights in August, goes beyond the statistics to bring Mantle to life, and striking photographs by Marvin E. Newman make this book a fitting tribute to Mantle’s career and his lasting impact on the sport of baseball.Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man
By David A. Adler. 1997
Investigating Fossils: A History of Palaeontology
By Wilson J. Wall. 2021
INVESTIGATING FOSSILS INVESTIGATING FOSSILSA HISTORY OF PALAEONTOLOGYInvestigating Fossils – A History of Palaeontology is a concise and accessible look at…
changing attitudes to palaeontology in general, and fossils in particular. From the existential and philosophical debates arising from fossils – such as their implications for the age of the Earth – to their role as markers in Darwin’s theory of evolution, fossils have been the centre of highly charged debate for over two centuries.This book, which is aimed at anyone with an interest in the history and philosophy of science, not only describes the process of fossil formation and the history of the discovery of fossils. It goes further, and highlights the continuing importance of fossils to our ever-developing understanding of where the planet and its myriad species have come from.Painting a vivid, lively portrait of the history and development of palaeontology, Investigating Fossils is a fascinating and informative tour of the recent history – and possible future – of the science of fossils.CenterStage: My Most Fascinating Interviews—from A-Rod to Jay-Z
By Michael Kay. 2021
From the longtime host of the New York Yankees&’ television broadcasts, ESPN Radio&’s The Michael Kay Show, and YES Network&’s…
Emmy Award–winning CenterStage comes a selection of his most memorable interviews with the most intriguing personalities in sports and entertainment—ranging from Jay-Z to Mike Tyson to Serena Williams to Adam Sandler to Bon Jovi to Larry David. Emmy Award–winning television announcer and interviewer Michael Kay&’s eighteen years as host of CenterStage have given him access to many remarkable figures in sports and entertainment. Now, this absorbing selection of the best, most revealing—and often surprising—interviews are available in one amazing collection, including some of the behind-the-scenes stories that didn&’t appear on camera. From Kay&’s very first CenterStage interview in 2001 with quarterback Steve Young, the show&’s creators knew they had something special. Kay&’s ability to get celebrities and otherwise private personalities to open up and share candid insights has become his trademark. Among the interviews featured in the book are those with Red Auerbach, Charles Barkley, Mike Tyson, Bobby Orr, Sly Stallone, Jay-Z, Lorne Michaels, Paul Simon, John McEnroe, Rob Reiner, Seth Meyers, Serena Williams, Alan Alda, David Halberstam, Larry David, Bob Costas, Billy Crystal, Lindsey Vonn, Chris Evert, and Quentin Tarantino. For any pop culture fan or sports enthusiast, this prized collection is one to cherish for generations.Dinosaurs (Early Reader Non Fiction)
By David Long. 2015
Early Readers are stepping stones from picture books to reading books. A green Early Reader is a first factbook.It's never…
too early to find out about... DINOSAURS. Did you know that the biggest dinosaurs weighed more than 13 or 14 elephants put together? Or that the EORAPTOR is the oldest dinosaur we know about and could run faster than an Olympic runner?Discover a world of incredible prehistoric reptiles in this brand new non fiction Early Reader from David Long, with full colour illustrations from Nicola O'Byrne on every page.In the summer of 1932, with the Cubs in the thick of the pennant race, Billy Jurges broke off his…
relationship with Violet Popovich to focus on baseball. The famously beautiful showgirl took it poorly, marching into his hotel room with a revolver in her purse. Both were wounded in the ensuing struggle, but Jurges refused to press charges. Even without their star shortstop, Chicago made it to the World Series, only to be on the wrong end of Babe Ruth's legendary Called Shot. Using hundreds of original sources, Jack Bales profiles the lives of the ill-fated couple and traces the ripple effects of the shooting on the Cubs' tumultuous season.