Question: Baseball statistics play an important role in evaluating a player's and/or team's progress.

Since the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and normally players act individually rather than performing in clusters, the sport lends itself to easy record-keeping and statistics. Statistics have been kept for professional baseball since the creation of the National League and American League, now part of Major League Baseball.

Many statistics are also available from outside of Major League Baseball, from leagues such as the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players and the Negro Leagues, although the consistency of whether these records were kept, of the standards with respect to which they were calculated, and of their accuracy varied.

The practice of keeping records of player achievements was started in the 19th century by Henry Chadwick. Based on his experience with the sport of cricket, Chadwick devised the predecessors to modern-day statistics including batting average, runs scored, and runs allowed.

Traditionally, statistics such as batting average (the number of hits divided by the number of at bats) and earned run average (the average number of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings) have dominated attention in the statistical world of baseball. However, the recent advent of sabermetrics has created statistics drawing from a greater breadth of player performance measures and playing field variables. Sabermetrics and comparative statistics attempt to provide an improved measure of a player's performance and contributions to his team from year to year, frequently against a statistical performance average. 1. When did the record keeping for players first start?
2. By who?
3. What sport was he familiar with?
4. Did he keep track of batting averages and runs scored?
5. What else?
6. What is the number of hits divided by the number of at bats?
7. And the average number of earned runs allowed by who per nine innings is the earned run average?
8. Are those stats the most popular?
9. Of which sport?
10. What's the new way to get statistics from more player measures?
11. Is that a more accurate way to judge a player's abilities?
12. Does baseball have built in breaks to it?
13. Are the players individually acting or in groups?
14. Does that make it harder or easier for record keeping?
15. Can you get records of the Negro Leagues?
16. Are they completely accurate?
17. Was the way they were calculated a problem?
18. Name one league that is now part of the Major League.
19. And another? Provide a numbered list of answers.
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A numbered of answers: 1. in the 19th century
2. Henry Chadwick
3. cricket
4. yes
5. runs allowed
6. batting average
7. yes
8. yes
9. baseball
10. sabermetrics
11. yes
12. yes
13. individually
14. easier
15. yes
16. no
17. yes
18. American League
19. the National League

Question: There once was a beautiful, brown puppy who loved her life. Her name was Tori. Every morning, Patty brushed out her fur and feeds Tori her favorite breakfast. One Tuesday morning, Patty had an early errand and forgot all about Tori. Tori was sad, but chose to make the best of it, and leaped out of her doggy door to play in her backyard outside. As she was playing with her favorite ball, Tori saw an opening in the fence. Excited, she ran over to the fence and squeezed out. She had never been on the street by herself before. Tori ran down the sidewalk, and happily barked at all the other dogs she passed. She loved to wag her tail in the summer breeze and was having a great time.

All of a sudden, Tori was picked up by Ben and Mike, and thrown into a truck. She was lost and confused. Poor Tori didn't know what to do! The truck pulled up to a building with a big sign that said "Animal Control". Tori knew this was the place that people keep animals who are lost on the street. Once the workers took her inside, they put her into a cage. She was scared that Patty wouldn't know where to find her, but she knew Patty's phone number was on her collar. She barked and barked to get the worker's attention, but no one seemed to pay her any attention.

After two long hours, a tall man, named Joe, opened up her cage and looked at the charm on her collar. He smiled at Tori and gave her a pat on the head. Patty was there quickly, and gave Tori a big hug. She was so happy to see her puppy again.

Tori learned to never escape the backyard again and lived happily ever after with Patty. 1. Who loved her life?
2. What was her name?
3. What color was she?
4. Who combs her?
5. How often?
6. and who would feed her?
7. On what day did she forget to do these things?
8. why?
9. how did Tori feel about this?
10. What did she play with outdoors?
11. what did she see while she was playing?
12. so what did she decide to do?
13. had she ever done this?
14. how did she feel about this?
15. what sorts of animals did she see out on her own?
16. what did she do to indicate she was having a good time?
17. Who picked her up?
18. Who did they work for?
19. Where did they put Tori?
20. Who did Tori live happily ever after with?
21. what lesson did she learn? Provide a numbered list of answers.
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A numbered of answers:
1. the puppy
2. Tori
3. brown
4. Patty
5. Every morning
6. Patty
7. Tuesday
8. an errand
9. sad
10. a ball
11. an opening in the fence
12. she ran over squeezed out
13. No
14. great
15. dogs
16. wag her tail
17. Ben and Mike
18. Animal Control
19. a cage
20. Patty
21. never escape the backyard again