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Baseball has two seasons. From the spring through the fall, the game belongs to the athletes. Then, as the weather grows cold and winter closes in, the spectators become the participants as baseball's second season, the Hot Stove League, begins. Fans scrutinize rosters, rail against free agency and soaring salaries, engage in nostalgia, and argue over all manner of baseball-related issues. One of the debates that has occupied Oklahoma Hot Stove Leaguers over a number of years is whether Oklahoma is a uniquely prolific incubator of baseball talent. In 1959 Bill Burchardt, in an Oklahoma Today article, claimed that Oklahomans play baseball and play it as well as anyone in the nation. He enthused: "On a per-capita population basis, Oklahoma has contributed more players to Major League ball than any other state in the nation." (1) Some forty years later Bob Burke, working on a book about baseball in Oklahoma, echoed Burchardt's boast, pointing out that as many as 1,400 ballplayers have gone to the majors from the state. (2) It is impossible to verify such claims. The state has produced its fair share of great players, from Jim Thorpe to Johnny Bench, with the likes of the Waner brothers, Warren Spahn, Mickey Mantle, and even sometimes-Oklahoman Dizzy Dean in between. If Oklahoma has spawned an outsized number of ballplayers, it is almost certain that the rural nature of the state has been an important factor in molding Major League careers. In his Oklahoma Today article, Burchardt cited a pioneer spirit of hard work and a shrewdness developed from vying with nature in the great outdoors--aspects that point to the impact of a rural physical and cultural environment. (3) More rural than urban until 1950, the Sooner State was much more farms and villages than bustling metropolises in the first half of the twentieth century. In 1910 54 percent of Americans lived in the country, while Oklahoma was 81 percent rural. By 1920, when a majority of Americans lived in cities, Oklahoma was 74 percent rural. Even by 1940 Oklahoma was over 60 percent rural, while the United States was almost 60 percent urban. (4) So a study of baseball in Oklahoma is almost surely an examination of the influence of small-town America on the sport and its participants. The rhythms and culture of rural America are strikingly evident in the life and early career of one of the greatest ballplayers ever to emerge from Oklahoma, Carl Hubbell. The talent that propelled Hubbell to a stellar career was inborn. But what was it about growing up in the small town of Meeker, Oklahoma, its values, and its residents that nurtured that talent until Major League scouts recognized the potential that lay in the left arm of perhaps the greatest screwball pitcher in the history of baseball? An analysis of the pre-Major League life and career of this National Baseball Hall of Famer, an investigation of the rural social context of the Hubbell family, and a look at the structure of the lower Minor Leagues in Oklahoma reveal several characteristics of the community and some important contexts that guided Hubbell's maturation as a baseball player. Carl Hubbell was born in Carthage, Missouri, in 1903 but grew up in rural Lincoln County, Oklahoma, situated very nearly in the middle of the state. His parents came to Oklahoma in 1908 and finally settled down on a cotton and pecan farm near Meeker in 1919. (5) The 1920 census recorded 33,400 residents of Lincoln County. Meeker was a village of about 500 that had been established along the tracks of a Santa Fe Railroad branch line in 1903. (6) If Meeker was representative of other small towns in the region, it had at least one general store, more than one church, a hotel, a cotton gin, one or two other stores, and several professional offices. For amusement people might occupy themselves with visiting, picnics, school events, hunting and fishing, going to the yearly fair, and, as we will see, viewing a Saturday or Sunday ball game. …

Introduction ^^ Purpose and Scope 4 Acknowledgments ^ General Description of the Study Area 4 Previous Studies ^ Ground Water _^ Surface Water and Bottom Sediment 12 Biota 14 Sample Collection and Analysis 15 Sampling Sites 15 Field Collection and Analytical Techniques 18 Water ^ Bottom Sediment 18 Biota 19 Discussion of Results 20 Field Water-Quality Measurements 20 Major Ions 22 Dissolved Nutrients 24 Trace Elements 27 Arsenic 27 Water and Bottom Sediment 27 Biota ^ Boron 29 Water and Bottom Sediment 29 Biota ^ Mercury 32 Water and Bottom Sediment 32 Biota 33 Selenium 35 Water and Bottom Sediment 35 Biota 36 Other Elements 38 Water and Bottom Sediment 38 Biota 39 Organic Compounds 40 Water 40 Bottom Sediment 40 Biota 44 Bioassessment Results 46 Biological Observations 47 Summary ^ Selected References ^ Supplemental Data Tables 55

The digestive tracts of 20 greater sandhill cranes collected at Grays Lake, Idaho in 1972 and 1973 were analyzed for food habits. Their diet contained 8 plant, 8 insect, and 1 annelid species. Plants made up 73 % of the total by volume, insects and earthworms 2 7%. Important foods include timothy corms, short-horned grasshoppers, and fly larvae. Comparison of food items consumed and food available supports the conclusion that cranes are opportunistic and omnivorous feeders.-Idaho Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83843. Accepted 14 June 1976. LITTLE is known about summer foods of Greater Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis tabida). According to Walkinshaw (1949: 3), Sandhill Cranes eat mainly insects, grubs, spiders, rootlets, tender herbage, grain, berries, and occasionally mice. Barrows (1912: 150) said they feed on roots, grains, bulbs, berries, insects, frogs, lizards, snakes, and mice. Hamerstrom (1938) mentioned cranes in Wisconsin feeding on huckleberries (Gaylussacia baccata), blueberries (Vaccinium sp.), grasshoppers (Melanoplus femur-rubrum), and beetles. Others (Munro 1950, Boeker et al. 1961, Madsen 1967, Guthery 1972) worked primarily with fall and winter populations, where cranes fed primarily in grain fields and pastures.

Effects of phenyl mercury acetate administered to captive game farm pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) hens in both capsule and feed form were investigated. Total mercury level in hens given 20 mg Hg/kg body weight in capsules rose sharply in kidney, liver, and ovarian follicle samples. Soon after administration, these levels decreased rapidly, approaching control levels 2 weeks after administration. Compared to control birds, hens treated with 20 mg Hg/kg body weight in capsules showed significant decreases in egg hatchability, eggshell thickness, chick weight, and chick survivability (P 0.05). Hens fed wheat ad libitum which had been treated with phenyl mercury fungicide at the normal field rate showed highest total mercury levels in kidney tissues, lowest in muscle tissues. Compared to controls, this group had no significant differences in any of the parameters tested. We concluded that low amounts of phenyl mercury in the diet are not harmful to game farm pheasants.

In 1970 aerial applications were made to a 24-hectare section in southwestern Idaho utilizing ethyl parathion in May, demeton and DDT-toxaphene in June, and trichlorfon and demeton in July. Aerial application resulted in a very uneven distribution of chemicals on the ground. Gas chromatographic analysis of residues collected on glass plates during aerial applications showed ranges of 0-2058 ,igrams per plate within the treated area. Observations on penned and radio-equipped wild pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) revealed no direct mortality from the spraying. Penned pheasants 5-15 days old exhibited symptoms of organophosphorus poisoning, but recovered. Cholinesterase and weight gains did not differ significantly in treated and untreated penned pheasants. According to the results of sweep net samples, insect populations were significantly lower in the treated area compared to the untreated area. Juvenile pheasants collected in the treated area consumed significantly fewer insects than birds taken in the untreated area. Applications of certain organochlorines and organophosphorus pesticides probably kill some pheasants, especially young birds, but results suggest that use of demeton, ethyl parathion, DDT-toxaphene, and trichlorfon at recommended application rates does not cause major pheasant losses in southwestern Idaho. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 38(4):679-685 Pesticides, particularly the persistent organochlorines, have contributed to the decline of several species of raptorial and fish-eating birds (Peakall 1970). Organochlorines have also produced harmful effects in the ring-necked pheasant (Azevedo et al. 1965, Baxter et al. 1969). The use of DDT and many other organochlorines has rapidly declined in the pheasant range of southwestern Idaho in recent years. The development of insect resistance and legal restrictions have deleted a number of uses for organochlorines. Organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides have replaced the organochlorines. Some of these chemicals have a high initial toxicity but residue problems are comparatively minor. The organophosphorus pesticides may pose a threat to ground-feeding birds. The pheasant, a ground resident, may be directly harmed by the high dermal and oral toxicity of certain organophosphorus insecticides. Christensen (1969) found that methyl parathion caused substantial mortality of 1to 10-day-old pheasant chicks under minimum exposure conditions. Thus, additional research with other organophosphorus pesticides is justified, especially under field conditions. The objective in this study was to evalu1 Contribution from the Idaho Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Idaho Fish and Came Department, the Wildlife Management Institute, and the College of Forestry, Wildlife, and Range Sciences, University of Idaho, cooperating. 2 Present address: Department of Zoology, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T iW5. 3 The laboratory portion of the research was supported under Contract 68-02-0552 by the Division of Pesticide Community Studies, Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, through the Idaho Department of Environmental and Community Services. J. Wildl. Manage. 38 (4):1974 679 This content downloaded from 40.77.167.21 on Mon, 25 Jul 2016 04:07:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 680 PESTICIDE APPLICATIONS AND PHEASANTS * Messick et al. Table 1. Pesticides applied by fixed-wing aircraft to the spray zone on Gold Island, Idaho, during 1970. Rate of Date of Chemicals and application application concentration (kg/ha) a 22 May ethyl parathion (47%) 0.9 24 June demeton (25%) DDT0.3 (demeton) toxaphene (25% DDT, 2.4 (DDT-) 50% toxaphene) 4.7 (toxaphene) 23 July demeton (25%) 0.3 (demeton) trichlorfon (80%) 1.2 (trichlorfon) a Expressed as active ingredient applied with 46.7 kg H20 per hectare. ate the effects of selected organochlorines and organophosphates on pheasants and their insect food supplies, utilizing both wild and penned birds. We explored the degree of exposure, survival, nesting success, movement patterns, consumption of insects, and cholinesterase inhibition under pesticide-treated and control conditions. We thank the following who helped with various phases of this work: J. Uranga, J. Gabica, H. Homan, B. Wood, V. Bowman, M. Howard, J. Martin, and scouts in Explorer Post 60.