MEMO FROM THE PUBLISHER

Right now baseball is winding up another season in that blend of blazing glory and slanting grandstand shadows which is the World Series. Two weeks ago, "Soundtrack" carried an account of Europe's fledgling version of the Series, the first tournament of the European Baseball Federation in Antwerp, sent by our roving continental baseball correspondent, James T. Farrell. He reported, you may recall, that the four games netted 70 errors and 55 hits. I was interested to read the other day that in seven games in the 1885 championship Series the Chicago White Stockings and the St. Louis Browns put together 102 errors against 96 hits. The Europeans may take heart in the fact that they seem to be starting off in a classic pattern.

Despite our coming in approximately half-way through the baseball season, SI has already uncovered for you a batrack full of baseball—from 71-year-old Pittsburgh sandlotter John McIlvaine to 11-year-old East Lynn Little Leaguer Mike Hegan, from the happy knothole world of bubble gum cards to the all-business front office of George Weiss; from how it feels to bat against Robin Roberts to scientific proof that "you can't keep your eye on the ball."

But the matter at hand is, of course, the World Series. Last week "Preview" lined up the Cleveland Indians and the New York Giants, complete with detailed scouting reports which are guaranteed to give an unfair advantage to all grandstand managers who use them. Lopez will call the signals on Mays and Durocher on Avila on the basis of similar reports. Thus armed, no reader of SI need hesitate to take charge of any game, whether in front of his television set or, if he's lucky enough, right on the scene. And with the advantage, not given to managers, of the second guess.

We hope we have added something to the big Series for you. In any case, our interest in baseball will not end with the Series. Don't forget the Hot Stove League—the player drafts, the trades, the pitch he should have made and the time he didn't slide. For baseball is really never over, even when the last man is out. Our editors will be bringing it to you regularly through the off-season, with every intention of getting you down to playing weight in time for spring training.

ILLUSTRATION