CONTENTS
4 SCOREBOARD and Week's Winners
11 EVENTS & DISCOVERIES The editors report and reflect on the news
15 SPECTACLE A man alone with a mighty fish. Photographs by HY PESKIN
26 THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SPORT As the camera sees it
68 COMING EVENTS
18 RED SMITH ON NATIONAL LEAGUE BASEBALL
Sifting through his tea leaves and the latest messages from the spring training bivouacs, SI's baseball authority-at-large diagnoses the assets and liabilities of this year's pennant contenders and also-runners
22 THE EIGHT NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAMS: A PREVIEW
Monday night either Cincinnati or Chicago will be leading the league. For the succeeding five and a half months the remaining six teams will join the fray. ROBERT CREAMER'S tabulation of each club provides a key to who, if anyone, can unseat the champion Giants; also (pages 19 and 20), a portfolio IN COLOR for small fry of some of 1955's likeliest stars
28 HANDBALL GETS A NEW CHAMP
After years of virtual invincibility Vic Hershkowitz of Brooklyn is dethroned as national four-wall handball champion by young Jimmy Jacobs in the finals at Los Angeles. A report in pictures by PHIL BATH
32 PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING: HEROES AND VILLAINS. IN COLOR
Whatcha gonna do about rasslin'? The editors of SI answer this often-asked question with an eight-page portfolio of color photographs by MARK KAUFFMAN and a few observations on this modern version of the old morality play
42 AN ODE TO SPRING FEVER
It comes every year, striking in odd ways. An old man plans a canoe trip he knows he won't make. A boy builds a campfire he doesn't need. In a charming essay EDMUND WARE SMITH tells how spring fever is special and different for every man
52 IRISH HORSE SENSE
When the Irish Parliament announced in 1953 that it had bought the race horse Tulyar for $700,000, a government crisis nearly occurred. Now, two years later, the long-term gamble on horse flesh is beginning to pay off. A report IN COLOR and words on the Irish National Stud
THE DEPARTMENTS
6 Hotbox: JIMMY JEMAIL asks in Vienna: Do the Olympic Games promote international good will?
45 Fishing: Novelist PAT FRANK looks into the happy situation in Florida where college credit is given for angling
49 Skiing: EZRA BOWEN rounds up the U.S. and European year and offers a table of results for your files
56 Boxing: Academy Award Winner BUDD SCHULBERG makes his farewells to Johnny Saxton and Billy Graham
57 Tennis: At Cleveland BILL TALBERT finds the pros trying out a new scoring system
59 Nature: An appreciation of the late, great animal photographer, Ylla, by her old friend, JOHN O'REILLY
60 Football: In the spring, HERMAN HICKMAN reports, the coaches start loading footballs for fall. Miami may have the heaviest charge
62 Keep in the Pink: What to do about a trick knee
63 Tip from the Top: RIP ARNOLD of Denver's Cherry Hills Country Club gives hints on pacing your swing properly
66 Yesterday: The longest big-league baseball game saw Brooklyn and Boston tie in 26 innings, 1-1
68 Fisherman's Calendar: ED ZERN tells where they're running and biting
69 The 19th Hole: The readers take over
72 Pat on the Back: Praise for those not already smothered with it
COVER: Willie Mays, Laraine Day Durocher and Leo Durocher
Photograph by HY PESKIN
The bright sun of Arizona lights up smiling faces of Willie Mays and Laraine and Leo Durocher of the world champion New York Giants. Standing against the baseball-green fence that borders Willie's country—center field—the three reflect on the glory that was theirs in 1954 and look forward optimistically to 1955. For your own look forward to the Giants and the National League pennant race, turn to page 18.
Acknowledgments on page 58
PHOTO
IN NEXT WEEK'S ISSUE
PREVIEW: THE AMERICAN LEAGUE
This year the American League is struggling to regain the prestige it so long enjoyed. RED SMITH considers its chances, and ROBERT CREAMER provides a once-over of such highflying machines as the Bronx Bombers and such hedge-skimmers as Baltimore's Orioles. Bubble gum pictures, too.
BOWLING IS OUT OF THE BASEMENT
Some people are still under the misapprehension that bowlers are people whose natural habitat is beneath the sidewalk. Nothing could be further from the truth, as VICTOR KALMAN demonstrates in an article on bowling in the country club, collegiate society and big-money circuits.
PLUS: HERBERT WARREN WIND AT THE MASTERS AND FOUR PAGES OF COLOR ON CUTTING HORSES