Table of Contents

An SI Special
21 BASEBALL BLOOMS IN THE SOUTHLAND
Come March, an annual ritual is performed in the sunny baseball parks of Florida and Arizona. The 16 major league clubs regroup, and even the lowliest have misty hopes of a pennant. MARK KAUFFMAN captures the scene IN COLOR (pages 17-20), and GERALD HOLLAND describes the euphoria that grips even the wisest old hands (page 21)

22 NEEDLES AND THE 3-YEAR-OLDS
Hialeah put on the first major test for Kentucky Derby hopefuls, and WHITNEY TOWER reports how a home-grown favorite ran off with it. At Santa Anita, Swaps stayed in his stall while Bobby Brocato won the Big Race. JAMES MURRAY tells how it happened

30 BASEBALL, PART II: THE HAPPY SERF
Few persons in modern society are as economically hog-tied as the professional ballplayer, but he isn't complaining much. ROBERT COUGHLAN reports in the concluding chapter of his inquiry into big-league management

32 SEA SHELLS BY THE SEASHORE
Of the billions of shells that are washed up on the world's beaches each year, only a few are worth saving. With a sampling of the rarest and loveliest collector's items yet found, photographed IN COLOR by GENE PYLE

44 SALUTE TO SPEED
After seven days of frustration, Daytona's classic week erupted to produce a triple-crowned hero, add new fuel to a burgeoning sports car feud and set a teen-age hot-rod mob on fire. KENNETH RUDEEN tells the story, with full results of the NASCAR trials

48 TOMORROW'S DREAM CARS TODAY
Once upon a time Detroit automobile manufacturers hid their cars of the future in secret back rooms. Today they exhibit them proudly. NORMAN E. NICHOLSON tells the story, with four pages of photographs IN COLOR by JOHN G. ZIMMERMAN

56 MAN OF LEISURE—17th CENTURY STYLE
He liked games as much as his counterpart today, a fact his finest painters were only too pleased to record. Herewith some revealing and fashionable reproductions IN COLOR

THE DEPARTMENTS:

4 SCOREBOARD
13 EVENTS & DISCOVERIES
26 THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SPORT
59 SNOW PATROL
63 COMING EVENTS
64 THE 19th HOLE
68 PAT ON THE BACK

6 Hotbox: JIMMY JEMAIL asks: What five players would you nominate to the Newport (R.I.) Casino's newly established Tennis Hall of Fame?

10 Tip from the Top: AL COLLINS cautions the high-handicap golfer who tries to do in one putt what he should do in two

54 Basketball: ROY TERRELL reports the week started out peacefully enough, but then came Saturday night and all sorts of mischief cropped up on the college ranges

59 Ski Tip: FRIEDL PFEIFER warns of the dangers of avalanches and offers some timely tips on spotting the conditions from which they develop

COVER: SPRING TRAINING

Photographed by Mark Kauffman

The leaping outfielders shown on this week's cover are acting out a charade that is as old as spring training itself. But in taking this picture of (left to right) Bill Virdon, Harry Elliott (now with San Diego), Rip Repulski, Wally Moon and Stan Musial at the St. Louis Cardinals' camp in St. Petersburg, Mark Kauffman was careful to include the other principals in this annual ritual: the photographers themselves. For Gerald Holland's story of how the Cards pitched camp, see page 21.

Acknowledgments on page 63

PHOTO

IN NEXT WEEK'S ISSUE

THE GREATEST BULLFIGHT IN A DECADE
At Maracay in Venezuela last Sunday Luis Miguel Dominguín, the old master, competed against Cesar Giron, the young challenger, in a two-man program that paralleled the historic fight in 1947 in which Manolete was killed. The bulls were good, and Dominguín and Giron were great. The story is told by Rafael Delgado Lozano, with photographs by Mark Kauffman

PLUS: THE MARVELOUS MERCEDES IN COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS AND DIAGRAMS AND ROBERT CREAMER'S FIRST WEEKLY BASEBALL REPORT FROM FLORIDA