September 10, 1984 | Volume 61, Issue 13

Teammates Dave Winfield and Don Mattingly are in a tight battle for the batting crown

When SI picture researcher Laurel Frankel does the inviting, the invitees always show up. Take the five far-flung baseball players on page 57. Frankel staged a reunion of the Oakland A's starting...

Brigham Young's 20-14 victory at Pitt (page 30) wasn't the biggest upset of the week. With 35 seconds to play against Arizona, Fresno State, which was such a prohibitive underdog the game was off...

OFFENSE: Bernie Kosar of Miami completed 21 of 38 passes for 329 yards in a 20-18 victory over Auburn, and five days later was 25 of 33 for 300 yards in a 32-20 defeat of Florida (page 22).

K.C.'s Todd Blackledge was too hot for his father's Steelers to handle

When Dan Henning took over the Falcons last year and insisted upon a one-back offense that featured William Andrews, critics said the rookie coach had too much talent riding the bench in 6'1",...

E.J. Junior still remembers the high he got from free-basing cocaine.

Which NFL teams will succeed and which will recede in '84? On the eve of the season, SI polled players from around the league and got the following responses*:

OFFENSE: Dolphin QB Dan Marino, who missed most of the preseason with a broken right index finger, completed 21 of 28 passes for 311 yards and five TDs in a 35-17 win over Washington (page 14).

Scott Verplank unleashed a birdie blitz to win the U.S. Amateur

Unlimited hydroplanes, the powerboats that attract hundreds of thousands of fans when they race, have always had two very tidy certainties associated with them. One is that they make a particular...

Willie Hernandez of Detroit could scowl his way to the MVP award

On Aug. 30, 1983, Detroit's Dan Petry hit Twins slugger Gary Ward in the face with a fastball. Six days later Ward returned to the lineup and went 4 for 4. But for the rest of the season Ward hit...

Bowie Kuhn's solution to the Wrigley Field postseason dilemma—the playoff schedule won't be changed, but any Cub World Series games will be played on the weekend—was the least objectionable...

Tito Jackson is a serious baseball fan, and the guitar-playing brother of Michael Jackson is letting everyone know it on the Victory Tour. He has been using this guitar onstage. Offstage, he...

As the season draws to a close, here are some firsts that could happen and records that could be broken:

CHILI DAVIS: The Giants' outfielder went 12 for 29, scored six runs and had four homers, 10 RBIs and two steals as San Francisco won six of eight to climb out of the National League West cellar.

Pinklon Thomas beat Tim Witherspoon for the WBC heavyweight title

At the age of five—her birthday was Nov. 27—Nasiya Jobe of Richmond, Calif. is rewriting the record book for track and road running. She currently holds nine national age-group records and has two...

2, 3—Jerry Wachter4—Lane Stewart9—Illustration by Sam Q. Weissman12—Poly-Press14, 15—Ronald C. Modra16, 17—Ronald C. Modra (2), Jerry Wachter (right)18—Tony Triolo19—Ronald C. Modra22, 23—John...

BOXING—PINKLON THOMAS scored a 12-round majority decision over Tim Witherspoon to win the WBC heavyweight title (page 54).

JON PAYNESANTA CLARA, CALIF.Jon, a 13-year-old midfielder for the Santa Clara United under-14 Arsenal Gunners, scored three goals and assisted on another in a 4-0 win over the Tampa Blazers as...

RANKINGSSir:I thoroughly enjoyed your 1984 College & Pro Football Spectacular (Sept. 5). The photographs and articles were first rate. However, in your college predictions you made one very...

Another way of putting the old saw about words and pictures is that one great photograph may require a thousand words to describe its qualities adequately. By that standard, Baseball, photographs...

IF THE SHOE CONTRACT FITS...

•Edwin Simmons, Texas tailback, explaining his problems after his third arthroscopic knee surgery in eight months: "There's no pain when I'm walking, but I'm not a walking back."