A Worldwide Roundup Of The Sports Information Of The Week

BASEBALL—MAJOR LEAGUES reached All-Star break with New York Yankees threatening to sprint out of sight in American League while Milwaukee Braves were balancing on ropes in National League.

Mickey Mantle began to catch up to big boys, liberally sprinkled his frequent strikeouts with seven homers in eight games (21 for season), helped Yankees win five in row over Orioles and Senators, stretch lead over Athletics and Red Sox to 11 games. Meanwhile, rest of league continued to limp along far behind Casey Stengel's rich but hungry young men.

Braves began to meander, lost five straight before halting slide against Pirates as Giants, heating up with two in row over Cards, crept within game of first place. Phillies, bolstered by reinstatement of First Baseman Ed Bouchee (after suspension because of morals conviction) and airtight pitching, suddenly came alive, ran off six straight, climbed from seventh to fourth, ahead of rejuvenated Cubs, who were only 3� games off pace.

HORSE RACING—BOLD RULER, struggling valiantly under 134-pound load, slipped behind driving Clem in stretch, but got up under Eddie Arcaro's belly-tapping to push nose in front at end of $83,400 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park. Said Arcaro admiringly: "I let Bold Ruler have a look at him [Clem] and that did it."

Silky Sullivan, his Irish eyes twinkling, for once broke with field, found his new game amusing enough to stay within easy reach until far turn when he buzzed to front for eased-up victory in 7-furlong San Clemente Purse at Hollywood Park.

GOLF—PETER THOMSON, stylish young Australian who warmed up with record 133 in two qualifying rounds, faltered just enough on final 18 to let Welshman Dave Thomas earn tie at 278, but perked up his short game in 36-hole playoff, came in with 139 (to Thomas' 143) to win fourth British Open in five years at St. Anne's (see page 13).

TRACK & FIELD—U.S. GIRLS, hustling and bustling around Morristown, N.J. track like so many queen bees, broke one American record, five meet marks in national AAU championships as they scrambled for berths on team which will face Russians in Moscow July 27-28. The squad: 100-yard dash, Tennessee State's Margaret Matthews (who also soared 20 feet 1 inch for U.S. broad-jump record) and Barbara Jones; 220-yard dash, Tennessee State's Lucinda Williams and Isabel Daniels; 440-yard relay, Tennessee State's Matthews, Jones, Daniels, Williams and Martha Hudson (reserve); 80-meter hurdles, Queens ( N.Y.) Mercurettes' Lauretta Foley and Providence (R.I.) Alumni's Doris McCaffrey; 880-yard run, New York PAL's Lillian Green and Mercurettes' Flo McArdle; shotput, Los Angeles' Earlene Brown and Mapleton, Ore.'s Sharon Shepherd; discus, Brown and Mercurettes' Marjorie Larney; javelin, Larney and Mercurettes' Amelia Wershoven; high jump, New York PAL's Barbara Brown and Chicago Comets' Verneda Smith; broad jump, Matthews and Tennessee State's Annie Smith. Alternates: Tennessee State's Willie B. White (broad jump); Laurel ( Calif.) AC's Pamela Kurrell (discus). Coach: Tennessee State's Ed Temple.

Rafer Johnson, durable UCLA strong-boy, found Nationalist China's Yang Chuan-kuang breathing hotly down his substantial neck at Palmyra, N.J., but won five of 10 events (see below), scored 7,754 points to Yang's 7,625 to capture national decathlon title. Victory earned Johnson (and third-place Dave Edstrom of Oregon) face-to-face meeting with Russia's Vassily Kuznetsov, who recently broke Johnson's world record, in Moscow next month.

BOXING—NEW YORK'S DISTRICT ATTORNEY FRANK HOGAN, vigorously casting about in boxing's murky waters since April, made his first big strike, pulled in Boxing Judge Bert Grant on charges of accepting bribes from Manager Hymie (The Mink) Wallman, admitted buddy (and accused frontman) of Frankie Carbo, to vote for Wallman fighters in five New York bouts. Result: Grant faces criminal action; Wallman, granted immunity by grand jury, was named coconspirator, promptly had his license suspended by Boxing Commissioner Julius Helfand (see page 30), who was anxiously awaiting further action by Hogan.

New York wasn't only place where decisions made news. At San Francisco, Middleweight Joey Giardello lethargically stuck his educated left into 2�-to-1 underdog Joey Giambra's handsome face often enough to pile up points in early rounds, impressed almost everyone (including 6,000 fans, all but one sportswriter) but referee and one judge, lost 10-rounder and subsequent protest to California State Athletic Commission; at Hollywood, No. 1 welterweight challenger Isaac Logart, a 2-to-1 favorite, punished frailish home-towner Don Jordan with bloodletting shots to face, but finished second best in eyes of Referee Mushy Callahan and Judge John Thomas. Moaned Logart's manager, effusive Eddie Mafuz: "It's a decision like this that causes investigations."