Scorecard

HEISMAN SURPRISE

No matter who wins the Heisman Trophy this year, the odds are overwhelmingly against his ever being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. No player who has won the Heisman in the 42 years it has been awarded has made the pro hall, and there are more than twice as many inductees as Heisman winners. Among the latter who had notable pro careers but are not enshrined are Doak Walker, John David Crow, Alan Ameche, Paul Hornung and Billy Cannon.

Who is the most likely Heisman winner to be voted into the hall? It may be a question of who retires first, Roger Staubach, the 1963 winner, or O. J. Simpson, the best college player of 1968.

KEEP IT SHORT

On the agenda of this month's annual baseball meetings is a proposal to expand the playoffs from three-of-five games to four-of-seven, as in the World Series.

Players have objected to the five-game format ever since it was instituted in 1969. They say it puts too much pressure on them too soon after the regular season. Moreover, they maintain the playoffs are too short to determine genuine champions.

Nonsense. For one thing, the season is already too long. In response to just that criticism, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn this year shortened the break between the regular season and the playoffs from a week to two days. For another, imitating the Series would rob the playoffs of their special character: a level of tension that rarely exists in either the season or the Series.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING (CONT'D)

For the skier who has everything: a bottle of Chateau Aspen, melted snow from Colorado's vintage drought of last year, "Mis En Bouteilles Au Mountain," from Snow Job Unlimited. Aspen, Colo., $5.95 postpaid. For the baseball fan, an old seat from Tiger Stadium, $5, from the Dynamic Construction Company of Detroit, which is renovating the park.

For the animal lover, a one-year adoption certificate as the sole foster parent of Bunker, a dolphin at the Brookfield (Ill.) Zoo, $2,200, the annual cost of keeping Bunker in fish.