BASEBALL MIXES IT UP

When the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox last played in a game that meant something, Teddy Roosevelt was President and SOS had just been adopted as the universal distress signal. Most sportswriters thought the White Sox, known as the Hitless Wonders, needed to send out just such a call against the Cubs, who had won a record 116 games behind the poetic double-play relay of Tinker to Evers to Chance. But funny things happen in baseball, and the Southsiders won the fourth World Series ever played, four games to two.

A funny thing is happening in baseball this year too. For the first time, teams from the American League will be playing teams from the National League in games that actually count toward the standings. The first of those will be played on June 12, when the San Francisco Giants visit the Texas Rangers.

Purists are concerned that this crossbreeding will somehow diminish the importance of the World Series. But the owners felt they needed something to bring back the fans disillusioned by the 1994 strike, and the players are genuinely excited about facing the best of the other league. Now fans in San Diego will be able to see Ken Griffey Jr. in person, just as fans in Seattle will get their first look at Hideo Nomo. Imagine what the N.B.A. would be like if Michael Jordan never came to town.