It's still too early, of course, to post-mortem the 1962 basebell season, but as the year, with the schedule two-thirds completed, goes into the top of the seventh, now is an appropriate time to stand up and stretch and look back on what has so far been the most exciting season in recent memory.

We've had it all this year, brilliant pitching and fabulous hitting. We've already had four no-hitters, a 20-game winner, and 209 strikeouts by a pitcher, who hasn't worked since July 17. We've had Floyd Robinson's six-for-six, grand-slam homeruns in a single inning by Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew. Tommy Davis's 112 RBI, and Stan Musial's consistently great hitting.

We've had an amazing crop of rookies: Tom Tresh, Bernie Allen, Dick Radatz, Manny Jiminez, Dave Stenhouse, Cal, Koonce, and Rod Kanehl, and we've seen potential stars suddenly come into their own--Tommy Davis, Frank Howard, Richie Rollins, Don Drysdale, Chuck Hinton, to name only a few.

We've had new faces, new teams, new cities, new stadiums -- and we've had the reassuring continuity supplied by the old pros reaching for records: Stand Musial, Warren Spahn, Early Wynn, and Robin Roberts.

We've had fine years from our established stars, but we've also seen injuries and slumps cripple a virtual All-Star team: Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Frank Lary, Al Kaline, Sandy Koufax, Gene Freese, Minnie Minoso, and Gill Hodges.

We've had the return to baseball of those old wrecks Casey Stengel and the Polo Grounds (though not Bill Veeck, yet). We've had three of the best teams in the history of baseball (the Giants. Dodgers, and Yankees) and one of the worst (the amazin' Mets).

We've had the spectacular base-running of Maury Wills, two fine All-Star games, Calvin Griffith's shrewd trading, and Charles Finley's loud-mouthed bufoonery. We've had a lot of most things and a little of everything.

Finally we've seen two great teams eventually pull ahead of their leagues, and we can look forward to the first coast-to-coast World Series and probably one of the best in history. There may be rioting in Africa, but baseball fans wouldn't ask for more.

The story of the American League so far this season is straight-forward. The Yankees have suffered a series of injuries and slumps, but these have only bound them to the league lead and prevented them from going into orbit, as everyone predicted.

As a team, New York leads the league in only one category, won-lost percentage. Their team batting average is .258, third in the league and well below last year, and they are second both in team fielding (.981) and pitching (E.R.A.3.79). From these statistics the secret should be clear. Though both as a team and as individuals they lead the league in no major division and placed only one man (Mantle, of course). on the elected All-Star-team, they have the highest general level of personnel in the American League.

Over the off-season, partisans of other A.L. hopefuls like Al Lopez and Bob Scheffing pointed, to the loss of shortstop Tony Kubek and the impossibility of repeat performances by Roger Maris and Luis Arroyo ("Relievers Don't Repeatl" an article in Baseball Digest maintained) as reasons for a Yankee collapse in '62.

The Yankees refused to be lulled by their fantastic '61 season. During the winter they wheeled and dealed, trading for reliever Marshall Bridges and bringing up from their rich farm system rookies like Tom Tresh, Joe Pepitone, and Phil Linz.

The new faces, especially Tresh, prevented New York from slipping too far behind when their great stars like Mantle were injured. Manager Ralph Houk refused to panic when his team ran into heavy weather in May and June. Drawing on the most impressive bench in baseball, he effectively platooned in the outfield Johnny Blanchard, Jack Reed, Hector Lopz and Yogi Berra, and the Yankees never fell beyond striking distance of the league lead.

On July 4, with Mantle back, the Yanks were in first; and through July they increased their lead to five full games over second-place Minnesota.

Meanwhile injuries to stars of similar stature have had devestating consequences for the Detroit Tigers: not surprisingly, pitcher Frank Lary and outfielder Al Kaline were both hurt in games against New York.