His power at the plate won him six American League batting titles, while his unruly temper earned him the sobriquet "Terrible Ted." Returning to baseball this season as manager of the Washington Senators, Ted Williams set out to prove that "doing very little for eight years except fishing" had dulled none of his baseball dazzle. He was right. The Senators posted their first winning season in 17 years to finish fourth in division standings. For that, the Associated Press voted him American League Manager of the Year. Told the news by telephone, Williams was nonplussed. "I'm flabbergasted," he said.

Happy birthday telegrams and letters poured in by the bagful. But at 88, Pablo Picasso remained in seclusion at his villa near Cannes on the French Riviera, granting no interviews and seeing only a few carefully chosen friends. The most that newsmen and well-wishers could hope for was to hear Picasso himself answer the phone and in his distinctive voice announce: "Monsieur et Madame ne sont pas ici . . . " Click.

Republican eyebrows rose when Gerry Van der Heuvel, a journalist and close friend of the Hubert Humphreys, was named Pat Nixon's press secretary. Her former colleagues were even more distressed when press releases were late and uninformative. Now Gerry is moving to Rome as special assistant to U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin. In her place the First Lady has named Connie Stuart, a pert redhead who at 31 is one of the youngest ever to handle the White House job. Connie met the Nixons last year when her husband, also a presidential staffer, was doing yeoman campaign work around the country. But her appointment is no political payoff. After five years' experience in public relations with two New York firms, she seems well equipped to give the First Lady's image a face lift.

She already owns the 33-carat Krupp diamond, and assorted other baubles worth a fortune. Still, here was a rock to outshine them all: a flawless, pure white, 69-carat diamond, set in a ring that an anonymous owner had put up for bids at Manhattan's Parke-Bernet Galleries. Elizabeth Taylor wanted the jewel so badly that the Burtons' agent was willing to pay $1,000,000. Alas, that was not enough. The stone, which is as large as a peach pit, went for $1,050,000, making it the world's costliest single piece of jewelry ever auctioned. It was carried off by Cartier. But in the end, the lady had her way when Richard Burton bought the gem from Cartier. The price? Still a secret.

"Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, boy!" shouted Soviet Spaceman Georgy T. Beregovoy, as he guided his Lunar Module to a rendezvous. Another Soviet space spectacular? Not quite. It was all part of a tour of Houston's Manned Spacecraft Center that Beregovoy and Companion Cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov were taking as guests of U.S. Astronaut Frank Borman, who had visited the U.S.S.R. last summer. The high point of the two. week junket was to be a trip to Cape Kennedy, but the Russians turned it down with a curt "Nyet." The speculation was that they did not want to reciprocate with an invitation to their space base in Central Asia. But when it came to Hello, Dolly! the visitors were all smiles. At first, security men were reluctant to let Pearl Bailey invite the cosmonauts onstage to introduce them to the audience. But Pearlie Mae prevailed. "None of you people in here dangerous, are ya?" she called out --then to cheers she soundly bussed the Russians, and Frank Borman too.

The soothsayer warned one of his clients, Gina Lollobrigida, not to take an auto trip last winter. She ignored the advice--and wrecked her Rolls-Royce, broke her knee and had two operations to set it right. No wonder practically everyone in Rome waits nervously for Astaroth to make his general predictions. As the augur sees 1970: Teddy Kennedy will be completely rehabilitated. Aristotle Onassis will lose a fortune in a series of disastrous reverses--and Jackie as well, after a series of violent quarrels. Soviet Party Boss Leonid Brezhnev will be booted out of the Kremlin and discredited, just like Khrushchev. Richard Nixon will settle the Viet Nam war and enjoy the popularity he has always wanted. But not for long. Lurking in the background, Astaroth sees "a young Oriental man" who will touch off World War III and annihilate millions.

If South African Surgeon Christiaan Barnard is bothered by the rising chorus of criticism aimed at heart transplants, he does not show it. To a meeting of the American Association of Medical Assistants in Honolulu he declared that it is infinitely better to transplant a heart "than to bury it so it can be devoured by worms." After the speech, there was an unscheduled appearance by former Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who used to know a thing or two about medicine himself. Said Humphrey, University of Minnesota professor: "If you ever need a pharmacist, keep me in mind. You can never tell --I might be fired from the university."

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