OUT OF PLAY: The fans aren’t the...

OUT OF PLAY: The fans aren’t the only victims of the baseball strike. Some businesses (D1), such as Jas. D. Easton Inc. in Van Nuys, might also find themselves in a foul mood. Even though sales of Easton’s aluminum bats won’t be hurt--major leaguers don’t use them--the company sells wrist bands, gloves and other items to the pros. . . . The strike also is a threat, says Easton’s Jim Darby, because “it will turn people off to the game of baseball.”

PLAY BALL: No pros? Try Northridge, where they’ve got a team that could make the Little League World Series. The local boys face Alaska today in the Western Regional in San Bernardino (C13). . . . The last Valley team to win the Series was Granada Hills in 1963.

LIGHT UP: Roz Gordon (above) is one of many local cigar lovers who aren’t just blowing smoke these days. At clubs or dinners, they have found a way to get around all the anti-smoking sentiment in the air and make friends who share their passion. . . . “I used to smoke about five cigars a day, but now I’m down to one because I’m so limited in where I can smoke,” said Ken Draper of North Hollywood. See Valley Life! Page 30.

DON’T LIGHT UP: Cigars, cigarettes--it doesn’t matter to Herm Perlmutter of the American Cancer Society’s San Fernando Valley Unit. He’s against smoking in public, period. His latest concern is Prop. 188, which would overturn smoke free ordinances (B3). . . . In the 1970s, Perlmutter helped persuade a Sizzler in Sherman Oaks to designate a nonsmoking section, one of the first in a restaurant anywhere.

FALL FASHION: Nehru is back. No, not the ex-Indian prime minister. The jackets, of course. You know, the ones with the stand-up collar that were big in the ‘70s. . . . For women, it’s time to go conservative with knee-length skirts. “They are classic and will always be in fashion,” said Kathryn Kostenly of Woodland Hills. See Valley Life! Page 29.