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George Brett seems to be getting ready for his baseball afterlife. He got married for the first time last February. He will become a father right around the time he starts spring training next March with the Kansas City Royals.But there's this little matter Brett would like to resolve before making a decision about his future. Whether the 1992 season is the last of Brett's sure-to-be Hall of Fame career will certainly be influenced by his chase for 3,000 hits."It's [reaching 3,000] something I'll do before I retire," Brett, 39, said in the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards before last night's Royals-Orioles game.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- "Charlie Finley? Let me show you something," Moe Drabowsky said in the Orioles' clubhouse yesterday.A reliever with the Orioles years ago and now one of the club's minor-league pitching coaches, Drabowsky reached into the toiletry kit in his locker and pulled out a thick batch of pink business slips."

And the 1991 award for discoveries and pleasant surprises goes to . . . Todd Frohwirth.In a year of ills, flops and drops for the Baltimore Orioles, the man who drops down under has been a relief, his career resurrected on a different team in a different league."

Economists, business people and consumers are still having a tough time determining whether Maryland's economy is ready to head skyward again -- and if so, how quickly.As data from the first half of the year trickle in, some signs point to the beginning of a local recovery. But as last week's state and national unemployment reports illustrate, there are still as many dark clouds as silver linings.On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department reported, against expectations, that the national unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent in July from a five-year high of 7.0 percent in June.

CHICAGO--CHRIS ZORICH, the All-America nose tackle for Notre Dame, is one of the fiercest college linemen ever to play football.Off the field, he is also one of the game's gentlest souls. His teammates call him "Flowers."He has often said he draws his inner strength and compassion from his mother, Zora, who raised Zorich without a father in a housing project on the tough Southeast Side of Chicago.As he did every day, Zorich talked to his mother by telephone on Tuesday from Miami, where Notre Dame was playing in the Orange Bowl.

Q: What causes high protein in a child's urine, and how can you correct the problem?A: If careful and repeated tests have shown that a child has too much protein in the urine (called "proteinuria"), the child's kidneys are not working perfectly. There is a very long list of reasons why kidneys let too much protein get through. Some are temporary and trivial; others are long lasting and very serious. Some causes are treatable; some are not.We'll discuss how protein gets into the urine and some of the XTC common causes of "proteniuria," but, with the limited information you have provided, we can't guess what's causing the problem in the child you wrote about.

WHAT DOES it mean when you hear that a dear friend has had a heart attack and is in the hospital in critical condition? Just how bad is critical? You might call the hospital the next day and be told his condition is stable. Does that mean he is out of danger now?Perhaps you read about an accident on I-95 in which three local teen-agers are hurt. The paper says one of the passengers was hospitalized in critical condition. The next day you read that the teen's condition is guarded. Does that mean he is getting better or worse?

Just when it appeared that the galvanized watering can, a distinguished and agreeable gardening tool, was about to take its place among the relics of the past - replaced by plastic - industrial-strength galvanized steel has staged a comeback. Not just watering cans and buckets, but chairs, potting tables and other outdoor products made of tough galvanized steel have become quite chic. Of course, it needed a catchy nickname for the contemporary market: "galvi."Galvanized garden furniture will probably never displace teak, but it has a fine presence in the garden, and it's made to last.

To cover the incision from Dale Borgman's recent bac surgery, his doctor needed only a Band-Aid. That's because the incision consisted of a single needle puncture.Yet that needle -- as skinny as a plastic coffee-stirrer -- contained a miniature laser and fiber optic lens that made it possible for Sacramento orthopedic surgeon Paul Lim to operate on the ruptured disk that had plagued Mr. Borgman for several months. The procedure was done in a half hour.Dr. Lim and other doctors believe the laser surgery, which has been used on a small scale around the country, may revolutionize back surgery, allowing those who suffer from debilitating back and leg pain to be cured relatively easily.

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Municipal bond issuers announced yesterday the early redemption of issues totaling more than $164.97 million.The issues being called are:* Pico Rivera Redevelopment Agency, Calif., Series 1983 A, single family mortgage revenue bonds maturing, Oct. 1, 1999, and Oct. 1, 2016. $16.84 million called at 100 percent of compounded value on Oct. 1, 1992.* Southern California Home Financing Corp., Series 1989 A, single family mortgage revenue bonds maturing, semi-annually from April 1, 1993, through Oct. 1, 2003, Oct. 1, 2011, and Oct. 1, 2022.