Father Figures

Rank of Father’s Day among American card-sending occasions: 5

* Designs offered by Hallmark Cards for Father’s Day: 638

* Percentage of estimated 97 million Father’s Day cards that will be given to someone other than a father, grandfather, husband, son or son-in-law: 13

* Microbrewed beers on tap at Father’s Office in Santa Monica: 31

Cost of first round at Father’s Office for father and son/daughter on Father’s Day: Complimentary

* Recommended celebratory meal at Papa’s Western Barbecue & Saloon in Long Beach: 22-ounce prime rib, $16.95. Price includes free Father’s Day Polaroid photo of your party

* Cost of a Bloody Mary at Dad’s Bar & Grill in Bell: $2.50

* Combined time Fathers Miguel Sanchez and Antonio Cruzado devoted to development of Mission San Gabriel Archangel: 57 years

* Child support cases in which L.A. County district attorney’s office established paternity in 1996: 48,943. In 1992: 11,938

* Child support collected in L.A. County in 1996: $200,639,445. In 1992: $128,244,415

* Life span of “Father Knows Best” in domestic syndicated reruns: 1967-94

* Domestic gross receipts: “Father’s Day” (1997, $23.7 million); “Father of the Bride” (1950, estimated $11.5 million; 1991 remake, $89.3 million); “In the Name of the Father” (1993, $25.1 million); “Dad” (1989, $22.1 million); “Father Goose” (1964, estimated $15.5 million); “Father’s Little Dividend” (1951, estimated $8.8 million)

* Arguably nature’s most bizarre fathering technique: The male Darwin frog, native to South America, swallows tadpoles hatched from eggs laid by the female. They develop inside his vocal sac, and after three months, up to 20 small frogs crawl out of the father’s mouth.