July 29, 1990

LEAD: It's hard to follow sports when you can't see the players, but now those who are visually impaired are going to get a chance to participate in one of the hallmarks of fandom, through a line of Braille sports cards.

LEAD: The sign at the rear of the Northside Bombers Boxing Club says ''In Harmony.'' When Charles Hamm, the 52-year-old plumber who has run the place since 1978, first saw the sign, he liked the sentiment so much that he made sure the lettered poster board ended up on that wall of his storefront gym.

LEAD: THE resignation of John O'Brien as chairman of the Grumman Corporation coupled with job cutbacks at AIL Systems, a leading electronics concern, sent new tremors last week through a Long Island economy already shaken by declines in defense contracts and sales-tax receipts.

LEAD: Caroline Ann Knight was the assistant pastor at one of Harlem's major churches for nearly seven years when she began to look around for a church of her own, a path that many men before her had taken. But Ms. Knight found that none of the big Baptist churches in Harlem were willing to put a woman in the top job.

LEAD: Five big Japanese banks with New York City offices have contributed $20,000 each to Neighborhood Housing Services, a nonprofit housing group, to help it assist low-income homeowners throughout the city in maintaining their properties.