Baseball Begins; Nixon Substitutes For Golfing Ike

For the first time in seven years President Eisenhower will not be on hand to throw out the season's first ball today when the unpromising Washington Senators face the Baltimore Orioles in the Presidential opener in Washington. Busy at his golfing retreat in Augusta, Ga., Ike has deputized Vice-President Nixon to perform for him.

Pedro Ramos, who snuffed the Red Sox in last year's opener, will be on the mound for the Senators as they try to begin this season in better style than they ended the last, when they dropped their final thirteen contests. Jack Harshman will be hurling for Baltimore, but the Orioles may have to play without Billy Klaus, a one-time Red Sox hopeful, who injured himself in his bathroom Monday night.

Gov. Happy Chandler of Kentucky will recall his days as baseball commissioner when he opens the National League season in Cincinnati this afternoon. Frank Thomas will be playing for the Reds against his old teammates, the Pirates.

President Eisenhower, who had played no golf in two weeks, arrived in Augusta Tuesday, and reportedly is planning to play and stay for about two weeks. The President went directly from his plane to the Augusta National Golf Club fairways, where the Masters Tournament was completed two days earlier and where a special cottage is kept for his use. According to reliable sources, he is hitting the ball well.