Baseballs & Easter Eggs

On a dazzling spring afternoon last week, Ike and Mamie Eisenhower joined 27,000-odd other Washingtonians at Griffith Stadium for the opening baseball game between the Washington Senators and the New York Yankees. They sat on either side of old (84) Clark Griffith, owner of the Senators, and the President satisfied tradition by throwing out the first ball of the season.-- On his left hand, he wore a fielder's mitt which Griffith handed him. Ike, using an odd type of knuckle grip, threw the ball to Yankee Pitcher Johnny Sain so quickly that some photographers missed it. "One more," they cried, and Ike obliged with a fast one to Rookie Gonzalo Naranjo. "Throw it back," called the President, and Naranjo did. Then, feeling very pleased with himself, Ike pitched the ball once more to Naranjo. Baseball historians agreed that it was the first time a President had ever played catch at an opening game.

"Wonderful Home Run." The game, an unexpected thriller, caught up both Ike and Mamie in the excitement that it provided. By the time Washington took the lead, 3-2, Mr. & Mrs. Eisenhower had each accepted sticks of chewing gum from Griffith. In the third inning, they both had Cokes in paper cups, and Mamie dipped into a box of Cracker Jack as she watched the game. When the Yankees tied it up, 3-3 in the ninth, the excitement in the presidential box mounted perceptibly, and in the tenth, when Washington's Mickey Vernon finally polished off the game ( 5-3) with a sizzling home run over the right-field fence, Ike stood up and pounded his fist in his hand, and Mamie hugged and kissed Griffith. As the triumphant Washington players gathered around Vernon, Ike leaned precariously over the edge of his box and shook Vernon's hand. "Wonderful," he said. "Wonderful home run."

After the game, Ike and Mamie drove to National Airport where the presidential plane Columbine was standing by to take the President to his favorite retreat at the Augusta National Golf Club for an Easter vacation. The plane landed in Georgia two hours later. For two days April rains hampered Ike's golfing, but at last the sun came out and the President was able to play with a new partner: Lumber Salesman Billy Jo Patton, the sensational amateur from Morgantown, N.C., who finished third, right behind Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, in the recent Masters Tournament. Patton returned to Augusta after the Masters' especially to meet Ike. and together they trounced their opponents, Club Chairman Cliff Roberts and Columbus, Ga. Broker William Zimmerman. Ike carded a respectable 88 and Billy Jo had a sensational 68, including five birdies.

On Holy Thursday, Major John Eisenhower and his family planed in from Fort Benning to complete the family circle, and Ike mixed his special half-holiday formula of work and play: a few hours of official business each morning and a daily round of golf, larded with interludes of play with the grandchildren and a rubber or two of bridge each evening.

Quick on the Trigger. At 6 o'clock Easter morning, the three children rose to inspect Easter baskets and search for eggs in the house and later in the woods behind the presidential cottage. After breakfast, the grownups, dressed in their Easter finest, went to church. Afterward, the President laid the cornerstone for a new church building. A building contractor in the crowd commented on his dexterity with the silver trowel. "I used to do it on the farm," Ike explained with a grin.

Grandson David, 6, was waiting on the lawn when the Eisenhowers returned to the cottage for an appointment with the photographers. "See that David's hat is not resting on his ears," called Mamie. The President inspected the cap, decided it was fine, and he and Grandson David pulled a carefully rehearsed stunt on the waiting photographers. They strolled together, very casually, across the lawn. Suddenly Ike clapped his hands. David whirled, flipped open his jacket and pulled out a long-barreled western cap pistol. Then he snapped his trigger at the photographers. On the second try, he got off his shot in four seconds.

After his grandaughters and the rest of the family emerged, Ike slipped away with John Eisenhower. Within 20 minutes, they were on the links.

-- In New York City two days later, Mayor Robert Wagner refused to pitch the traditional first ball at the Yankees' first home game because he did not want to cross an American Federation of Musicians picket line at Yankee Stadium. Bronx Borough President James J. Lyons came in as a relief pitcher for the mayor.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.