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Show Johnson's Toss Begins Baseball WASHINGTON (AP) President Presi-dent Johnson got his baptism Monday as an opening day pitcher pitch-er and almost got drenched. UNDER SODDEN skies, with raindrops occasionally pelting down, Johnson followed the tradition tra-dition of a half century and made the ceremonial first pitch that each year opens the American Ameri-can League baseball season. Johnson's first toss was a short pop fly into the massed players of Los Angeles and Washington. It fell to the ground and Angels coach Salty Parker dove in beneath the pile to recover re-cover it. HE MADE another heave for the benefit of photographers a few seconds later. This time it sailed over the players and Senator Sen-ator pitcher Bennie Daniels caught it on the fly. Skies were threatening as the half century-old ceremonies concluded, con-cluded, but so far only scattered raindrops had been felt. AFTER the first toss, Claude Osteen took the mound for Washington and the Senators arid Los Angeles began the first game of the 1964 season before a sellout crowd of 54,000 in 'D.C. Stadium. Ken McBride and Julio Navarro Navar-ro took over the pitching duties from President Johnson and tossed the Los Angeles Angels to a one-hit 4-0 victory over Washington. |