Opening Day 50 years ago didn’t start off too well for the two high-profile rookies at RFK Stadium, President Richard Nixon and Washington Senators manager Ted Williams. Nixon, less than three months after his inauguration as the 37th president, dropped one of the ceremonial baseballs he was to throw out from the presidential box, and as he bent over to pick it up, Williams couldn’t suppress a grin. Making matters worse, the presidential seal in front of the box was misspelled: “The Presidnt of the United States.”Story Continued Below Williams, meanwhile, had a rough managerial debut, as his team fell behind 8-0 to the visiting New York Yankees en route to an 8-4 loss. But he took some solace in the fact that most of the fans stayed until the end—including Nixon, a longtime admirer of Williams. The feeling was mutual, as Williams displayed a grainy photo of Nixon in his office at the ballpark. Leading up to that 1969 season, Washington hadn’t had a winning baseball record in 17 years—covering two franchises—and following the drubbing by the Yankees, Senators fans probably figured they were in for another year of bad baseball. But Williams would turn things around and lead…