The long standing tradition for United States Presidents to throw out a ceremonial first pitch in Washington D.C. to open the MLB season continued on April 8, 1963. However, just seven months later a national tragedy would give a bit more significance to such patriotic ceremonies with the aforementioned being the final opening day President Kennedy would ever attend. As customary, the President prepared to throw the ceremonial pitch to a group of Senators players who would compete to catch the coveted pitch. Senators' backup catcher Ken Retzer caught the well thrown "strike" from President Kennedy before the game between the hometown Senators and the Baltimore Orioles. American League umpire Al Salerno was working the third base position on that 1963 opening day. Salerno was a fan of the history of the game and a collector, of sorts, based on several historical baseballs he preserved during his career. According to an accompanying 1996 notarized letter Salerno recounts "After the opening ceremonies, he threw in the first ball, which Don Leppert caught, who was the Washington catcher at the time. I asked Don for the ball and he threw it to me while I was standing in the runway." Not long after, states Salerno had the President signed the baseball as he was exiting the stadium. The ball itself is appropriately a William Harridge American League example which displays moderate toning and light clear coat. The top and bottom panels flanking the autographed area of the ball exhibit some circular abrasions to the surface from apparent display within the Salerno collection. The signature is perfectly positioned at the center of a side panel and displays with uncommon well formed clarity not often seen with other documented Kennedy signature baseballs. Due to equal reverence and tragedy, baseballs signed by President John F. Kennedy are at the pinnacle of the collecting category. It is believed that less than ten total documented surviving examples remain and seldom are offered to the collecting public. Outstanding Presidential signature baseball with impeccable primary source provenance. Includes full LOA from PSA/DNA, 1996 LOA from Charles Hamilton, 1996 notarized letter of provenance from Al Salerno, and vintage black and white image of Kennedy throwing out the first pitch in 1963 Ball: VG-EX, Signature: NM-MT