BYPLAY by ROGER KAHN: Bill Veeck: The Happy Hustler

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For opening day, all of the late Mayor Daley's four sons had been invited to throw out a first ball. "Not only do we have four first balls," Veeck said, in a broad grin, "we have 20,000 more. Everybody wants to throw out a first ball, so I've bought all these harmless Styrofoam baseballs. You can throw one out yourself, if you'd like." After a slow, Styrofoam hailstorm, the Sox jumped ahead of the Boston Red Sox. Ralph Garr in left and Zisk in right misplayed fly balls, but Ken Brett pitched strongly, and Veeck's patchwork heroes won 5-2 before a noisy crowd of almost 35,000.

Like Intercourse. The Scoreboard made victory sounds. Veeck beamed and thanked everybody. Then he spent two hours going over the game, pitch by pitch, with Bob Lemon, his manager, and two coaches. Ralph Garr was still swinging at the first pitch too often. He had to be reminded to wait for a strike every time he came to bat.

"We're being critical," Lemon said, finally. "Let's not forget the feeling when we won."

"I'm not forgetting it," Veeck said.

"How is that feeling?" I said to Lemon.

"Like intercourse," Bob Lemon said.

Afterward Veeck explained, "You have to start with what you inherit, and then you scuffle and upgrade. Develop attitudes. We began that last year. As a general rule, you have three seasons to succeed. If you don't win in three, the fans just want you to go away. This is not a classic team, but it will surprise some people.

" 'Wait till next year' was the old Brooklyn Dodgers. Our approach has to be a little bit more urgent. But we're getting there." He whispered tightly, "We'll surprise them." He left the ball park almost reluctantly, clearly impatient for the start of tomorrow's flyballs and line drives, celebrations and circuses.