September 28-29, 1962 were relatively quiet news days. The biggest news was on the 29th, when President Kennedy ordered the University of Mississippi to allow James Meredith to become the first Black student to enroll at the University.
Meanwhile, further up the Mississippi River, the Zonta Club of Alton-Wood River, Missouri hosted a Marquette Party. Zonta Clubs are business and charitable clubs for women - the organization has existed since 1930. I don't know what a Marquette Party is.
Perhaps some of the Zonta partiers were paying attention to the local Cardinals, as they began a season-ending three-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. The Cardinals were way out of it, but the Dodgers were fighting the Giants for the NL pennant. The Dodgers went into the series with a two game lead with three to play, but were swept by the pesky Redbirds, forcing a three-game tie-breaker series with the Giants, who eventually prevailed.
Charley James was one of the Cardinals' hitting heroes as they played spoiler to the Dodgers. While the Zonta ladies partied, James hit a two-out RBI single off Ron Perranoski in the top of the tenth on the 28th, which proved to be the winning run. On the 29th he scored the first run of the ballgame, a 2-0 Cardinals victory.
You might not want to know what a 'Marquette Party' is :)
ReplyDelete