Thursday-Saturday, September 24-25-26 of 1964 were marked by freedom movements in Africa, with the capital of Congo seized by rebels, and a war for independence launched by the Mozambique Liberation Front. In the US, the Warren Commission presented it's findings to President Johnson, while the TV season kicked off with new shows debuting including The Munster, Gomer Pyle and Gilligan's Island.
Meanwhile in Williamsport, PA, the 85th Annual Pennsylvania State Firemen's Convention was held. The convention was concluded with a parade on Saturday that had 3,000 marchers over 3,000 hours. There was a "Mardi Gras atmosphere" in downtown Williamsport including a makeshift reviewing stand in front of the county prison and young boys trying on "Beatle" wigs.
Many of these dated matchbooks came from a seller in the Philadelphia area. The last of these posts had a quite positive Phillies team in June of 1964. September was a different story for the squad, as a ten game losing streak at the end of September ruined their pennant chances in one of the biggest collapses in baseball history. These were losses 4, 5 and 6 of the streak, all at home against the Braves. One player who couldn't be blamed for the collapse was rookie Dick Allen. Allen had eight hits in thirteen at bats in the three games, including a triple and home run. In the other seven games of the losing streak Allen hit .346. I wonder if Allen's teammates hadn't collapsed, and he became seen as a young hero of a surprise pennant-winner and possibly World Champion, might his career might have gone much smoother?
There sure was a lot going on over that three-day period!
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