Cards and vintage stuff: April 26, 1962

The biggest news on Earth took place in space on April 26, 1962. The Americans crash-landed the Ranger 4 satellite onto the moon, the first time the US landed an object on the moon. Meanwhile, Ariel 1 launched, making it both the first British satellite and the first multinational space effort (US-UK). Planetside, other major headlines revolved around the business world, as US Steel and Bethlehem Steel were indicted for price-fixing, and the Packard car brand was officially ended.

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce of West Philadelphia met at the Sheraton Motor Inn for their Twenty-First Annual Dinner. There is not much online about this organization, let alone the dinner, so it's a good time to answer a commenter's question from the previous post in this series. Rarity in matchbooks is very different than that in baseball cards. The number of matchbooks for an event like this would be quite small, equal to the projected number of attendees, presumably. For a relatively small dinner like this, perhaps 500 matchbooks tops. However, most individual matchbooks are "rare" compared to baseball cards that are printed by the hundreds of thousands. They might be done up for a local business or an event, and there would only be maybe a few dozen left in existence decades later. Most collectors collect certain "types" of matchbooks. For example the ones I like best are Long Island/NYC, sports, full-color photography, and notable brands. Some collectors might focus on casinos, low-digit telephone numbers, or one from every Holiday Inn. The only really "common" ones are those that were printed up nationally, such as supermarket sets, big chains like 7-Eleven or Wendy's, and business like correspondence schools that regularly used matchbooks as a form of advertising.

While the West Philadelphians were enjoying their Chamber of Commerce gathering, the local Phillies were having a rough time on the road in Milwaukee. The Phillies lost to the Braves 10-4. Unsurprisingly, the big blow was a three-run home run by Aaron. Surprisingly, the slugging Aaron was not Hank (who did manage a sacrifice fly) but little brother Tommie, who was a double short of a cycle, driving in four runs. On the Phillies' side, the only extra-base hit they managed that day was a double by Ruben Amaro.