Cards and vintage stuff: August 19th to 25th, 1962

News highlights of August 19th to 25th 1962 included a Communist Party purge in Hungary, a plane crash in Brazil and an assassination attempt on French president Charles de Gaulle.

Meanwhile, in Allentown PA at the Hotel Traylor, matchcover collectors from around the world gathered for the 22nd annual Rathkamp Matchcover Society convention. (RMS is the leading matchbook collector group). Bill and Catherine Belcher of Seattle attended the convention, and like many collectors, had customized matchbooks printed for the occasion. Their matchbook reminded convention goers that there was a World's Fair going on in their city. The 1962 World's Fair is most notable for the construction of the Seattle Space Needle.

While the matchbook collectors were gathered in Allentown, PA, the nearby Phillies were enjoying a rare spurt of winning baseball. Mired in seventh place, 11 games under .500, the team went on a tear, beating the Pirates in Pittsburgh on the 19th, then coming home to sweep a three-game series against the Colt .45s, and winning the first game of their series with the Dodgers. They then lost to the Dodgers on the 23rd and the Giants on the 24th and 25th. Don Demeter was a key part of the Phillies' attack that week. He scored the winning run in the top of the ninth inning in Pittsburgh, got at least one hit in each game of the five game winning streak, and broke open the victory over the Dodgers with a two-run home run in the eighth inning. Overall in the eight games during the RMS convention, Demeter was 9-for 25 with 5 runs scored and six RBI.