Lambertville's Roy Parmelee won World Series, managed AAA office in Monroe

Tom Adamich
Updated ·3 min read
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Recently, I wrote about Ortha E. Smith Parmelee who led the local campaign in the 1940s to “Save the Lotus” and was one of the founding members of the Lotus Garden Club in 1951, serving as its president. The widow of pro baseball player Le Roy "Bud" Earl Parmelee, Ortha was born Oct. 7, 1907, in the family home on Smith Road in Bedford Township, daughter of Frederick T. and Anna (Scharer) Smith.

Lambertville native Roy Parmelee, pictured in 1933, helped the New York Giants win baseball’s 1933 World Series in five games. He played in the majors from the late 1920s until 1941. He later ran the AAA office in Monroe until 1971.
Lambertville native Roy Parmelee, pictured in 1933, helped the New York Giants win baseball’s 1933 World Series in five games. He played in the majors from the late 1920s until 1941. He later ran the AAA office in Monroe until 1971.

Roy Parmelee is the subject of this article. He was born on April 25, 1907, in Lambertville to Dr. Olin Parmelee and the former Edith Kinney – as described by Warren Corbett, research fellow at the Society for American Baseball Research and a trade publication editor in Washington, D.C. Roy Parmelee also graduated in 1925 from Lambertville High School where he was a classmate of Ortha. His desire to become a physician like his dad quickly faded, and he went briefly to Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University) and ended up in Toledo working a factory job and playing baseball on the side. It was there that he caught the eye of famous baseball player and baseball coach Casey Stengel, who was managing the semi-pro Toledo Mud Hens at the time.

Roy Parmelee was considered a wild force on the pitcher’s mound – a reputation that would both lead teams for which he played to victory as well as bring them defeat. He spent two years with the Toledo Mud Hens starting in 1927 and while his performance was lackluster (12-14 with a 4.77 ERA), Stengel convinced New York Giants manager John McGraw to pay $50,000 for the 22-year-old pitcher.

This is an image of a baseball card for Roy Parmelee. He played twice for the minor league Toledo Mud Hens and also spent several seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals in addition to his storied career with the New York Giants.
This is an image of a baseball card for Roy Parmelee. He played twice for the minor league Toledo Mud Hens and also spent several seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals in addition to his storied career with the New York Giants.

Roy Parmelee spent two years as a relief pitcher in the New York Giants minor league system. It was during this time that he renewed his friendship with Ortha and married her on Oct. 15, 1932, at the Collingwood Methodist Church on Toledo’s east side. He returned to the Giants rotation in 1933 under a new skipper, former Giants first baseman Bill Terry. It was Terry who helped Roy Parmelee develop his craft and manage his sleepwalking – an ailment shared with Giants catcher (and roommate) Paul Richards.

Roy Parmelee kept the New York Giants at the top of the National League standings throughout 1933. On July 2, he faced well-known St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean and struck out 13 Cardinals to give the Giants the win 1-0. The Giants would go on to win the World Series in five games that year, defeating the American League’s Washington Senators.

Lambertville native Roy Parmelee, pictured in 1933, helped the New York Giants win baseball’s 1933 World Series in five games. He played in the majors from the late 1920s until 1941. He later ran the AAA office in Monroe until 1971.
Lambertville native Roy Parmelee, pictured in 1933, helped the New York Giants win baseball’s 1933 World Series in five games. He played in the majors from the late 1920s until 1941. He later ran the AAA office in Monroe until 1971.

The St. Louis Cardinals received Roy Parmelee in a 1935 post-season trade. The Giants won the pennant that year, and his major-league career would continue to decline. Roy Parmelee retired from baseball at Toledo in 1941 to work at a local defense plant.

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Roy and Ortha later moved back to Bedford and then to Monroe. Ortha Parmelee (who died July 28, 2007, at age 99) taught at Bedford and, later, Custer Junior High and Cantrick schools in Monroe from 1955 to 1971. The couple also raised their children in Monroe – Jan, Annalee and Roy. The elder Roy Parmelee joined the Automobile Club of Michigan after World War II ended as a sales representative. Michigan, via the Grand Rapids Automobile Club, joined the newly incorporated American Automobile Association in 1902. Roy Parmelee then managed the Automobile Club of Michigan’s Monroe office until he retired in 1971.

Roy and Ortha Parmelee remained active in Monroe civic organizations (especially the garden clubs). Roy Parmelee died Aug. 31, 1981, at age 74.

Tom Adamich is president of Visiting Librarian Service, a firm he has operated since 1993. He also is project archivist for the Greening Nursery Co. and Family Archives and the electric vehicle awareness coordinator at Monroe County Community College.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lambertville's Roy Parmelee won World Series, managed AAA office