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 October 7, 1907, at the family home on Smith Road in Bedford Township, the daughter of Frederick T. and Anna (Scharer) Smith.
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 of the Society for American Baseball Research and a trade publication editor in Washington, DC Roy Parmelee also graduated in 1925 from Lambertville High School where he was a classmate of Ortho. His desire to become a doctor like his father quickly disappeared, and he went to Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University) and ended up in Toledo working a factory job and playing baseball on the side. There he caught the eye of famous baseball player and baseball coach Casey Stengel, who was in charge of the semi-pro Toledo Mud Hens at the time.
Roy Parmelee was considered a wild force on the pitcher’s mound – an honor that would both lead the teams on which he played to victory as well as lead them to defeat. He spent two years with the Toledo Mud Hens beginning in 1927 and while his performance was lacking (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.
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 October 15, 1932, at the Collingwood Methodist Church in the eastern part of Toledo. 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 – a disorder shared by 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 the famous St. Louis pitcher. Louis Cardinals’ Dizzy Dean and struck out 13 Cardinals to give the Giants a 1-0 victory. The Giants would go on to win the World Series in five games that year, defeating the Washington Senators in the American League.
Accepted at St. Louis Cardinals for Roy Parmelee in the 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 in Toledo in 1941 to work at a local defense plant.
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Later Roy and Ortha returned 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 of Monroe – Jan, Annalee and Roy. Elder Roy Parmelee joined the Automobile Club of Michigan after World War II as a sales representative. Michigan, through the Grand Rapids Automobile Club, joined the newly incorporated American Automobile Association in 1902. Roy Parmelee then managed the Automobile Club at the Monroe, Michigan office until his retirement in 1971.
Roy and Ortha Parmelee remain active in Monroe civic organizations (especially garden clubs). Roy Parmelee died on August 31, 1981, at the age of 74.
Tom Adamich is the president of Visiting Librarian Service, a company he has operated since 1993. He is also the project archivist for Greening Nursery Co. and Family Archives and the electric vehicle awareness coordinator at Monroe County Community College.