[Robert_Lifson]

I saw this thread and thought collectors might enjoy hearing about my experience long ago involving this 1939 Commemorative Poster Stamp book. So here goes:

When I was a kid I picked up one of these stamp books, which were designed to hold the 1939 Commemorative Poster Stamp set, in a trade along with a set of the stamps, which I thought were very colorful and interesting. This was in the 1970s. I was about sixteen years old. One day I was looking closely at the interior pages of the book, which I had never bothered to read, trying to learn about the book and accompanying stamps and understand exactly how the set was issued. On page 14 of the book there was a picture of a businessman named Emery A Parichy. He was identified as “President Forrest Park Baseball Museum” and pages 14 and 15 described how in 1934 he started a baseball museum which predated the Hall of Fame and opened to the public in 1935. The museum was described as having “many priceless relics, such as bats, gloves, caps, and even uniforms – many of them autographed, which were actually used by the famous players” and “hundreds of pictures of teams and players, from the time of the Knickerbockers down to the present.” On page 15 there was an amazing picture entitled “an interior view of the Forest Park Baseball Museum, 755 South Harlem Ave., Forest Park, Illinois”. It was hard to tell exactly what items were featured in the memorabilia display in the picture, but it seemed like a lot of interesting material in dozens of frames on the wall and in glass cases.

So I picked up the phone right then and there and called information and asked if there was a listing for Emery Parichy in the Forrest Park, Chicago or surrounding areas. I was immediately told that there was a listing for an “E. A. Parichy Roofing Company.” I thought “Well, it’s got to be related” so I took down the number. So many years had passed that I didn’t think there was any chance I was going to actually locate Mr. Parichy. I figured he was long gone and the E. A. Parichy Roofing Company, if there was a connection to him at all, was maybe a business of his that still bore his name from 40+ years earlier. Who knows? Maybe I’d get to speak to his son or another relative. Or just be told that Mr. Parichy was no longer associated with the company. But it was certainly worth a phone call. I called. I asked if Mr. Parichy was there. I explained that I was looking for Emery A. Parichy, great baseball fan, collector, and founder in 1934 of the Forrest Park Baseball Museum.

Whoever answered said to hold on, and within seconds a very old man picked up the phone and said hello. It was E.A. Parichy! Only two minutes had elapsed between learning of his existence and speaking to him! I explained what led me to call him and how I found him and asked if he still had his collection or any items to potentially sell. He explained that he had long ago given most of his collection away to the Hall of Fame but that he did still have a few things, including sheets of the stamp sets, which he explained that he was responsible for producing. He also said he had the Cy Young award. It wasn’t clear what he was talking about but he stressed that it was “THE Cy Young award, the original, awarded to Cy Young.” He wasn’t sure exactly what all he had, and I certainly couldn’t tell over the phone, but he said that whatever he had, he would be willing to sell.

So what could I do? I immediately made plans to go to Chicago to meet with Mr. Parichy, without a clue regarding exactly what he had, but feeling that this was just too incredible – that Emery Parichy was still there, that he had practically come to life right before my eyes from the pages of the 1939 Poster Stamp Book. Opening the pages of this book was literally like finding a window to an earlier era of collecting, like I was going back in time to the 1939 Baseball Centennial Celebration. Two days later I was at E. A. Parichy Roofing in the Chicago area, sitting with Mr. Parichy.

He was very old. He explained that his was the original baseball museum, and was very clear about his contribution to the concept of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He said that most of the Forrest Park Museum collection (which really was his collection) went to Cooperstown. I remember him also telling me that, in the years since 1939, he had been very involved with woman’s baseball (or softball, I don’t remember which) and that he founded a professional woman’s baseball league, or owned woman’s baseball teams, or both. It’s hard to remember exactly, but it was a big deal, and if there is a formal historical record of woman’s baseball, E. A. Parichy’s contributions as an organizer and executive are no doubt very substantial and easy to verify. He had all kinds of material related to these woman’s baseball teams. In addition to a big group of stamp sets and a few accompanying books for the stamps, the highlight in my eyes of the few items he had were the original artworks for all the stamps! If you look hard enough, every once in a while collectors will see an original stamp artwork for sale or auction. They are each about 5 x 7 inches and are black-and-white (the colors were added in the printing), and feature artwork by former major league pitcher Al Demaree, who was a cartoonist (and who also drew the artwork for 1935 Schutter-Johnson set, the bodies for the 1938 Goudey “Heads Up” series, and provided the artwork for the R304 Al Demaree die-cut baseball cards issued by Dietz Gum in 1934!). All the 1939 Baseball Centennial Stamp original artworks that exist came from this deal.

I bought the stamps, the artworks, books, and few other knick-knacks. He wanted a lot (at least it seemed like a lot at the time) for some items. I bought them all including the Cy Young item (which I remember well was $500 – a fortune at the time). “THE Cy Young Award” was actually an award presented TO Cy Young! It was a beautiful framed display piece on parchment that was calligraphically decorated with text honoring Cy Young’s career, included box scores of his first and last games, and was presented to Cy Young on September 5, 1931, at the Old Redland Field in Cincinnati. I sold or traded it to Barry Halper soon after (probably the next day!) and this piece is pictured in the 1999 Halper auction catalog as Lot 1326.

I’ve never had any occasion in any auction writeup to tell this story but this seems like the perfect thread for it and I have always thought it was a fun story worth sharing. It is a fond collecting memory and I hope others enjoy hearing about a collecting story from “the olden days!”

Robert Lifson

Robert Edward Auctions LLC