(L-R): Peter O’Malley; Forrest “Spook” Jacobs; and Alejandra Mara, Director, Museo de Filatelia de Oaxaca, Mexico, June 16-17, 1999. The famous stamp museum was founded by Alfredo Harp Helú, owner of Diablos Rojos del Mexico, who donated his stamp collection. O’Malley, who donated baseball stamps to the museum, traveled to Oaxaca to participate in its opening. Jacobs, a former Dodger minor leaguer from 1946-1953, had also sent his large stamp collection to the museum.
Biography
Alfredo Harp Helú
Alfredo Harp Helú is the highly-respected business leader, lifetime baseball fan and owner of two Mexican League professional baseball teams – the Diablos Rojos of Mexico City and Guerreros of Oaxaca. On March 23, 2019, Peter O’Malley was invited by Harp as a special guest for the grand opening celebration of the inauguration of the Alfredo Harp Helú baseball stadium in Mexico City. Peter was also introduced before the game to the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Harp also is part of the ownership group of the San Diego Padres since 2012, along with family members of Terry O’Malley Seidler and Peter O’Malley. Harp is the only person born in Mexico to be a part-owner of a MLB team. Harp was the former owner of Banamex, the largest Mexican and Latin American bank, which was acquired in a buyout by Citigroup. He is owner of the telecommunication company, Avantel (now part of Axtel), Mexico’s second-largest telephone company. Harp also is a dedicated philanthropist in Mexico, including in Oaxaca, where he funded the stamp museum – Museo de Filatelia de Oaxaca – through his Alfredo Harp Helú Foundation.
Alfredo Harp Helú, owner of Diablos Rojos del Mexico, is presenting the stamp collection of former Dodger minor leaguer and major league second baseman Forrest “Spook” Jacobs behind him at the central offices of Banamex in Mexico City, November, 1999. Jacobs, a friend of Peter O’Malley, donated his large collection of baseball stamps that are now on display at the Museo de Filatelia de Oaxaca opened in 1999 in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The museum houses the world’s largest baseball stamp exhibits donated by former Dodger minor league player Forrest “Spook” Jacobs. Peter traveled to Oaxaca several times with his wife Annette and enjoyed visiting with Harp and his wife Maria Isabel. Peter and Harp frequently talked about the future of baseball in Mexico. Peter helped to underwrite an exhibit of Jacobs’ baseball stamps at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. His foundation also administers the Academia de Beisbol Alfredo Harp Helú, a youth baseball academy to encourage and develop young players in Mexico.