sign
Jackie Robinson (pictured) is a matter of some dispute. McLaughlin had been
New York City Police Commissioner in 1926, knew O'Malley's father, and had attended
Philadelphia Athletics games with O'Malley when O'Malley was still at the University of Pennsylvania. It was 1933 when Walter again met George V. McLaughlin, president of the
Brooklyn Trust Company. It was through McLaughlin that Walter was brought into the financial arrangements for
Ebbets Field in 1940. He purchased 25% as did
Branch Rickey and
John L. Smith (president of
Pfizer Chemical), while the heirs of
Stephen McKeever retained the final quarter. In 1943, he replaced
Wendell Willkie as chief legal counsel.
Branch Rickey, who had built the
St. Louis Cardinals into champions, replaced MacPhail, and O'Malley began to accumulate stock in the Dodgers. In
board of directors meetings, O'Malley also opposed Rickey's extravagances. When he was with his political friends, he made fun of Rickey at every chance.
Daily News columnist Jimmy Powers would deride Rickey for selling off players and for general miserliness. It got to the point where everything Rickey did was something O'Malley derided: O'Malley thought Rickey's construction of the state of the art Vero Beach spring training facility, known as
Dodgertown, was extravagant; he thought Rickey's investment in the
Brooklyn Dodgers of the
All-America Football Conference was questionable; he fought Rickey on the team's beer sponsor; and he demanded that players return their 1947
World Series rings before receiving the new ones Rickey ordered. As team lawyer, O'Malley had a role in breaking the racial barrier as well. In particular, he had a significant role in Rickey's top-secret search for suitable ballplayers to break the
color barrier and then later he had a role in assessing the ongoing legal risks to the franchise. O'Malley eventually pursued a complicated buyout of Rickey, who had received an outside offer from
William Zeckendorf of $1 million for his interests. There were varying accounts about the sincerity of the offer because Zeckendorf and
Pittsburgh Pirates owner
John Galbreath were
fraternity brothers, but there is a lot of evidence that he had a sincere interest in acquiring the team. The outside offer triggered a clause in the partnership agreement whereby the asking price of a
third party had to be matched if a current owner wanted to retain control and the third party would be compensated $50,000. The canceled $50,000 check would later include Rickey's signature showing that Zeckendorf turned over the $50,000 to Rickey. O'Malley replaced Rickey with
Buzzie Bavasi. According to pitcher
Clem Labine and noted author
Roger Kahn, the first thing O'Malley did when he took over was assign Bavasi to enamor himself to
Dick Young of the
Daily News so that O'Malley would not have to worry about ever getting bad press from the
Daily News. After the ownership transfer, O'Malley's rivalry with Rickey became very public. O'Malley forbade the speaking of Rickey's name in Dodgers offices with transgressors being subjected to a fine. He abolished Rickey's title of general manager so that no front office person could perpetuate Rickey's role. In addition, when Rickey assumed the title with the
Pittsburgh Pirates, O'Malley arranged for the Dodgers to omit the Pirates from their spring training schedule. In 1951, Brooklyn native and
United States Congressman Emanuel Celler's Judiciary Committee investigated whether the
reserve clause was in violation of federal
anti-trust laws. Celler represented half of Brooklyn in Congress and O'Malley used the local press such as the
Brooklyn Eagle to pressure Celler into backing off of the issue. During the 1951 season, the Dodgers engaged former
West Point varsity baseball player and U.S. Army General
Douglas MacArthur to lure war veterans. O'Malley attempted to entice him to take the post of
Commissioner of Baseball. After the 1956 season, O'Malley sold Ebbets Field to
Marvin Kratter and agreed to
lease the stadium for three years. Jackie Robinson had been a Rickey protege, and O'Malley did not have the same respect for Robinson that Rickey did. O'Malley referred to him as "Rickey's
prima donna". Robinson did not like O'Malley's choice for manager,
Walter Alston. Robinson liked to argue with
umpires, and Alston rarely did so. Robinson derided Alston in the press. In 1955, Alston played
Don Hoak at
third base during the exhibition season. Robinson voiced his complaints to the press. Robinson did not get along with Bavasi either, and the three seasons under Alston were uncomfortable for Robinson. Robinson announced his retirement in
Look magazine after the 1956 season. , built in 1912–13, was the Dodgers' home in Brooklyn before O'Malley moved the club to Los Angeles in 1957. The signing of Robinson brought the team international fame, making O'Malley an international baseball ambassador to celebrities such as
Iraq's
King Faisal II. In 1954, Dodgers scout
Al Campanis signed
Sandy Koufax in large part for two reasons, according to a memo to O'Malley that said "No. 1, he's a Brooklyn boy. No. 2, he's Jewish." Bavasi noted that "there were many people of the Jewish faith in Brooklyn." During the 1955 season, Dodgers
catcher Roy Campanella had a medical billing controversy regarding
neurosurgery services by
Manhattan doctor Dr. Samuel Shenkman. Shenkman billed $9,500, an amount which Campanella forwarded to the Dodgers and the Dodgers refused to pay. O'Malley felt the doctor was overcharging: "It appears that [Dr. Shenkman] thought he was operating on Roy's bankroll..." The Dodgers had convinced Campanella to have the surgery after enduring a slump in 1954 following
MVP seasons in 1951 and 1953. The surgery was intended to restore complete use of his hand. Despite having won the National League pennants in 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953, they lost to the
New York Yankees in the
World Series each time, which frustrated O'Malley and all Dodgers fans. In
1955, the team won the World Series for the first time in their history. However, attendance declined from a peak of 1.7 million in 1946 and 1947 to just over one million per year in the mid-1950s. With the advent of the affordable automobile and post-war prosperity, Brooklyn's formerly heterogeneous, middle-class fan base for the Dodgers began to splinter. A large
white flight took place, and Ebbets Field's shabby condition and lack of parking spaces led to the loss of fans who relocated to
Long Island. O'Malley tried to raise money and get the political backing to build a
new ballpark elsewhere in Brooklyn. The one person whose backing he needed was
Robert Moses, a powerful figure who influenced development in New York through the
Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. O'Malley envisioned a domed stadium near the
Long Island Rail Road station on Brooklyn's west end, Moses did not like O'Malley and derided O'Malley's pro-Brooklyn and pro-Irish sentiments in the press. O'Malley wanted to build a new Brooklyn Dodgers stadium at
Flatbush and
Atlantic Avenue, but Moses wanted the Dodgers to move to Queens and play in
Flushing Meadows Park (the location where the
New York Mets play today). Although O'Malley lined up bipartisan political support including
New York Governor W. Averell Harriman, Moses blocked the sale of the land necessary for the planned new Brooklyn stadium. O'Malley bought the
Chicago Cubs minor league baseball team, the
Los Angeles Angels, as well as their stadium,
Wrigley Field, from
Philip Wrigley in 1956 at the winter baseball meetings, and during
spring training,
Los Angeles Mayor Norris Poulson traveled to the Dodgers' training camp at
Vero Beach, Florida in an attempt to lure the franchise. O'Malley met with Moses at Moses' home after purchasing the Angels to discuss final offers from New York to no avail. O'Malley noticed the great success of the
Milwaukee Braves after their move from Boston in 1953. He also felt the limitations of the small landlocked Ebbets Field, which held less than 32,111 fans and accommodated only 700 parking spaces. The deal included a five-year
lease that allowed the Dodgers to move out as soon as the proposed domed stadium in
Downtown Brooklyn was ready for business. Ultimately, O'Malley decided to leave Brooklyn for Los Angeles in 1957. Robert Moses authority
Robert Caro and other contemporaneous sports historians felt that Moses was more to blame for the Dodgers' leaving.
Move to Los Angeles O'Malley is considered by baseball experts to be "perhaps the most influential owner of baseball's early expansion era." Following the
1957 Major League Baseball season, he moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles, and New York's Dodgers fans felt betrayed. would have been the closest National League team. The joint move made West Coast road trips more economical for visiting teams. but he was convinced to join O'Malley on the West Coast at the end of the 1957 campaign. Since the meetings occurred during the 1957 season and against the wishes of
Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick, there was media gamesmanship. On April 15, 1958, the Dodgers and Giants ushered in West Coast baseball at
Seals Stadium. When O'Malley moved the Dodgers from Brooklyn the story transcended the world of sport and he found himself on the cover of
Time. The
cover art for the issue was created by sports cartoonist
Willard Mullin, long noted for his caricature of the "Brooklyn Bum" that personified the team. The dual moves broke the hearts of New York's National League fans but ultimately were successful for both franchises – and for Major League Baseball as a whole. This did not assuage many Dodgers fans in New York; many years later, newspaper writers
Pete Hamill and
Jack Newfield each challenged the other to choose the three worst people of the 20th century. Independently, they produced identical lists: "Hitler, Stalin, O'Malley." In the years following the move of the New York clubs, Major League Baseball added two completely new teams in
California, as well as two in
Texas, two in Canada, two in
Florida, one each in the
Twin Cities,
Denver, and
Phoenix, and two teams at separate times in
Seattle. In addition, the
Athletics, who had already moved to
Kansas City, moved to
Oakland; Kansas City would get
a new team the year after the A's moved to Oakland. The National League returned to New York with the introduction of the
New York Mets four years after the Dodgers and Giants had departed for California. When he made the decision to relocate in October 1957 to Los Angeles, O'Malley did not have an established location for where the Dodgers would play in 1958. O'Malley worked out a deal with
Los Angeles County and the state of California to rent the
Los Angeles Coliseum for $200,000 per year for 1958 and 1959, plus 10% of the ticket revenue, and all concession profits for the first nine games of each season following an opening series with the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers temporarily took up residence while they awaited the completion of 56,000-seat capacity
Dodger Stadium, built for $23 million. The Dodgers were soon drawing more than two million fans a year. They remained successful on the field as well, winning the World Series in
1959,
1963, and
1965. The
Los Angeles Angels also played in Dodger Stadium from 1962 to 1965.
Controversy regarding land deal with city of Los Angeles , also nicknamed "Chavez Ravine", in the 1960s. The dealings with the city of Los Angeles after the Vero Beach meeting raised questions. The initial offer of and
tax exemptions was determined to be illegal and improper. The
plaintiffs initially prevailed in some of these suits. Finally, during the middle of the 1959 season, the
Los Angeles City Council was able to approve the final parcel for the stadium. One legendary negotiation with the city over concession revenue is that in O'Malley's move to the Coliseum he agreed to accept concession revenues from only half the team's games—the home half. The land was eventually transferred by the Los Angeles city government to O'Malley by an agreement which required O'Malley and the Dodgers to design, build, privately finance and maintain a 50,000-seat stadium; develop a youth recreation center on the land. O'Malley was to pay $500,000 initially, plus annual payments of $60,000 for 20 years; and pay $345,000 in property taxes starting in 1962, putting the land on the tax rolls. Also, the Dodgers would transfer team-owned Wrigley Field, then appraised at $2.2 million, to the city. The city exchanged "300 acres, more or less, in the Chavez Ravine area", while L.A. County Supervisors unanimously agreed to provide $2.74 million for access roads. In addition, the Dodgers also had to pay $450,000 for territorial rights to the Pacific Coast League, whose
Los Angeles Angels and
Hollywood Stars suspended play.
Management philosophy His son,
Peter O'Malley, described his management style as follows: "As president, the way he ran the business, he believed in stability and very little turnover. It was the strength of the organization. The management team worked as well as the team on the field." Scully was the voice of the Dodgers for 67 seasons until his retirement in 2016, the
infield of
first baseman Steve Garvey,
second baseman Davey Lopes,
shortstop Bill Russell and
third baseman Ron Cey was the longest-running intact infield in major league history. Alston said O'Malley convinced him that when he signed his first one-year contract it could be a lifetime job by pointing out that "signing one-year contracts can mean a lifetime job, if you keep signing enough of them." Although O'Malley had good stories of loyalty with some employees, there were several stories of O'Malley's frugality. Although O'Malley was loyal to his employees, he did not take kindly to demands from employees such as manager
Charlie Dressen's request for a three-year contract. When Dressen requested a multi-year contract after losing a second consecutive World Series to the Yankees, he was released. Then when he hired Walter Alston as a replacement, he made it clear to the press that Alston would only receive one-year contracts and would not attempt to show up the management in the national media. There were rumors that Alston even signed blank contracts in the fall and showed up in the spring to find out his salary. O'Malley also engaged in several high-profile salary disputes with his players. In 1960, he refused to pay right fielder
Carl Furillo for the 1960 season after he was released early due to injury, which led Furillo to sue the team. Because of this, O'Malley allegedly blacklisted Furillo from any job in baseball. In 1966,
Sandy Koufax and
Don Drysdale engaged in a
joint contract holdout. They demanded three-year $167,000 per year contracts and hired an agent, an entertainment lawyer named
J. William Hayes, to negotiate on their behalf; at the time, both multi-year contracts and sports agents were highly unusual. O'Malley liked clubhouse turmoil only slightly less than
free agent disloyalty.
Retirement from presidency On March 17, 1970, Walter turned over the presidency of the team to his son Peter, remaining as chairman until his death in 1979.
Peter O'Malley held the position until 1998 when the team was sold to
Rupert Murdoch. The team remained successful on the field under Peter and won the World Series in both 1981 and 1988. They remained successful at the box office as well: by the end of the 1980s, they had not only became the first franchise to draw three million fans, but also they had done it more times than all other franchises combined. It was even said that the reciprocal loyalty and respect between Lasorda and O'Malley was so high that O'Malley gave Lasorda a
tombstone as a gift that had an inscription that read "TOMMY LASORDA, A DODGER". The McKeevers held their 25% interest in the Dodgers until 1975 when Dearie McKeever died. They sold out to O'Malley making him the sole owner of the Dodgers. Also during 1975, the Dodgers franchise was embroiled in the
Andy Messersmith controversy that led to the
Seitz decision, which struck down baseball's
reserve clause and opened up the sport to modern
free agency. Messersmith and the Dodgers were unable to come to contract terms in part because of a then unheard of
no-trade clause demand, and Messersmith pitched the entire season without a contract under the reserve clause, which stated that team has the right to extend the prior years contract one year if a player does not agree to terms. Teams had previously had the right to continue such re-signings year after year. This gave owners the right to issue "take it or leave it" offers to the players. Although the Dodgers and Messersmith nearly hammered out a deal monetarily, they could not come to terms on the no-trade clause. Supposedly Major League Baseball instructed the Dodgers not to surrender such a clause for the good of the game. The Seitz decision limited the re-signings to one year, and since Messersmith performed quite well in 1975, winning a
Gold Glove Award and leading the National League in
complete games and
shutouts, while finishing second in
earned run average, he was a valuable talent. He earned offers from six different teams. Messersmith became the first free agent, except for
Catfish Hunter who had been declared a 1974 free agent by
breach of contract. O'Malley felt the price wars would be the downfall of baseball because the fans only have so much money. The scenario led to an eighteen-day
lockout during spring training in 1976 over the prospect of dozens of players playing becoming free agents and the inability to redesign the reserve clause. ==Personal life==