Walter O'Malley | |
|---|---|
 O'Malley on the cover ofTime magazine, April 28, 1958. | |
| Born | (1903-10-09)October 9, 1903 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | August 9, 1979(1979-08-09) (aged 75) Rochester, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Resting place | Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (B.A.) Columbia University Fordham University (LL.B.) |
| Occupation | Baseball executive |
| Known for | Relocating theDodgers fromBrooklyn toLos Angeles |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Parent(s) | Edwin O'Malley (father) Alma Feltner (mother) |
| Relatives |
|
Baseball player Baseball career | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 2008 |
| Vote | 75% |
| Election method | Veterans Committee |
Walter Francis O'Malley (October 9, 1903 – August 9, 1979) was an American sports executive who owned theBrooklyn /Los Angeles Dodgers team inMajor League Baseball from 1950 to 1979. In 1958, as owner of the Dodgers, he brought major league baseball to theWest Coast, moving the Dodgers fromBrooklyn to Los Angeles despite the Dodgers being the second most profitable team in baseball from 1946 to 1956, and coordinating the move of theNew York Giants to San Francisco at a time when there were no teams west ofKansas City, Missouri.[1][2] In 2008, O'Malley was elected to theNational Baseball Hall of Fame for his contributions to and influence on the game of baseball.
O'Malley's father,Edwin Joseph O'Malley, was politically connected. Walter, aUniversity of Pennsylvaniasalutatorian, went on to obtain aBachelor of Laws (LL.B.), and he used the combination of his family connections, his personal contacts, and both his educational and vocational skills to rise to prominence. First, he became an entrepreneur involved inpublic works contracting, and then he became an executive with the Dodgers. He progressed from being a team lawyer to being both the Dodgers' owner and president, and he eventually made the business decision to relocate the Dodgers franchise. Although he moved the franchise, O'Malley is known as a businessman whose major philosophy was stability through loyalty to and from his employees.[3]
In 1970, O'Malley ceded the team presidency to his son, Peter. He would become the first chairman of the Dodgers, a title established for him, and remain so until his death in 1979. During the 1975 season, the Dodgers' inability to negotiate a contract withAndy Messersmith led to theSeitz decision, which limited the baseballreserve clause and paved the way for modernfree agency.[4] He bequeathed the team to his childrenPeter O'Malley andTerry O'Malley Seidler upon his death in 1979.[5]
Walter O'Malley was born on October 9, 1903, inThe Bronx,New York City. He was the only child ofEdwin Joseph O'Malley (1881–1953), who worked as acotton goods salesman inthe Bronx in 1903. Edwin O'Malley later became theCommissioner of Public Markets for New York City. Walter's mother was Alma Feltner (1882–1940).[6] Walter was a third-generation Irish-American. His great grandfather, John O'Malley, was born in County Mayo, Ireland. O'Malley grew up as a Bronx-bornNew York Giants fan.[6] He frequently attended Giants games at thePolo Grounds with his uncle Clarence.[7] O'Malley was aBoy Scout who rose to the rank ofStar Scout.[7]
O'Malley attendedJamaica High School inQueens from 1918 to 1920 and then theCulver Academy (the eventual high school alma mater of futureNew York Yankees ownerGeorge Steinbrenner)[8] inIndiana.[9] He managed both the baseball and tennis teams, served on the executive staff of the student newspaper, was a member of the Hospital Visitation Committee as well as thedebate team, Bible Discipline Committee and the YMCA.[7] At Culver, his baseball career was ended with a baseball that hit him on the nose.[6]
Later, he attended theUniversity of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1926[10] as the senior classSalutatorian.[1][11] At Penn, he was initiated intoTheta Delta Chi, and he also served as president of the Phi Deuteron Charge.[1] Upon his graduation from theUniversity of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science his father gave him acabin cruiser that slept eight.[12] He was also Junior and Senior class president.[6] O'Malley originally enrolled atColumbia University in New York City forlaw school, but after his family lost their money in theWall Street Crash of 1929, he switched fromColumbia Law School to night school atFordham University.[13] Edwin O'Malley's dry goods business was failing and Walter had to help run the business.[14]
After he completed hislaw degree in 1930 atFordham Law, he worked as an assistant engineer for theNew York City Subway.[13] After earning his law degree he needed to obtain a clerkship, but it was during the depression and no one could afford to hire him. He allowed a struggling lawyer to use space in his office and paid for his own clerkship.[15] After working for the Subway, he worked for Thomas F. Riley, who owned the Riley Drilling Company, and they formed the partnership of Riley and O'Malley. With the help of Edwin O'Malley's political connections, Walter's company received contracts from theNew York Telephone Company and theNew York City Board of Education to performgeological surveys.[13] Subsequently, Walter started the Walter F. O'Malley Engineering Company and published theSubcontractors Register with his uncle, Joseph O'Malley (1893–1985).[1]
Walter eventually concentrated on the field of law, starting with work onwills anddeeds.[6] By 1933, he was seniorpartner in a 20-manMidtown Manhattan law firm.[15] He developed the business habits of smoking cigars and of answering questions only after taking two puffs.[6] During theGreat Depression, O'Malley represented bankrupt companies and enriched himself, while building his thriving law practice.[12] He invested wisely in firms such as theLong Island Rail Road, Brooklyn Borough Gas Company, the New York Subways Advertising Company, a building materials firm, a beer firm and some hotels. His success begot both influence and attention. The Brooklyn Democratic Machine powers such as judge Henry Ughetta andBrooklyn Trust Company presidentGeorge Vincent McLaughlin were among those who noticed the rising O'Malley.[12]
McLaughlin had beenNew York City Police Commissioner in 1926, knew O'Malley's father, and had attendedPhiladelphia Athletics games with O'Malley when O'Malley was still at the University of Pennsylvania.[15] McLaughlin hired O'Malley to administer mortgageforeclosures against failing businesses for the Trust Company. O'Malley earned McLaughlin's confidence by acting in numerous capacities including bodyguard, valet, chauffeur, adopted son, confidant and right-hand man.[12] The trust company owned the estate ofCharles Ebbets, who had died in 1925 and owned half of the Brooklyn Dodgers.[16] It was 1933 when Walter again met George V. McLaughlin, president of theBrooklyn Trust Company.[1] O'Malley was chosen to protect the company's financial interests in the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1933.[17] O'Malley also served asdesignated driver for the hard drinking McLaughlin.[18] It was through McLaughlin that Walter was brought into the financial arrangements forEbbets Field in 1940.[1] In 1942, whenLarry MacPhail resigned asgeneral manager to serve in theUnited States Army as alieutenant colonel,[6] O'Malley was appointed the attorney for the Dodgers, and he obtained a minority ownership interest on November 1, 1944.[17][19] He purchased 25% as didBranch Rickey andJohn L. Smith (president ofPfizer Chemical), while the heirs ofStephen McKeever retained the final quarter.[20] In 1943, he replacedWendell Willkie as chief legal counsel.[6][8]Branch Rickey, who had built theSt. Louis Cardinals into champions, replaced MacPhail, and O'Malley began to accumulate stock in the Dodgers.[6]
Rickey was a teetotaler, while O'Malley enjoyedalcoholic beverages andtobacco.[6] As O'Malley became more involved in affairs, he became critical of Rickey, the highest-paid individual in baseball, counting salary, attendance bonuses, and player contract sales commissions.[8] O'Malley and Rickey had very different backgrounds and philosophies.[8] It was O'Malley who put pressure on Rickey to fire managerLeo Durocher, who O'Malley felt was a drain on attendance.[21] Inboard of directors meetings, O'Malley also opposed Rickey's extravagances.[22] When he was with his political friends, he made fun of Rickey at every chance.[23]Daily News columnist Jimmy Powers would deride Rickey for selling off players and for general miserliness.[23] When Rickey asked O'Malley, the team lawyer, if he should sue, O'Malley said no. Powers' campaign became so public that after the 1946 season Rickey gave each player a newStudebaker, which gave O'Malley, a Dodgers shareholder, reason to speak ill of Rickey in the press.[23][24] 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 asDodgertown, was extravagant; he thought Rickey's investment in theBrooklyn Dodgers of theAll-America Football Conference was questionable; he fought Rickey on the team's beer sponsor; and he demanded that players return their 1947World Series rings before receiving the new ones Rickey ordered.[25] 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 thecolor barrier and then later he had a role in assessing the ongoing legal risks to the franchise.[8] Other accounts, however, suggest that he played a lesser role in Robinson's signing.
When co-owner Smith died in July 1950, O'Malley convinced his widow to turn over control of the shares to the Brooklyn Trust Company, which O'Malley controlled as chief legal counsel. Rickey's contract as general manager was set to expire on October 28, 1950. Rickey's Dodgers stock was held onmargin and he had fully leveraged hislife insurance policy. O'Malley lowballed Rickey with an offer of $346,000 (the purchase price). Rickey demanded $1 million ($13,100,000 today).[26] O'Malley eventually pursued a complicated buyout of Rickey, who had received an outside offer fromWilliam Zeckendorf of $1 million for his interests.[27] There were varying accounts about the sincerity of the offer because Zeckendorf andPittsburgh Pirates ownerJohn Galbreath werefraternity 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 athird 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.[28]
O'Malley replaced Rickey withBuzzie Bavasi.[6] O'Malley became the president and chief stockholder (owner) on October 26, 1950.[19] O'Malley assumed the title of president from Rickey, who was a trailblazer in baseball both for instituting thefarm system and for breaking the racial barrier withJackie Robinson.[29] According to pitcherClem Labine and noted authorRoger Kahn, the first thing O'Malley did when he took over was assign Bavasi to enamor himself toDick Young of theDaily News so that O'Malley would not have to worry about ever getting bad press from theDaily News.[30]
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 thePittsburgh Pirates, O'Malley arranged for the Dodgers to omit the Pirates from their spring training schedule.[27] Nonetheless, after the transfer, the Dodgers remained successful under O'Malley: they won the National League pennants in 1952, 1953, 1955—the year of their firstWorld Series championship—and 1956. Under O'Malley, the Dodgers were the most overtly political post World War II franchise.[31] In 1951, Brooklyn native andUnited States CongressmanEmanuel Celler's Judiciary Committee investigated whether thereserve clause was in violation of federalanti-trust laws. Celler represented half of Brooklyn in Congress and O'Malley used the local press such as theBrooklyn Eagle to pressure Celler into backing off of the issue.[32] During the 1951 season, the Dodgers engaged formerWest Point varsity baseball player and U.S. Army GeneralDouglas MacArthur to lure war veterans.[33] O'Malley attempted to entice him to take the post ofCommissioner of Baseball.[34] After the 1956 season, O'Malley sold Ebbets Field toMarvin Kratter and agreed tolease the stadium for three years.[35]
Jackie Robinson had been a Rickey protege, and O'Malley did not have the same respect for Robinson that Rickey did.[36] O'Malley referred to him as "Rickey'sprima donna". Robinson did not like O'Malley's choice for manager,Walter Alston. Robinson liked to argue withumpires, and Alston rarely did so. Robinson derided Alston in the press.[37] In 1955, Alston playedDon Hoak atthird base during the exhibition season. Robinson voiced his complaints to the press.[38] Robinson did not get along with Bavasi either, and the three seasons under Alston were uncomfortable for Robinson. Robinson announced his retirement inLook magazine after the 1956 season.[39]
The signing of Robinson brought the team international fame, making O'Malley an international baseball ambassador to celebrities such asIraq'sKing Faisal II.[40] In 1954, Dodgers scoutAl Campanis signedSandy 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."[41] During the 1955 season, DodgerscatcherRoy Campanella had a medical billing controversy regardingneurosurgery services byManhattan 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..."[42] The Dodgers had convinced Campanella to have the surgery after enduring a slump in 1954 followingMVP seasons in 1951 and 1953. The surgery was intended to restore complete use of his hand.[43]
Despite having won the National League pennants in 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953, they lost to theNew York Yankees in theWorld Series each time, which frustrated O'Malley and all Dodgers fans.[44] In1955, 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.[45] A largewhite flight took place, and Ebbets Field's shabby condition and lack of parking spaces led to the loss of fans who relocated toLong Island.[46]
O'Malley tried to raise money and get the political backing to build anew ballpark elsewhere in Brooklyn. The one person whose backing he needed wasRobert Moses, a powerful figure who influenced development in New York through theTriborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. O'Malley envisioned a domed stadium near theLong Island Rail Road station on Brooklyn's west end,[6] and even invitedR. Buckminster Fuller to design the structure; Fuller, in conjunction with graduate students fromPrinceton University, constructed a model of the "Dodgers' Dome".[47] Moses did not like O'Malley and derided O'Malley's pro-Brooklyn and pro-Irish sentiments in the press.[48] O'Malley wanted to build a new Brooklyn Dodgers stadium atFlatbush andAtlantic Avenue, but Moses wanted the Dodgers to move to Queens and play inFlushing Meadows Park (the location where theNew York Mets play today). Although O'Malley lined up bipartisan political support includingNew York GovernorW. Averell Harriman, Moses blocked the sale of the land necessary for the planned new Brooklyn stadium.[49] O'Malley bought theChicago Cubsminor league baseball team, theLos Angeles Angels, as well as their stadium,Wrigley Field, fromPhilip Wrigley in 1956 at the winter baseball meetings, and duringspring training,Los Angeles MayorNorris Poulson traveled to the Dodgers' training camp atVero Beach, Florida in an attempt to lure the franchise.[6][50] O'Malley met with Moses at Moses' home after purchasing the Angels to discuss final offers from New York to no avail.[51] O'Malley noticed the great success of theMilwaukee Braves after their move from Boston in 1953.[6] They had a 43,000-seat stadium, parking for 10,000 cars and an arrangement for no city or real estate taxes.[52] He also felt the limitations of the small landlocked Ebbets Field, which held less than 32,111 fans and accommodated only 700 parking spaces.[6][17][19] Attendance between 1950 and 1957 was between 1,020,000 in 1954 and 1,280,000 in 1951.[52] O'Malley had sold the ballpark toMarvin Kratter for about $2,000,000 on October 31, 1956.[53] The deal included a five-yearlease that allowed the Dodgers to move out as soon as the proposed domed stadium inDowntown Brooklyn was ready for business.[54]
Ultimately, O'Malley decided to leave Brooklyn for Los Angeles in 1957.[1][2][55] Robert Moses authorityRobert Caro and other contemporaneous sports historians felt that Moses was more to blame for the Dodgers' leaving.[56][57] The 1956 season had marked the end of the Jackie Robinson era in which the Dodgers won six pennants, lost two pennant series and finished as low as third only once in ten years, and the new era would begin in a new home.[6] During the 1957 season, he negotiated a deal for the Dodgers to be viewed on an earlypay TV network by the Skiatron Corporation subject to the approval of other teams and owners. The rest of baseball was not ready for the risks of such a venture and it did not pan out at the time.[58]
O'Malley is considered by baseball experts to be "perhaps the most influential owner of baseball's early expansion era."[59] Following the1957 Major League Baseball season, he moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles, and New York's Dodgers fans felt betrayed.[60] O'Malley was also influential in getting the rivalNew York Giants to move west to become the San Francisco Giants, thus preserving the two teams' longstanding rivalry. He needed another team to go with him, for had he moved out west alone, theSt. Louis Cardinals—1,600 mi (2,575.0 km) away—[61][62] would have been the closest National League team. The joint move made West Coast road trips more economical for visiting teams.[6][17] O'Malley invitedSan Francisco MayorGeorge Christopher to New York to meet with Giants ownerHorace Stoneham.[6] Stoneham was considering moving the Giants toMinnesota,[63] 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 ofCommissioner of BaseballFord Frick, there was media gamesmanship.[64]
On April 15, 1958, the Dodgers and Giants ushered in West Coast baseball atSeals Stadium.[65][66] When O'Malley moved the Dodgers from Brooklyn the story transcended the world of sport and he found himself on the cover ofTime.[67] Thecover art for the issue was created by sports cartoonistWillard Mullin,[68] 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.[60][69] In fact, the move was an immediate success as well since the Dodgers set a major league single-game attendance record in their first home appearance with 78,672 fans.[6] During the first year after the move, the Dodgers made $500,000 more profit than any other Major League Baseball team and paid off all of their debts.[57] This did not assuage many Dodgers fans in New York; many years later, newspaper writersPete Hamill andJack Newfield each challenged the other to choose the three worst people of the 20th century. Independently, they produced identical lists: "Hitler, Stalin, O'Malley."[70]
In the years following the move of the New York clubs, Major League Baseball added two completely new teams inCalifornia, as well as two inTexas, two in Canada, two inFlorida, one each in theTwin Cities,Denver, andPhoenix, and two teams at separate times inSeattle. In addition, theAthletics, who had already moved toKansas City, moved toOakland; Kansas City would geta new team the year after the A's moved to Oakland. The National League returned to New York with the introduction of theNew 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 withLos Angeles County and the state of California to rent theLos 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.[71] The Dodgers temporarily took up residence while they awaited the completion of 56,000-seat capacityDodger 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 in1959,1963, and1965. TheLos Angeles Angels also played in Dodger Stadium from 1962 to 1965.[72]
The dealings with the city of Los Angeles after the Vero Beach meeting raised questions. The initial offer of 500 acres (2.02 km2) andtax exemptions was determined to be illegal and improper.[50] The minor leagueSan Diego Padres owners led an opposition effort to stop the transfer of 352 acres (1.42 km2) inChavez Ravine via areferendum.[6] O'Malley engaged in an extensive marketing and media campaign that helped the referendum pass, but there were extensive subsequent taxpayerlawsuits.[73] Theplaintiffs initially prevailed in some of these suits.[74] Finally, during the middle of the 1959 season, theLos Angeles City Council was able to approve the final parcel for the stadium.[75]
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.[76] 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, whoseLos Angeles Angels andHollywood Stars suspended play.[77]
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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."[3] This is evidenced in many ways, including the long tenure of bothWalter Alston andTommy Lasorda as Dodgersmanagers andVin Scully, the broadcast voice of the Dodgers. Alston was repeatedly rehired to consecutive one-year contracts from 1954 to 1976 until he retired. Then Lasorda, who had been a long-time employee in as a coach andminor league baseball manager, took over as manager for another 20 years.[17] Scully was the voice of the Dodgers for 67 seasons until his retirement in 2016, theinfield offirst basemanSteve Garvey,second basemanDavey Lopes,shortstopBill Russell andthird basemanRon Cey was the longest-running intact infield in major league history.[17] Furthermore, O'Malley is said to have keptBowie Kuhn in office as theCommissioner of Baseball until O'Malley's death.[17] O'Malley rewarded loyal employee Bavasi by allowing theSan Diego Padres franchise to establish anexpansion team with Bavasi as president inSouthern California.[78] 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."[79] Although O'Malley had good stories of loyalty with some employees, there were several stories of O'Malley's frugality.[80]
Although O'Malley was loyal to his employees, he did not take kindly to demands from employees such as managerCharlie 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.[81] 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.[82] There were rumors that Alston even signed blank contracts in the fall and showed up in the spring to find out his salary.[82] O'Malley also did not support those who remained friends with Rickey, which was a large factor inRed Barber quitting as Dodgers announcer.[83]
O'Malley also engaged in several high-profile salary disputes with his players. In 1960, he refused to pay right fielderCarl 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.[84] In 1966,Sandy Koufax andDon Drysdale engaged in ajoint contract holdout.[85] They had earned $70,000 and $75,000 respectively during the 1965 season, during which the Dodgers won the World Series. Both wanted a raise, however, and held out jointly to get a fairer contract negotiation.[86] They demanded three-year $167,000 per year contracts and hired an agent, an entertainment lawyer namedJ. William Hayes, to negotiate on their behalf; at the time, both multi-year contracts and sports agents were highly unusual.[86] The pair held out until less than two weeks beforeOpening Day; they received one-year $125,000 and $110,000 contracts respectively.[85]
O'Malley liked clubhouse turmoil only slightly less thanfree agent disloyalty.[87] When he tradedMaury Wills to thePittsburgh Pirates following consecutive National League pennants, it was attributed to Wills having quit during the middle of the Dodgers' post-season tour of Japan, even though the shortstop only did so because his ailing knees needed rest.[88]
On March 17, 1970, Walter turned over the presidency of the team to his son Peter, remaining as chairman until his death in 1979.[89]Peter O'Malley held the position until 1998 when the team was sold toRupert Murdoch.[90] 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.[17]
During the 1970s, O'Malley was credited for stagemanaging Lasorda's career. Lasorda become known for his die-hard Dodgersclichés, such as describing the color of his blood by saying "Cut me, I bleedDodger blue."[91] It was even said that the reciprocal loyalty and respect between Lasorda and O'Malley was so high that O'Malley gave Lasorda atombstone as a gift that had an inscription that read "TOMMY LASORDA, A DODGER".[87]
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.[92] Also during 1975, the Dodgers franchise was embroiled in theAndy Messersmith controversy that led to theSeitz decision, which struck down baseball'sreserve clause and opened up the sport to modernfree agency. Messersmith and the Dodgers were unable to come to contract terms in part because of a then unheard ofno-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.[4] This gave owners the right to issue "take it or leave it" offers to the players.[4] 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.[4] The Seitz decision limited the re-signings to one year, and since Messersmith performed quite well in 1975, winning aGold Glove Award and leading the National League incomplete games andshutouts, while finishing second inearned run average, he was a valuable talent. He earned offers from six different teams.[4] Messersmith became the first free agent, except forCatfish Hunter who had been declared a 1974 free agent bybreach of contract. O'Malley felt the price wars would be the downfall of baseball because the fans only have so much money.[4] The scenario led to an eighteen-daylockout during spring training in 1976 over the prospect of dozens of players playing becoming free agents and the inability to redesign the reserve clause.[4]
On September 5, 1931, he married Katherine Elizabeth "Kay" Hanson (1907–79), whom he had dated since high school, atSaint Malachy's Roman Catholic Church inManhattan.[93] Kay had beendiagnosed withlaryngeal cancer in 1927 before the engagement and had to have herlarynx removed. She was unable to speak above a whisper the rest of her life.[1] Edwin O'Malley encouraged Walter to break off his engagement, and after Walter refused his parents did not attend the wedding.[7] The couple had two children:Therese "Terry" O'Malley Seidler (born 1933) andPeter O'Malley (born 1937).[94]
In 1944, he remodelled his parents'summer house inAmityville, New York and relocated his family there from Brooklyn.[95] The house was next door to the house Kay had grown up and where her parents lived.[95]
O'Malley was a smoker whogolfed occasionally, but more commonlygardened for recreation.[95] As a family man, he attended church regularly, attended Peter's football games at LaSalle Academy, and chaperoned his daughter's dances. On summer weekends, he took the family sailing on his boat, which was namedDodger.[96]
Later in life, the O'Malleys split their time between their homes inHancock Park, Los Angeles and inLake Arrowhead, California.[97]
O'Malley was diagnosed with cancer, and he sought treatment at theMayo Clinic inRochester, Minnesota.[98] He died ofcongestive heart failure on August 9, 1979, at the Methodist Hospital in Rochester.[1][99] O'Malley had never returned to Brooklyn before his death. He was buried atHoly Cross Cemetery inCulver City, California.[9][99] His wife Kay had died a few weeks earlier.[100]
Although O'Malley had later retired and had relinquished control of the Dodgers before his death, he remains hated in Brooklyn for moving the Dodgers to the West Coast.[101] At one time, Brooklyn Dodgers fans hated O'Malley so much that he was routinely mentioned along withAdolf Hitler andJoseph Stalin as the most villainous 20th-century men;[17] one version of a joke went, "If a Brooklyn man finds himself in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and O'Malley, but has only two bullets, what does he do? Shoot O'Malley twice."[69][102] Some still consider him among the worst three men of the 20th century.[103] Much of the animosity was not just for moving the team, but robbing Brooklyn of the sense of a cohesive cultural and social identity that a major sports franchise provides.[60][46] Despite the long-standing animosity of Brooklyn fans and their supporters in baseball, O'Malley was posthumously inducted into theNational Baseball Hall of Fame in2008 after having been elected by theVeterans Committee with the minimum number of votes necessary for induction.[3]
His legacy is that of changing the mindset of a league that had theSt. Louis Cardinals as the National League's southernmost and westernmost team (thePhiladelphia Athletics of the American League had moved further west toKansas City just three years prior).Tommy Lasorda said upon hearing of his election to the Hall, "He's a pioneer. He made a tremendous change in the game, opening up the West Coast to Major League Baseball."[3] When asked how he wanted to be remembered, O'Malley said, "for planting a tree."[3] The tree provided the branches to open up the West Coast to baseball, but O'Malley's son remembers his father's 28 years on Major League Baseball's executive council as service that "was instrumental in the early stages of the game's international growth."[3] His contributions to baseball were widely recognized even before his Hall of Fame election: he was ranked 8th and 11th respectively byABC Sports andThe Sporting News in their lists of the most influential sports figures of the 20th century.[60]
On July 7, 2009, Walter O'Malley was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame along with two other Dodger icons: sluggerSteve Garvey and announcerVin Scully.[104] "Over the years, we have learned more of his decade-long quest to build a new stadium in Brooklyn and about how those efforts were thwarted by city officials. Perhaps this induction will inspire fans who themselves started new lives outside the borough to reconsider their thoughts about Walter O'Malley", said John Mooney, curator of the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame. "He privately built one of baseball's more beautiful ballparks, Dodger Stadium, and set attendance records annually. While New York is the home of the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame, it seeks to honor inductees whose impact was and is national."
On August 10, 2024, O'Malley's name was added to the Dodgers' Ring of Honor, alongside the franchise's retired numbers and microphones.[105]
O'Malley was mentioned several times inDanny Kaye's 1962 song tribute "D-O-D-G-E-R-S (Oh, Really? No, O'Malley!)", which spins a tale of a fantasy game between the Dodgers and the Giants.[106] At one point, the umpire's call goes against the home team:
O'Malley was featured prominently in theHBO documentary filmBrooklyn Dodgers: Ghosts of Flatbush, which chronicled his executive management of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. The documentary focuses on the post World War II glory years of the franchise and presents a compelling case that O'Malley truly wanted to keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn in a stadium near theLong Island Rail Road'sAtlantic Terminal, but he was unable to get the proper support fromurban plannerRobert Moses.[102]
... the Board of Education and the New York Telephone Company. After the partnership dissolved, Walter O'Malley started WF O'Malley Engineering Company. ...
Under the ownership of Walter O'Malley, who became the National League's most influential owner, the Los Angeles Dodgers became the most prosperous and most stable franchise in major-league baseball.
| Business positions | ||
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| Preceded by | President of theBrooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers 1950–1970 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by position established | Chairman of theLos Angeles Dodgers 1970–1979 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| National | |
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