The O Malley s Part One Walter F. O Malley

From 1950 to 1998 there was one constant with the Dodgers. Ownership. Walter Francis O’Malley took control of the team as it’s primary stockholder and owner in 1950. Branch Rickey’s contract was expiring in October of that year. He had purchased a 25% ownership of the team in 1944. Rickey and John L. Smith were also part owners as were the heirs of McKeever who had owned the team with Charles Ebbets.

So when Smith died in July of 1950, O’Malley convinced his widow to turn over control of his shares to the Brooklyn Trust Company which was controlled by O’Malley in his job as chief counsel for them. Through some complicated negotiations with Rickey, O’Malley gained controlling interest and took over the team. He immediately replaced Rickey with Buzzie Bavasi.

Walter Francis O’Malley was born on the 9th of October, 1903 in the Bronx in NY City. His father was Edwin Joseph O’Malley, and his mother was Alma Fettner.

His dad worked as a cotton goods salesman in the Bronx and later became Commissioner of Public Markets for the City of New York. O’ Malley grew up a New York Giants fan. He frequently would go to the Polo Grounds and attend games with his uncle.

O’Malley was a boy scout who eventually rose to the rank of Star Scout. He went to Jamaica High School in the Bronx and also Culver Academy in Indiana. After that he went to the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1926. His father gave him a cabin cruiser that slept 8 as a graduation gift.

He originally enrolled at Columbia University in New York to study law, but when his family lost their money in the crash in 29, he enrolled at Fordham University’s night school. His dad’s business was failing, and he had to help out.

In September of 1931 he married his high school sweetheart, Katherine Hanson, who was nicknamed Kay. They had 2 children, Therese O’Malley Seidler, born in 1933 and Peter, born in 1937. Kay had been diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in 1927 and had her larynx removed. She could not speak above a whisper the rest of her life.

Walter enjoyed golf, but his main relaxation was gardening. He remodeled his family’s summer home in Amityville NY and the family relocated there in 1944. Kay’s parents lived in the house next door.

After he got his law degree in 1930, he went to work as an assistant engineer for the NYC Subway. This was during the depression so getting a job with a law firm so he could obtain his clerkship was hard as no one could afford to pay him. Using his dad’s political connections, the company he worked for got contracts with the NYC phone company and Board of Education to perform geological survey’s.

Soon he started his own Engineering company and published the Subcontractors Register with his uncle Joseph. Walter eventually concentrated on his law practice working on wills and deeds. By 1933 he was the senior partner in the Midtown Manhattan Law firm. During the depression, O’Malley represented bankrupt businesses and got rich by wisely investing in some of these companies. These included some hotels and a beer business. He was beginning to be noticed by the powers that be in Brooklyn.

He caught the eye of the President of the Brooklyn Trust Company, George V. McLaughlin. George knew O’Malley’s dad and had attended A’s games with him when he was in Pennsylvania. He hired Walt to administer foreclosures against failing businesses for the trust company. He earned McLaughlin’s trust by being a man of all trades including bodyguard and chauffeur.

It just so happened that the trust company owned the estate of one Charles Ebbets who had died in 1925 and owned half of the Dodgers. In 1933 Walter was chosen to protect the company’s financial interests in the Dodgers. Walter was also McLaughlin’s designated driver since he drank pretty hard.

It was through this relationship that he was brought into the financial arrangements for Ebbets Field in 1940. When McPhail resigned to join the Army in 42, Walt was assigned to be the Dodgers attorney and obtained a minority interest of 25% in 1944.

He was usually at odds with Rickey as Branch was a non-drinker and Walt freely drank and loved cigars. There were philosophical differences in how the team should be run. O’Malley thought Rickey was too extravagant. He put pressure on Rickey to fire Durocher who he saw as a drain on attendance. He would also make fun of Rickey when he was at parties with his political friends.

And he was using a columnist, Jimmy Powers to spearhead his smear campaign. Powers worked for the NY Daily News. It got so bad that after the 1946 season, each player got a new Studebaker from Rickey which gave O’Malley ammunition for the press. He thought the construction of the Dodgers Florida home, Dodgertown, was extravagant. He fought the team’s beer sponsor and demanded that players return their 1947 World Series rings before they got the new ones Rickey had ordered.

He did play a role in the search for the first player to break the color barrier, but just how big of a roll is disputed by both sides. It all came to a head beginning in the summer of 1950. And eventually O’Malley bought Rickey out and took control of the team becoming majority owner and president.

As stated earlier Bavasi took over for Rickey After the takeover, the rivalry and feud became very public. O’Malley forbade the use of Rickey’s name in the office and transgressors faced a fine.  When Rickey took over the Pirates O’Malley removed them from the Dodgers spring schedule.

He also fought the congressman who was trying to investigate whether the reserve clause violated the federal anti-trust laws. He also tried to get General Douglas MacArthur to take the post of Commissioner of baseball.

O’Malley did not have the same respect for Jackie Robinson that Rickey did. He often referred to him as Rickey’s prima donna. Robinson in turn did not like O’Malley’s choice for manager, Walter Alston. Robbie liked to argue with umpires and Alston rarely did that. Robbie derided Alston in the press. When in 55 Alston used Hoak at 3rd for most of the exhibition season, Robinson went to the press with his complaints.

Robinson did not like Bavasi either. So his 3 seasons under Alston were very uncomfortable for him and he ended up retiring after the 1956 season, even though he had been traded to the Giants.

Walt wanted to move out of Ebbets Field into a modern facility. He had plans drawn up for the new park. Ebbets only held a little over 32,000 fans.

He had a couple of problems. There was an exodus of white fans from Brooklyn. Most were relocating to Long Island as the borough became less middle class. He had Koufax signed because not only was he Brooklyn born, but he was Jewish, and Brooklyn had a large Jewish community.

In order to get his new park he needed to have the blessing of Robert Moses. He wanted the park to be in Brooklyn. His vision was a domed stadium near the Long Island RR station on Brooklyn’s west end.

Moses unfortunately did not like O’Malley and derided his pro-Brooklyn and pro-Irish sentiments in the press. Moses wanted the Dodgers to move to Flushing Meadows Park, where the Mets would eventually build Shea. And although he mustered some heavy clout, Moses blocked the sale of the land.

So, O’Malley bought Wrigley’s PCL franchise, the LA Angels and Wrigley Field giving the Dodgers the rights to the territory. He took notice of the Braves success after moving from Boston to Milwaukee and having a 43,000 seat stadium, parking for 10,000 cars and an arrangement for no city or real estate taxes.

So he decided to leave Brooklyn for LA in 1957. He convinced Horace Stoneham to move the Giants to San Francisco and continue their rivalry. Stoneham had been considering moving the Giants to Minneapolis. The two teams moving to the same state allowed for opposing teams to have better scheduling than just going west to play just one team.

The meetings he arranged were against the wishes of the commissioner, Ford Frick. He met with Norris Poulson the mayor of LA, and a deal was worked out to rent the LA Coliseum for 200,000 per year plus 10% of the ticket revenue while they awaited the completion of the 56,000 seat Dodger Stadium.

The move disheartened the Fans of Brooklyn and the Giants. He was vilified by most of their fan base. Ultimately the move was needed. Moses’ refusal to allow the sale of the land needed for the new stadium was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Had he let the land be purchased, the Dodgers might never have moved, and the Angels would have been LA’s first franchise.

To this day many Dodger fans still dislike O’Malley. I know this for a fact since my best friend was born and raised in Brooklyn and he has never forgiven Walter for moving the team. He also pretty much quit following baseball when they moved.

Nothing is left in Brooklyn of course. The memories of the fans are about the only legacy in Brooklyn. Most fans embraced the Mets when they were formed.

As for what transpired during his run as President of the Dodgers, they became the league’s leader in attendance almost every season up until he retired and turned the team over to Peter in 1979. They have been hugely successful on the field. Dodger Stadium now 58 years old is as functional and glamorous as it was when it opened. O’Malley built a power house franchise and got very rich doing it.

He was considered a forward thinking business man who made the most of his opportunities. He was very respected in the baseball community. Some fans though, not too much.

His tenure was steeped in controversy more than a few times especially regarding the land deal he made with the city. The battle to get Chavez Ravine was not pretty. O’Malley’s money helped push the referendum through. He attempted to buy out the contract of Shigeo Nagashima of the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants from their owner when those things were not done. O’Malley refused to pay Carl Furillo his salary for the 1960 season after he was released due to injury, which was against the rules anyway. So Furillo sued the team, and O’Malley blacklisted him allegedly from any job in baseball.

He believed in stability and little turnover, which is evidenced by the long tenures of Alston, Lasorda, and Scully. He had immense power in the league and was instrumental in keeping Bowie Kuhn in office and letting Bavasi become President of the Padres. He also was pretty loyal to his employees but was not one to give in to demands, which explains why he let Charlie Dressen go after he had won 2 pennants in a row and demanded a 3 year deal. There were also many who thought of him as being very frugal.

His dislike for those who remained friends with Rickey can be witnessed by the fact that Red Barber, the longtime announcer quit because of that. He also felt employees should be satisfied with whatever salary they were offered, and that led to the 1966 holdout of Koufax and Drysdale.

They both eventually signed for significant raises over their 65 salaries. But Koufax retired after the 66 season. His arm just was in bad shape and he did not want to risk permanent damage. He also had Wills traded because he left the team during a tour of Japan after the 66 season.

On March 17th, St Patty’s day in 1970, Walt turned control of the team over to his son, Peter. He remained as chairman until his death in 1979.

He was a huge fan of Tommy Lasorda and sort of stage managed his career rise. His respect for Tommy was so high he gave him a tombstone as a gift that read. TOMMY LASORDA, A DODGER.

O’Malley was diagnosed with cancer and sought treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota Same place where Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS. He died on the 9th of August and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City. Kay had died earlier in July of that year.

The Dodgers were his legacy. But there was a time when he was so hated in Brooklyn that he was routinely mentioned along with Hitler and Stalin. There were many jokes about him, one was, A Brooklyn man finds himself in a room with Hitler, Stalin and O’Malley but only has 2 bullets. What does he do? Shoot O’Malley twice was the answer.

During his tenure, the Dodgers were like family. They were the first team to have their own plane, a Lockheed Electra called the Kay O. And later they had their own jet, the Kay O II.

Walter was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2008. He received the minimum amount of votes necessary for election. He was elected by the Veteran’s committee. Seems even after death he was not all that popular.