9 posts
Thirty years ago, the San Francisco Giants were in the midst of making their biggest free agent signing in franchise history. Barry Bonds, then 28 years old and coming off his second MVP season, would be signed to a then-massive $44 million, six-year contract that brought him to…
We are going to take a look back at all the former owners of the Dodgers. Not in depth, but just a glimpse at the evolvement of the team. Most of them, you know at least something about; others, not so much. Ferdinand Abell Ferdinand Abell and Charles Byrne were the two main…
Since moving to Los Angeles in 1958, the Dodgers have had some very good seasons, some bad ones, some simply good, and one God awful season. 1992. What happened to this team to make it lose 99 games? That is by far, the most in LA Dodger history. The Los Angeles Dodgers have lost 90 games or more twice, 92, and 2005. Brooklyn lost 100 or more twice. LA also
Michael Norris (aka Bear) has written two excellent pieces the past two days on the history of the Dodgers, specifically, the O Malley s ownership of the team until it was sold to Fox Group in late 1997. It was approved in overwhelmingly by MLB owners in March 1998. Peter O Malley said the primary reason for selling the Dodgers was estate planning, but Tommy Lasorda said the following: I think that Peter
Peter O Malley was born on the 12th of December 1937 in Brooklyn, New York. We all know who his parents were. He spent his childhood as a child of privilege. His dad s success allowing the family comforts many of the citizens did not enjoy due to the depression. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. And then from the Wharton School of Business in 1960. Peter s first job with the
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
May 14, 1998 started as a very special day in my household. It was my oldest son’s 18th birthday. We had some special plans to celebrate his birthday, once he finished with his school day. The big news of the day was that Frank Sinatra had died. Sad news certainly, but not anything that affected our family in any significant way. That afternoon, by the time I went to my
Bill Veeck, Charlie Finley, George Steinbrenner were examples of owners that were bigger than life and wanted nothing more than to win (and put on a show). Walter O’Malley was cut from the same cloth. Peter was more of a pragmatic businessman who knew he could not spend to stay in the game, and got out. None of those early owners would let MLB tell them how to spend their
Yes, I did when it was announced that he was buying the Dodgers from a Fortune 500 Company who ran them like a drunken sailor runs on the deck of a ship in a hurricane. See, FOX had no clue they even traded away Mike Piazza among many other blunders too numerous and painful to count. I was excited to see the Dodger bought by a little guy who
