What if the O’Malley Family Still Owned the Dodgers?

December 3, 2020

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…

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The O’Malley’s Part 2 – Peter

December 2, 2020

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…

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The O’Malley’s Part One – Walter F. O’Malley

November 30, 2020

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…

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5 Out of 4 People Struggle With Math

November 28, 2020

There is still a lot of chatter that the Dodgers want Nolan Arenado, Francisco Lindor, or Trevor Bauer. I am of the opinion that at the start of the 2021 season, none of those players will be with the Dodgers. If the Dodgers were to trade for Lindor or Arenado, they would have to trade some pretty good prospects (actually… really, really good prospects) in order to get either one….

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Bill Buckner: Gamer or Goat

November 1, 2020

NOTE: I told you Rob Schelling aka/2demter2 would be back – little did I know how soon!— Mark Timmons Gamer:   A player who approaches the game with a tenacious, spirited attack and continues to play even when hurt; a competitor; a player who doesn’t make excuses. The term is a compliment, most especially when it comes from another player. Goat: one blamed for causing a failure or defeat, esp. in…

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2021 and Beyond… the Dynasty Continues

October 29, 2020

Dodger’s Offseason Plans The Dodgers won the World Series in 1988 and it only took thirty-two more years to win another Championship.  I guarantee the next ones (notice I did not say “one?”) will be much sooner. Dave Roberts and Andrew Friedman got the proverbial monkey off their backs and both can now rightly take their respective places as “baseball icons.” I do want to say a few things about…

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Perry

October 10, 2020

A few days ago the Dodger family lost Ron Perranoski. And Mark asked about his leaving on bad terms. So I did some research to check on that simply because I could not remember the circumstances of his leaving. Perry was born on April 1st, 1936 in Patterson, New Jersey. There is not much information on his Wikipedia page, but he grew up in the town of Fair Lawn, N.J….

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JIM LEFEBVRE

September 28, 2020

A week or two back, Jeff asked if I would be willing to write an article about Jim Lefebrve, the 1965 Rookie of the year 2nd baseman.   I jumped on the idea right away, as “Frenchy” was one of my favorite players when he was with the Dodgers.  I thought to myself that this should fairly easy, as there was sure to be much written about Lefebvre.  Surprisingly, however, despite…

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There Will Be Baseball in Ogden

September 14, 2020

First, a look back at baseball in Ogden which has maintained a small town atmosphere. The Ogden Raptors are the Dodgers’ Rookie League team in the Pioneer league. The Raptors are an advanced rookie team that became affiliated with the Dodgers in 2003. Prior to that, the Ogden team was an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. Ogden, with a population of about 83,000, claims to be the oldest settlement in…

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The Other Guys

September 13, 2020

As fans, we all know the stars of our teams, and today with the internet and all the media coverage, we know the rookies, the scrub beanies, and just about everyone else in the organization. Growing up, and learning the game, that was not the case. We found out in box scores, and those of us lucky enough to have a subscription, in the Sporting News. But for every star player, there was…

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