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| Introduction |
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| The Early Years |
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| Entering The... |
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| The Dodger Saga |
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| A New Era Begins |
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| Ebbets Field Revisited |
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| The Memorable... |
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| Searching for New... |
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| L.A. Sends a Message |
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| This is Next Year! |
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| Putting Their Domes... |
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| The Political Game |
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| 1957 |
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| Los Angeles Bound |
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| Where to Play in L.A. |
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| Curveball Right... |
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| Page 55 |
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| Page 56 |
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| Page 57 |
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| Page 58 |
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| The Red Head is a... |
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| 1959: A Year of... |
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| Home Sweet Home |
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| Construction of... |
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| L.A.'s Sparkling New... |
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| 1963: A Taxing Year... |
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| The Business of.. |
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| Growing the Game... |
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| Moving to Chairman... |
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| The Last Inning |
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| Curveball Right Down the Middle |
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Battered but not bloodied, O’Malley had taken everything thrown his way in stride. Although he had plenty of solid support in Los Angeles, O’Malley found that the political atmosphere and obstacles were equally challenging as the decade he had spent in New York trying to build a stadium there, locked in horns with Moses, Wagner, Abe Stark, Chester Allen, et al. Now, only the names had been changed to John Holland, Earle Baker, Harold Henry, Patrick McGee, San Diego’s Smith brothers, and attorney Phill Silver, to name a few. But, the next curveball thrown his way was one that almost caused him to strike out in Los Angeles.
A major hiccup in the new stadium process occurred when a coalition to oppose the city’s ordinance to approve the contract for Chavez Ravine emerged. The opposition had to muster some 51,767 qualified signatures on a petition to force a vote of the electors on the referendum known as “Proposition B.” But, they did, meaning a public vote could have destroyed O’Malley’s longtime dream. “I was not aware of a thing called a referendum,” said O’Malley. “We don’t have them in New York.”92 A “Yes” vote meant that the contract with the Dodgers and the city would be approved, while a “No” vote meant the previously signed city contract would be rejected. The city went to bat for the Dodgers, granting their request to select the letter “B” for the proposition to remind voters of baseball.
O’Malley issued a lengthy press release on May 26, 1958 recapping all of the ways that the Dodgers had acted in good faith in moving west, stating the following:
“The National League does have the right to move the franchise BUT I shall fight any such attempt with all my strength. The players and our staff want to stay in Los Angeles. We like the location, the weather, the fans and the attendance records. We plan to be in Los Angeles PERMANENTLY. I pledge myself to try to keep major league baseball here.
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