The Seidler family from the mid-1980s, Back row (L-R): Tom, John, Rollie, Terry, Michael. Front row (L-R): Bob, Peter, Jeannie (in front of Peter), Carol, Annie, Mary Kay and Matt.
Terry O’Malley Seidler: Love for Family and Baseball
By baseball standards, Terry O’Malley Seidler has always managed her own team. That’s just the way it is when you are the mother of 10 children. While parenting can be a full-time job, gracious and cheerful Terry always made time for many other activities – including ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers with her brother Peter!
(L-R): Peter O’Malley; Terry O’Malley Seidler. Peter O’Malley and his sister Terry take in a Los Angeles Dodger exhibition game at Holman Stadium, Dodgertown, Vero Beach, Florida, circa 1990s.
Terry O’Malley Seidler and Peter O’Malley at the Walter O’Malley bronze plaque presentation in the “Coliseum Court of Honor”, Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Los Angeles Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California.
© Jon SooHoo/2008
Her father was Walter O’Malley, the visionary Baseball Hall of Fame executive who was Dodger President from 1950-70 and Dodger Chairman of the Board (1970-1979). He became part owner in 1944. As a young girl, Terry attended Dodger games at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn with her two grandfathers – Edwin J. O’Malley, former New York City Commissioner of Public Markets, and Peter B. Hanson, judge in Brooklyn Domestic Relations Court – and a lifelong love of baseball began. She recalls attending the 1941 World Series as an eight-year-old.
“The earliest recollection goes back to 1941 when Brooklyn first played the Yankees in the World Series,” she said. “Pop thought I was too young to make my debut at the ball park. But you should have seen his face when he came home! That was the afternoon when (catcher) Mickey Owen dropped a third strike (in the ninth inning which led to the Yankees coming back to win Game 4, 7-4, and then the World Series in five games).”
Because of Walter’s involvement with the Dodgers, she grew up around the game and became friends with many of its greatest personalities, from Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and Gil Hodges to Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Carl Erskine, and broadcaster Vin Scully.
(L-R): Peter O’Malley, Sandi Scully, Vin Scully, Annette O’Malley, Terry O’Malley Seidler attend the Professional Baseball Scouts Awards Dinner on January 15, 2011 at the Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles.
Terry Seidler with Dodger World Series MVP Orel Hershiser during the 1993 Dodger Friendship Series to Taiwan and Japan. The Dodgers played three games in Taipei, Taiwan (Oct. 29-31), before moving on to Fukuoka, Japan for two games.
On July 26, 1998, longtime Dodger pitcher Don Sutton (center) holds his Baseball Hall of Fame induction plaque with Terry O’Malley Seidler and Peter O’Malley on the grounds of the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown, New York. Sutton holds the career record for wins in Dodger history with 233.
Besides her countless friendships within baseball, Terry’s passion for the game has been evident for decades as she shares her extensive knowledge of its history, teaching her children and grandchildren how to keep score while attending games or on TV, and watching the players as a fan.
An Ivory Soap advertisement with Terry O’Malley featured as the model baby in color taking a bubble bath. The advertisement ran in many national magazines. This 1934 ad is from The Saturday Evening Post.
Terry O’Malley was elected freshman class president at the College of New Rochelle, New York in 1950. Photo circa early 1950s.
Terry O’Malley enjoyed participating in many sports in high school and college. She is ice skating near her home in Amityville, New York, circa 1950.
Photo by Peter O’Malley. All Rights Reserved.
Terry attended grammar school at Froebel Academy, Brooklyn and graduated from St. Francis Xavier Academy in Brooklyn. Terry captained her high school basketball team and was involved in multiple sports, student council and club activities. Terry excelled next at the College of New Rochelle, New York, where she was elected freshman class president and Mission Queen as a senior, played basketball and softball and was a member of the student council in 1953-1954. Raised in Amityville, Long Island, New York, she enjoyed hobbies ranging from ice skating to swimming and sailboat racing. Terry was a member of the Narrasketuck Yacht Club, where she won many races and first prize in seamanship. After graduating from college in 1954, she served as executive secretary for the Dodgertown Summer Camp for Boys in Vero Beach, Florida for three summers.
Dodger photographers Barney Stein (left) and Herb Scharfman (second from left) join Walter O’Malley and Terry O’Malley touring Dodgertown, Vero Beach, Florida, during Spring Training, 1955.
A newspaper clipping from February 6, 1956 with Terry O’Malley (left) and Dodger front office employee Jeanne Grammatico examining a dome stadium model as a prototype for a new baseball stadium in Brooklyn to replace aging Ebbets Field.
Terry O’Malley and her mother Kay are in front of the Kamakura Daibutsu (Great Buddha), a day trip outside of Tokyo, believed to be built in the 13th Century and weighs an estimated 121 tons. They were part of the Dodger traveling party for the 1956 Goodwill Tour to Japan.
(L-R): Unidentified youth; Walter O’Malley; Terry O’Malley Seidler; Rollie Seidler. Dodger President Walter O’Malley is with daughter Terry O’Malley Seidler and new son-in-law Rollie Seidler on the Seidler’s wedding day of October 4, 1958 at St. Therese Church in Alhambra, California. The officiating priest was Cardinal James McIntyre of Los Angeles.
Upon the Dodgers’ 1958 arrival in Los Angeles, Terry worked as personal secretary for her father. While the Dodgers struggled in their first season in Los Angeles, as destiny would have it, Terry met her future husband at the May 4, 1958 Dodgers-Phillies doubleheader at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Terry was introduced to business leader Roland Seidler, Jr., the man who organized “St. Therese Parish Day” at the game. The two were married October 4 that year and started their large family. They celebrated 47 years together until Roland (Rollie) passed on June 8, 2006.
(L-R): Terry Seidler holding John Seidler; Capt. Emil Praeger, engineer who helped O’Malley design and plan Dodger Stadium; Walter O’Malley holding grandson Peter Seidler; and Kay O’Malley. On April 12, 1962, the O’Malley family and Capt. Emil Praeger joyously mark the completion of Dodger Stadium with a bronze plaque dedication ceremony on the Top Deck behind home plate. The items held by Walter O’Malley will be part of a sealed time capsule on the history of the Dodgers.
Roland and Terry Seidler with their children (front to back) Carol, Peter, Michael, Mary Kay, John and Bob at the Dodger Stadium President’s Box in 1968.
The Seidler family circa early 1970s: (L-R) Back row – Annie, Rollie, John, Terry and Tom. (L-R) Front row – Mike, Mary Kay, Bob, Carol and Peter.
Beginning in 1978, Terry served on the Dodgers Board of Directors. Terry was named secretary of the Dodgers Board of Directors in 1981, continuing in that role through 1998. The Dodgers won World Championships in 1981 and 1988 while she was a member of the board. During that time, the Dodgers were the only sports organization to receive recognition on three occasions as one of Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work for in America.” The first time they were named in the book of the same name was in 1984, and were included on the list of 100 in 1993 and again in 1997.
(L-R): Terry O’Malley Seidler; Peter O’Malley. On Opening Day, April 10, 2012, the 50th anniversary of Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, Terry O’Malley Seidler threw the ceremonial first pitch, following the role of her mother Kay, who had thrown the first pitch at Dodger Stadium 50 years earlier to the day. Peter accompanied his sister Terry to the pitcher’s mound.
On the 50th Anniversary of the opening of Dodger Stadium, Terry was honored by the Dodgers to throw the ceremonial first pitch on April 10, 2012. She was accompanied to the pitcher’s mound by her brother Peter, the former President of the Dodgers from 1970-1998. Their mother Kay threw the ceremonial first pitch to break the seal on Dodger Stadium’s inaugural Opening Day, April 10, 1962.
In 2012, the Seidler and O’Malley families with partners purchased the San Diego Padres. Terry’s son Peter Seidler represented the family and was longtime chairman and CEO. He died in 2023, leaving behind a revered legacy throughout the greater San Diego community.
Terry’s enthusiasm and boundless energy has enabled her to serve on many community boards, find time to be a Pasadena American Little League manager and aid countless charities. Her deep commitment and service to the Catholic Church is unparalleled.
Not only has Terry’s love of baseball endured throughout the years, but her thoughtfulness and love for others has too.