This Day in Walter O’Malley History:

  • In preparation for opening Holman Stadium at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, Walter O’Malley writes Bud Holman, the individual most responsible for attracting the Dodgers to train there beginning in 1948, “I am wondering if anything has been done to have the name plates made for the season box holders. It will take some time to have these names made. When your list is fairly complete so that we can give a sizeable order to the manufacturer please let us have it and ask someone to check to be sure that we have the names and spelling the way the people want it.”

  • In a letter, Walter O’Malley sends his best wishes to Dodger pitcher John Purdin, who is to be married in Florida that February. O’Malley had a particular fondness for Purdin, calling him “my boy” as the tall, slender hurler was “scouted” by the Dodger boss. Actually, a couple of Dodger fans wrote to O’Malley about Purdin, who had spent a tour of duty in the Air Force in Germany, and O’Malley convinced his scouts to sign the pitcher sight unseen in 1964. In the letter, O’Malley joked to Purdin, “It looks like they now have me scouting only hitters.”

  • Branch Rickey, former partner of Walter O’Malley and Dodger President from 1942-50, is elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Rickey and O’Malley, along with Andrew Schmitz, initially purchased 25 percent of the Dodger stock in 1944 and increased that with new partner John L. Smith to a total of 75 percent of the club’s shares of stock in 1945.