This Day in Walter O’Malley History:
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In a letter to his father from Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana, senior Walter O’Malley writes, “A few weeks ago Culver gave an entertainment at the Union League Club and a number of alumni turned up, so the school is going to put out a booklet as a souvenir of the party. This will take the form of a letter from a cadet to his father, in which he tells all about the trip, advantages of Culver, its ideals, etc. and I am the cadet that has to write the letter. If I can find some time between now and Sunday I will get it done as the publicity man is getting rather impatient. Unless you have other plans I will continue meeting the requirements for the University of Penn. and there take the courses in arts and science which is the best PRE-MEDICAL OR PRE-LAW course that any eastern college can offer.”
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Walter O’Malley graces the cover of TIME, the weekly newsmagazine through famed news artist Boris Chaliapin’s rendering of him. The article “Walter in Wonderland” features O’Malley’s efforts to secure a temporary home park for the Dodgers and a look at the team’s future in Los Angeles. O’Malley is the first principal Major League Baseball owner to appear on the cover of TIME since Jacob Ruppert of the New York Yankees was featured on September 19, 1932. Charlie Finley of the Oakland A’s was the third and last principal baseball owner to appear on a TIME cover (August 18, 1975) last century.
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Speaking to members of the Los Angeles Food Brokers Club at their Biltmore Hotel luncheon, Walter O’Malley said that American League baseball is bound to make its way to California sooner or later. “When two teams in this city and San Francisco outdraw all others in the league combined, it’s got to come West,” said O’Malley. “And you won’t be able to keep major league baseball out of Minneapolis-St. Paul, and certain Texas cities.” Rube Samuelsen, The Sporting News, April 29, 1958
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Jeane Hoffman, executive assistant to Walter O’Malley, sends a memo to all Dodger Department Heads informing them that it “looks like we’ll have a different kind of ‘pitch’ and a new style of delivery out on the mound...We have been negotiating with Bob Eubanks, independent promoter and TV-Radio personality, over the possibility of the BEATLES performing at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night, August 28th. Although the contract has not yet been signed, we anticipate the ink-drying in the near future, then all of you can take cover from your nearest teen-age relatives. We will keep you posted on the latest communiqués from the Beatle-front.”
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Actor Cary Grant, who was on the Board of Directors for perfume company Fabergé, writes a letter to Walter and Peter O’Malley regarding miniature perfume bottles he is generously supplying to Walter’s private box to distribute when a Dodger player hits a home run. Grant is all alliteration as he writes, “Dear Walter, Dear Peter, Forgot! Forgot!! Fabergé for fraternizing friendly fans following fine fabulous home-runs! Fondly, Cary.” In his P.S., he writes, “There’s more to come, so please distribute it quickly.”
