This Day in Walter O’Malley History:
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Walter O’Malley was named Dodger President and majority owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers after he and Mrs. John L. Smith purchased 25 percent of Branch Rickey’s stock. At the time, O’Malley owned 37 1/2 percent of the shares of Dodger stock, equaling Mrs. Smith, while the other 25 percent was owned by Mrs. Dearie McKeever Mulvey. Branch Rickey resigned as Dodger President, while the boards of the Brooklyn National League Baseball Club and the Ebbets-McKeever Exhibition Company elected O’Malley to succeed Rickey. O’Malley, 47, immediately promoted E.J. “Buzzie” Bavasi as Vice President and General Manager, and Fresco Thompson as Vice President and Director of Minor League Operations.
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George Kirksey of the Public Relations firm of George Kirksey and Associates in Houston writes a letter to Walter O’Malley regarding his support of the National League expansion team in Houston. “It seems appropriate to convey to you how much we appreciate your confidence in electing Houston and our group to membership in the National League,” writes Kirksey. “From now on we will strive with might and main to justify that confidence. We are already at work trying to build a firm foundation for the future. It is our view that we must build immediately the best possible front office. When we have done that, we will then go into the free agency field to get the best talent we can find. We are going to be competitive at that point, but I know you wouldn’t want it any other way.”
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Walter O’Malley serves as master of ceremonies for the Annual Dinner of the Southern California Chapter of The Arthritis and Rheumatism Foundation in the Crystal Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Two days later, Foundation Chairman Emmett C. McGaughey thanks O’Malley in a letter stating, “Your contribution not only added to the smoothness of the program, but gave it an ‘entertainment’ value often lacking in primarily medical agendas of this nature. At any rate, please accept my personal appreciation of a job well done!”
