This Day in Walter O’Malley History:
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Walter O’Malley greets Mayor Vincent Impellitteri of New York City at the Dodger office at 215 Montague Street in Brooklyn. Impellitteri was the 101st Mayor of New York from 1950-53 and assumed office after William O’Dwyer resigned his office. Impellitteri was defeated for re-election by Robert Wagner in 1953.
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A New Year celebration starts a little early when the 1955 World Series film showing the Brooklyn Dodgers’ first-ever World Championship is premiered after a luncheon at Toots Shor’s restaurant in New York. Sports photographer Lew Fonseca presents a gold wrapped film of the 1955 World Series to Walter O’Malley, while Baseball Commissioner Ford C. Frick is also in attendance. At the end of the screening, O’Malley said, “Thank heavens, that’s over. I was just beginning to worry whether we could make it again (to the championship).” Dodger catcher and 1955 National League MVP Roy Campanella said, “An utterly delightful film.” Arthur Daley, The New York Times, December 30, 1955
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The O’Malley family — Walter, his wife Kay, daughter Terry and son Peter — all born and bred in New York State, head west to Los Angeles on a 12:30 p.m. flight, noted in Walter O’Malley’s appointment book.
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The Las Vegas Sun carries a photo on Page 2 of Walter O’Malley with Sen. Warren Magnuson (D-WA.), William Stern, GOP National Committee representative from North Dakota and Sen. George Smathers (D-FL.) who were in Vegas en route to the Rose Bowl game in Pasadena. Las Vegas Sun, December 30, 1959
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The Citizen-News in Hollywood runs a Page 1 feature written by Walter O’Malley about the blossoming Southern California sports scene for 1961 called “Historic Year Foreseen For West Coast Sports”. O’Malley writes of the Dodgers support, “There are some who forecast a gloomy picture for promoters of sports in this area. They warn of the stretching of the entertainment dollar. When the Dodgers drew 1,800,000 fans to their opening season in 1958, cynics pictured this outpouring of fans as the result of hysteria for something new. It was predicted that the Dodgers would soon drop back to a normal annual ‘draw’ of something under 1,500,000. Even when the club attracted more than 2,000,000 fans and topped the 1959 season with three all-time record crowds of 92,000-plus at the World Series there were those who said ‘it won’t last.’ So, last year, the Dodgers played to a new National League attendance record of 2,253,019. We’re proud of these records. The increase in attendance clearly indicates that we have made many friends out here. And they have been truly faithful fans, willing to follow the Dodgers in winning seasons, as well as less successful campaigns. It is the sort of support which deserves nothing but the best and to this the Dodgers are dedicated. Already, we have ‘plowed back’ more than $2,000,000 in bonuses to players who will be the stars of the Dodger future...We will field, in 1961, one of the youngest teams in Dodger history and it is a club reminiscent of the Dodgers of post-war 1947 which began an era of dominance unparalleled in the league’s history. Beginning with 1947 and continuing through 1959, the Dodgers won pennants in ’47, ’49, ’52, ’53, ’55, ’56 and ’59, finished in a tie in ’51, were out of the first division only in ’58 and, in a composite league standing over those seasons, would have been 80 1/2 games ahead of the closest rival.” Citizen News, December 29, 1960
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Jeane Hoffman, Assistant to President Walter O’Malley, informs Dodger personnel in a memorandum of the 50-man strong (and loud) Tenrikyo Marching Band from Tokyo, Japan which will be practicing in Dodger Stadium parking lots 23-25 in preparation for the Rose Parade in Pasadena on January 1, 1966.
