This Day in Walter O’Malley History:
-
The Dodgers invite outstanding mile runner Les MacMitchell to instruct the 1952 team on quick starts and sprints. According to The Sporting News, in order for MacMitchell to “retain his amateur standing, (he) will work without salary.” Two years later, Walter O’Malley hired the former New York University track star to direct the all-sports Dodgertown Camp for Boys in Vero Beach, Florida.
-
The Dodgers announce the sale of left-hand pitcher Tom Lasorda from their Montreal Royals farm club to the Kansas City Athletics in the American League. Dodger President Walter O’Malley says the club received cash and also will get a minor league player to be named at a later date. Lasorda subsequently would return to the Dodger organization as a scout, minor league manager, major league coach and eventually take over as major league manager in 1977. Brooklyn Daily, February 28, 1956
-
An announcement six days earlier that the Dodgers exchanged their Ft. Worth team for the Los Angeles Angels in the Pacific Coast League and territorial rights for L.A. sparked former Dodger Manager and player Leo Durocher to write to Walter O’Malley. “You really took Los Angeles by storm. I never saw a city with as much enthusiasm as was shown here on the day it was announced that you had purchased the Los Angeles franchise. Everywhere I went people were asking me (as if I knew) - would the Dodgers be here in 1958. The only answer I could give them was the same thing I have been saying all along — when Los Angeles provides the facilities I am sure a Major League club will then make a move, and not before. There is no question in my mind about attendance that could be had here when Major League ball does come.”
-
Writing an open letter for the Special Dodger Section in the Vero Beach Press Journal, Walter O’Malley notes, “This is the tenth anniversary of the founding of the finest baseball camp in major league history. Here, over the last decade, the Dodgers have trained not only their ‘big club’ but all their minor league youngsters as well. At peak activity as many as 500 boys are at work here on the many baseball diamonds, in the batting cages and on the various practice fields and mechanical devices. No other club in the majors trains ALL its men in the same spring camp. The success of our Vero Beach operation is shown in the wonderful record of the Dodgers over the post-war era. Six pennants, three seconds and two thirds have resulted since teams returned to full strength after World War II — and most of these springs have been right here in your beautiful Indian River County.”
-
At Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, Walter O’Malley announces that construction for Dodger Stadium, which may get underway by April 1, will be such that a 700-foot dome may be fitted at any time. “I know Southern California is the last area in the world that such a dome is needed for a ballpark,” said O’Malley. “But this is a hangover from my New York plans.” He said it might be five or even 10 years down the road that the dome would be added. “Maybe never. But I am spending a substantial amount making provisions for its addition. It definitely is in my permanent planning.” Bob Hunter, Los Angeles Examiner, February 28, 1959 The cost was estimated at nearly $3 million for the covering to be made of two-inch thick concrete with translucent panels. It would be as high as the 27th floor of City Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
-
Reese Taylor, Chairman of the Board of Union Oil Company and President of the Youth Tennis Foundation of Southern California, sends a letter of appreciation to Walter O’Malley for his contribution in support of the Foundation.
