This Day in Walter O’Malley History:

  • A young home run hitter of the Talmudical Academy team, who was playing softball in a vacant lot across the street from Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, banged a towering drive into the left field stands. Walter O’Malley presented the slugger with the funds to buy himself a new softball as a replacement for the one that flew into Ebbets Field (possibly marking a first in its 39-year history). Washington Post, April 4, 1952

  • Days after the announcement that the old barracks at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida were to be torn down in favor of new, modern villas in the future, Jim Murray writes a column in the Los Angeles Times stating in part, “Tear down this relic of America’s storied past? I should say not. If (General) Sherman didn’t destroy this hallowed pile of lumber, why should (Walter) O’Malley? Don’t tell me about modernity. Vero Beach had all the modern inconveniences. You had running water...The showers were such that you either couldn’t turn them on or you couldn’t turn them off. The windows stuck open in cold weather and wedged shut in hot weather...Now, I suppose they’ll have air-conditioning that comes from a machine instead of a hole in the roof. And whatever will the insects do? How are they going to live where they can’t get through the screens? We want history, tradition, not room service.” Even the Dodger players and O’Malley himself started a “Save the Barracks” campaign. But, the investment and development in Dodgertown by the O’Malley family continued, the villas replaced the old barracks in 1972. Jim Murray, Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1969

  • Leonard Koppett, baseball columnist for The Sporting News writes of Walter O’Malley’s desire to expand baseball’s playoff system to more than just division champions. “It seems that Walter O’Malley has suggested baseball adopt a system of six, four-team divisions similar to football’s with eight teams involved in a pre-World Series playoff among six divisional leaders and two wild-card second-place teams. Leonard Koppett, The Sporting News, April 3, 1971  Major League Baseball adopted the system of six division champions and one wild-card team from each league participating in two playoffs before the World Series for the 1994 season, but it was initiated in the 1995 season.

  • Former Dodger star pitcher Don Drysdale visits Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida as a spring pitching coach and a television broadcaster for the Montreal Expos. The dominating right-hander won 209 games in his career and was preparing to enter the Los Angeles clubhouse to greet friends when he was spotted by Walter O’Malley. “You can’t go in there,” said O’Malley. “You haven’t signed your contract yet!” Drysdale laughed at the remark and told O’Malley, “I’m ready (to sign).” O’Malley had the last word, “What about Koufax?” he asked kiddingly, referring to the unprecedented joint holdout by Drysdale and Koufax for a $1 million contract in 1966. Ross Newhan, The Sporting News, April 3, 1971