This Day in Walter O’Malley History: April 24

A group of 200 sportswriters and major league players attend the Hy Turkin Memorial Dinner at Toots Shor’s in honor of the former New York Daily News scribe. Walter O’Malley is one of the featured speakers, along with Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean, New York Giants Manager Bill Rigney and New York World-Telegram sportswriter Tom Meany.

At the unveiling ceremonies of a plaque commemorating the 1959 World Champion Dodgers, who played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, an error was discovered in the dates listed. Walter O’Malley, whose Dodgers played in the Coliseum from 1958-61, smiles about the mistake by the Coliseum Commission and poses for jovial press photos with Los Angeles County Supervisor, Fifth District Warren M. Dorn (who pretends to chisel out the erroneous wording) and Coliseum Manager Bill Nicholas.

Don Fair’s “Northwest Notes” column in The Oregonian describes his visit to new Dodger Stadium. “O’Malley has the finest stadium in existence. By comparison, San Francisco’s Candlestick Park is a cold, colorless clod of concrete, bobbing blissfully in a stiff breeze. The beauty of Chavez Ravine has been overshadowed by the drinking fountain controversy. As of Saturday night, there were at least nine fountains on the premises — one in each dugout, one in the press box, one in O’Malley’s private office and three in the stands. One public fountain, located opposite the third base line, was installed that day, and we can report the water was excellent. O’Malley maintains that in the rush to complete the stadium, the fountain situation resulted from pure oversight. Reputed Los Angeles newspapermen agree, and the Dodger boss is rapidly remedying the problem...Vivid colors were used to geographically decorate the park, and the scheme ties in with tickets and signs for parking areas. The colors, alone, make this an attractive spot for an athletic event...It’s Disneyland with a baseball diamond.”