This Day in Walter O’Malley History:
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Walter and Kay O’Malley, along with daughter Terry and son Peter, attend the 50th wedding anniversary celebration for Judge and Mrs. Peter B. Hanson. The dinner party is held at the home of Hanson’s son-in-law Henry J. Walsh. Judge Hanson and his wife Elizabeth were Kay Hanson O’Malley’s parents. Walsh served as attorney and executive secretary for the Dodgers.
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Franklin D. Murphy, Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles sends a congratulatory letter to Walter O’Malley stating, “Simply as a citizen who believes strongly that Los Angeles is in the process of growing from just a big city to a great city, I want you to know that I think you have contributed as much in accelerating this change as any man in this vast center of population. At what I am sure has been a considerable physical and emotional cost, you have forced people of Los Angeles to think in big-league and big-city terms. In the process the City has gotten a beautiful stadium and major league baseball, but I think the symbolism of your effort is even more important. By stimulating the people to think in large terms you have made the Music Center, the new Art Museum and other important facilities more easily obtainable.” Murphy, UCLA’s third Chancellor, was known for his vast expansion of the northeast side of the campus, for his love of art and education.
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Walter O’Malley addresses the Hollywood Radio and Television Society at a luncheon in the L’Trianon Room of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. The topic of his half-hour talk is the longstanding Dodger broadcasting policies he developed over the years.
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Following a game played in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium, the Dodgers were headed to the regional airport in Kentucky when their bus broke down two miles short of their destination. Players had to flag down drivers in private vehicles and get a ride to the airport. “Imagine that,” said Dodger palm ball pitcher Pete Mikkelsen, “we have to hitchhike to our $3 million jet (720-B named Kay O’II).” Ross Newhan, The Sporting News, May 15, 1971
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Outfielder Rick Monday makes an indelible Dodger Stadium memory — saving the American flag, which he rescues from two dissidents who try to burn it in the outfield during the game. Monday, then playing for the Chicago Cubs, gets a spontaneous standing ovation from the fans at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers later presented Monday with the flag he saved, after it was used in evidence in the case against the two protesters. Monday joined the Dodgers for the 1977 season, beginning eight years in Los Angeles.
