This Day in Walter O’Malley History:

  • Walter O’Malley is present at a Catholic Charities fund-raising dinner honoring Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy at the Garden City Hotel. The dinner, marking the 32nd Anniversary of Archbishop Molloy’s appointment, raised more than $80,000 for the Catholic Charities of the Brooklyn Diocese. The Brooklyn Eagle runs a photograph of O’Malley seated next to Archbishop Molloy in the paper the next day. Brooklyn Eagle, November 18, 1953

  • King Faisal II of Iraq sends a letter of congratulations to Walter O’Malley for the Dodgers’ 1955 World Championship. The telegram reads, “Happy to know of your great success in the world series (sp.). Wish you always well.” William Briordy writes in The New York Times that the Dodgers had received congratulatory letters and telegrams for their victory from 26 foreign nations. William J. Briordy, The New York Times, November 17, 1955  As a 17-year-old in 1952, King Faisal II attended his first major league baseball game as he visited Ebbets Field to watch the Dodgers and New York Giants.

  • Los Angeles Examiner Publisher Franklin S. Payne sends a letter to Walter O’Malley about the speech O’Malley delivered to the 1,000 guests attending the Los Angeles Urban League banquet at the Statler Hotel. “Your talk last night at the annual Equal Opportunity banquet was a crackerjack. It was so interesting and you presented it beautifully. All I heard were outstanding compliments, not only about your talk, but regarding your presence at the banquet. There is no question that you have made many, many more friends and firmly established yourself as one of our leading citizens of Southern California. Believe me, I was very, very proud of you. Sincerely, Frank”

  • Walter O’Malley is an invited guest for a reception at the Tokyo private residence of U. Alexis Johnson, United States Ambassador to Japan. O’Malley is in Japan as part of the 1966 Dodger Goodwill Tour, which is the team’s second such trip in a decade.

  • Walter O’Malley writes to inventor and designer R. Buckminster Fuller in Edwardsville, Illinois: “Dear Bucky: There has been delivered to me an autographed copy of your latest book. It will be an important addition to my library but you and I know that you in person would have to escort me through its pages for full understanding. Martin Meyerson of the University of Pennsylvania told me recently at trustees meetings that we expect to see you a bit around the campus. All the best for the holidays.” Previously, O’Malley and Fuller frequently corresponded and had meetings regarding ideas for a multi-purpose translucent dome stadium for the Dodgers at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn.