Spring’s Eternal at Dodgertown

The Dodgers won back-to-back National League Pennants in 1952 and 1953, but in both seasons finished on a losing note in the World Series against the rival New York Yankees. In 1954, there was a new manager when the club arrived in Dodgertown, as O’Malley had hired solid baseball man but relatively unknown Walter Alston. The quiet but firm Alston replaced Charlie Dressen, who had failed in his demand for a three-year contract, which was against existing club policy of one-year deals. Alston had been a fixture in Vero Beach for years as a successful minor league manager. His 1953 Montreal Royals club defeated the New York Yankees’ Kansas City Triple-A team to win the “Little World Series.” Alston would go on to sign 23 consecutive one-year contracts under O’Malley and be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The Dodgers played four spring exhibition games and 96 total organization games at Dodgertown in 1954.

“Each year my wife Lela and I drove to Vero Beach from our home in Darrtown, Ohio. But 1954 was special. I was the manager now, not a minor league skipper,” said Alston. “I couldn’t wait until it was time to start spring training. I would be anxious to see which kids were ready to move up. It was exciting to speculate about who would be the next discovery.”Joe Hendrickson, Dodgertown

It was also in 1954 that an energetic and talented broadcaster named Vin Scully took the lead role, a position he still holds today.

“There’s not a place in the world that has as many memories for me as Dodgertown,” said Hall of Fame broadcaster Scully, who has been a regular since 1950 and has a street named for him there. “My first year, they didn’t know what to do with me. So, I slept on a cot in a little room off the main lobby.”Dodgertown: A Trip Through History, Josh Rawitch, MLB.com, February 17, 2002

To help defray some of the year-round expenses of maintaining Dodgertown and to reach out to youngsters, O’Malley and his staff developed a Dodgertown Camp for Boys ages 12-16 initiated in July and August of 1954. O’Malley did his homework regarding sports camps, writing to Ed Steitz at Springfield College for background materials on running a camp. Springfield was recommended to O’Malley as running a model camp program that was the best in its field. When the Dodgertown Camp for Boys began it was to be an all-sports camp, promising an opportunity to receive instruction in baseball and a variety of recreational activities, including swimming, tennis, fishing, basketball and shuffleboard, all while living on base.

The camp started under the directorship of Les MacMitchell, a former New York University track star, with assistance from Bill Ceccotti and Buck Lai and some 50 counselors. Terry O’Malley, Walter and Kay’s daughter who had just graduated from New York’s College of New Rochelle, joined the camp administration as secretary. Nearly 200 boys from throughout the country were sent to the prestigious camp from July 1 to August 25, 1954, paying $500 for all expenses, to train where the Dodgers did. One of the camp counselors that first year was O’Malley’s 16-year-old son Peter, who would, years later, run the entire Dodgertown complex (Jan. 1962-Jan. 1965) and succeed his father as Dodger President on March 17, 1970. Peter had made headlines in the Vero Beach Press Journal at age 15, when he lost an identification bracelet he wore in the Dodgertown swimming pool. An unidentified woman found it and returned it to the Dodger office. While Walter and Kay O’Malley would have been pleased to offer their thanks and a reward, none was asked for and they were impressed with the honest citizen.Vero Beach Press-Journal, March 13, 1952

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