Dodgertown

Spring’s Eternal at Dodgertown

The Sporting News list of 100 Most Powerful People in Sports for the 20th Century, December 1999

  1. Pete Rozelle
  2. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
  3. Roone Arledge
  4. Branch Rickey
  5. Marvin Miller
  6. David Stern
  7. Rupert Murdoch
  8. Avery Brundage
  9. Ban Johnson
  10. Muhammad Ali
  11. Walter O’Malley
  12. Steve Borstein
  13. Phil Knight
  14. George Halas
  15. Babe Ruth
  16. Walter Byers
  17. Lamar Hunt
  18. Ted Turner
  19. Paul Brown
  20. Michael Jordan
  21. Jackie Robinson
  22. Pierre De Coubertin
  23. Juan Antonio Samaranch
  24. Donald Fehr
  25. Tex Rickard
  26. Roy Hofheinz
  27. Horst Dassler
  28. Red Auerbach
  29. Bill France Sr.
  30. Arnold Palmer
  31. Al Davis
  32. Birch Bayh
  33. Billie Jean King
  34. Paul Tagliabue
  35. Charlie Finley
  36. Clarence Campbell
  37. George Steinbrenner
  38. Peter Ueberroth
  39. Bert Bell
  40. Jacob Ruppert
  41. Dick Ebersol
  42. Mark McCormack
  43. Al Neuharth
  44. Tex Schramm
  45. Bill Veeck
  46. Arthur Ashe
  47. Howard Cosell
  48. Fathers Theodore Hesburgh and William Beauchamp
  49. Don King
  50. Connie Mack
  1. David Falk
  2. John Wooden
  3. Andre Laguerre
  4. August Busch Jr.
  5. Peter Seitz
  6. Roger Penske
  7. Wilt Chamberlain
  8. Jack Nicklaus
  9. Bill France Jr.
  10. Bowie Kuhn
  11. George Preston Marshall
  12. Ed Barrow
  13. Abe Saperstein
  14. John McGraw
  15. Larry MacPhail
  16. Dick Schultz
  17. Gary Bettman
  18. Adolph Rupp
  19. Walter Brown
  20. Jesse Owens
  21. Deane Beman
  22. Phog Allen
  23. Wellington Mara
  24. Charles Comiskey
  25. Eddie Robinson
  26. Knute Rockne
  27. Arch Ward
  28. Jerry Jones
  29. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
  30. Bobby Orr
  31. Art Rooney
  32. Alan Eagleson
  33. Pele
  34. Bud Selig
  35. Tommie Smith and John Carlos
  36. Pat Summit
  37. Laurence Tisch
  38. Bobby Jones
  39. Tiger Woods
  40. Leigh Steinberg
  41. Henry Iba
  42. Bill Bowerman
  43. Anatoli Tarasov
  44. Albert “Happy” Chandler
  45. “The Voices of Baseball” — Mel Allen, Red Barber, Vin Scully, Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Ernie Harwell,Bob Prince, Etc.
  46. Sonny Werblin
  47. Ed and Steve Sabol
  48. J.G. Taylor Spink and C.C. Johnson Spink
  49. Wayne Gretzky
  50. The Famous Chicken
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ABC Sports ranks the Top Ten Most Influential People "off the field" in sports history as voted by the Sports Century panel in December, 1999

  1. Branch Rickey
  2. Pete Rozelle
  3. Roone Arledge
  4. Marvin Miller
  5. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
  6. David Stern
  7. Avery Brundage
  8. Walter O’Malley
  9. George Halas
  10. Mark McCormack
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Attendance 1953-1957 Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Braves

Attendance 1953-1957 Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Braves
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Where once baseball training and teaching was the only business at Dodgertown for two months, the O’Malleys had several year-round features that were successful, including golf, football, the conference center, 70 acres of commercial citrus growing and real estate (50-unit housing development called Safari Pines Estates).

But as baseball goes, Dodgertown continued to be the initial proving ground for so many talented young players, including six National League Rookies of the Year under O’Malley’s reign, all looking to make a name for themselves and launch a career with the Dodgers.

After Walter O’Malley passed away on August 9, 1979, just 28 days following his wife Kay’s death, the Dodgers and Dodgertown continued to thrive and develop under son Peter’s administration. Mr. and Mrs. O’Malley missed the violent effects of Hurricane David which damaged the press box at Holman Stadium on September 3, 1979 and the first year of a Vero Beach Dodger team in the Florida State League in 1980. But, there was also time to remember the past. The tradition of an annual Memorial Mass, initiated by Kay O’Malley to commemorate those individuals who worked, or were guests, at Dodgertown through the years are remembered by name each spring. It is a way of honoring not only the memory of the departed and their contributions, but what Dodgertown has stood for since it came into existence in 1948; namely family. And perhaps, a little slice of heaven on earth.

DODGERTOWN’S DIRECTORS

  • Spencer Harris (1948-53)
  • Edgar Allen (1954-59)
  • Leon Hamilton (1960-61)
  • Chick Walmsley (1961)
  • Peter O’Malley (1962-65)
  • John Stanfill (1965)
  • Dick Bird (1965-1974)
  • Charlie Blaney (1974-87)
  • Terry Reynolds (1987-88)
  • Craig Callan (1988-present)
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  • Modernized and developed by Walter O’Malley and later by his son Peter, Dodgertown remains the state-of-the-art spring training home of the Dodgers.Modernized and developed by Walter O’Malley and later by his son Peter, Dodgertown remains the state-of-the-art spring training home of the Dodgers.
  • William P. Schweppe, Director, Minor League Operations and Monty Basgall, minor league instructor (foreground l-r), with players walking off the field from a camp game and heading back to the main building at Dodgertown, the end of another day in spring training.William P. Schweppe, Director, Minor League Operations and Monty Basgall, minor league instructor (foreground l-r), with players walking off the field from a camp game and heading back to the main building at Dodgertown, the end of another day in spring training.
  • Sunset at Dodgertown completes another day of baseball workouts and the start of the season is one day closer.Sunset at Dodgertown completes another day of baseball workouts and the start of the season is one day closer.