Original Model of Dodger Stadium, circa 1960

Dodger Stadium has been the site of many events and significant cultural exchanges with Japan. Dodger President Walter O’Malley and his son Peter regularly invited Baseball Commissioners, League Presidents, team owners, executives and players from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to visit. Discussions ranged from international exchanges during Spring Training at Dodgertown, Vero Beach, Florida, to sharing medical personnel and information, plus efforts to have baseball recognized as an Olympic medal sport. Walter O’Malley incorporated the idea of dugout box seats (below the playing surface) into the design of Dodger Stadium after seeing a similar concept at Tokyo’s Korakuen Stadium while on the 1956 Dodgers Goodwill Tour to Japan. Dodger Stadium was the host site of the Japan-USA Collegiate Series on several occasions. In 1984, baseball’s largest involvement in the Olympic Games took place at Dodger Stadium with an eight-team exhibition tournament, including Japan. The team from Japan defeated USA in the finals, 6-3, before a sold-out crowd at Dodger Stadium. Baseball was ranked third overall in attendance for the Games of the XXIII Olympiad in Los Angeles. The momentum from that tournament led to baseball’s inclusion as an official gold medal sport in 1992. In August, 1991, the International Baseball Association’s World All-Star Game was held at Dodger Stadium, with several participants from Japan.

This original Dodger Stadium model was created by Warner Bros. Studio using design plans and colors as a gift for Walter O’Malley from Hollywood producer-director Mervyn LeRoy and was used as a table in his office at the ballpark and later was in Peter O’Malley’s office. It has rarely been publicly displayed in the past 60 years.