FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Walter Francis O’Malley (October 9, 1903 – August 9, 1979) was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1979. In 1958, as owner of the Dodgers, he brought major league baseball to the West Coast, moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles despite the Dodgers being the second most profitable team in baseball from 1946 to 1956, and coordinating the move of the New York Giants to San Francisco at a time when there were no teams west of Kansas City, Missouri. For this, he was long vilified by Brooklyn Dodgers fans. However, Pro-O’Malley parties describe him as a visionary for the same business action, and many authorities cite him as one of the most influential sportsmen of the 20th century. Other observers say that he was not a visionary, but instead a man who was in the right place at the right time, and regard him as the most powerful and influential owner in baseball after moving the team.

O’Malley was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for his contributions to and influence on the game of baseball in 2008.

O’Malley’s father, Edwin Joseph O’Malley, was politically connected. Walter, a University of Pennsylvania salutatorian, went on to obtain a Juris Doctor, and he used the combination of his family connections, his personal contacts, and both his educational and vocational skills to rise to prominence. First, he became an entrepreneur involved in public works contracting, and then he became an executive with the Dodgers. He progressed from being a team lawyer to being both the Dodgers’ owner and president, and he eventually made the business decision to relocate the Dodgers franchise. Although he moved the franchise, O’Malley is known as a businessman whose major philosophy was stability through loyalty to and from his employees.

O’Malley ceded the team presidency to his son, Peter, in 1970 but retained the titles of owner and chairman of the Dodgers until his death in 1979. During the 1975 season, the Dodgers’ inability to negotiate a contract with Andy Messersmith led to the Seitz decision, which limited the baseball reserve clause and paved the way for modern free agency. He bequeathed the team to his children Peter O’Malley and Therese O’Malley Seidler upon his death in 1979.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

1750s

• DIED 1754: HENRY FIELDING (WRITER)
• 1755: ACADIANS, REFUSING TO SWEAR LOYALTY TO BRITISH CROWN, WERE EXPELLED FROM NOVA SCOTIA

1790s

• DIED 1793: JOHN HANCOCK (STATESMAN)

1810s

• BORN 1810: JAMES WILSON MARSHALL (PIONEER)

1830s

• BORN 1838: JOHN HAY (POLITICIAN)

1860s

• DIED 1869: FRANKLIN PIERCE (14TH U.S. PRESIDENT)

1870s

• 1871: GREAT CHICAGO FIRE BEGAN IN A STABLE ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE CHICAGO RIVER WHEN, HISTORIANS AGREE, MR. AND MRS. O’LEARY’S COW KICKED OVER AN OIL LAMP150 Years Ago
• 1871: DEADLY FOREST FIRE BEGAN IN PESHTIGO, WISCONSIN150 Years Ago

1880s

• BORN 1883: OTTO HEINRICH WARBURG (BIOCHEMIST)

1890s

• BORN 1890: EDWARD V. RICKENBACKER (WWI FLYING ACE)
• BORN 1895: JUAN PERON (FORMER PRESIDENT OF ARGENTINA)

1910s

• BORN 1917: BILLY CONN (BOXER)

1920s

• BORN 1920: FRANK PATRICK HERBERT (WRITER)

1930s

• BORN 1930: FAITH RINGGOLD (ARTIST & WRITER)
• 1936: CARDINAL EUGENIO PACELLI (LATER POPE PIUS XII) BEGAN TOUR OF UNITED STATES
• BORN 1939: PAUL HOGAN (ACTOR)

1940s

• BORN 1941: JESSE JACKSON (POLITICIAN)
• BORN 1943: ROBERT LAWRENCE (“R. L.”) STINE (WRITER)
• BORN 1943: CHEVY CHASE (ACTOR)
• 1944: THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET DEBUTED
• BORN 1949: SIGOURNEY WEAVER (ACTRESS)

1950s

• 1956: NY YANKEES PITCHER, DON LARSEN, PITCHED THE FIRST PERFECT BASEBALL GAME IN WORLD SERIES HISTORY
• 1957: WALTER O’MALLEY, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF STOCKHOLDER OF THE BROOKLYN DODGERS, ANNOUNCED THAT HIS BASEBALL TEAM WOULD MOVE TO LOS ANGELES.

1960s

• BORN 1968: EMILY PROCTER (ACTRESS)

1970s

• BORN 1970: MATT DAMON (ACTOR)

1980s

• 1981: POSSIBLE UFO PHOTOGRAPHED, VANCOUVER ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA
• BORN 1985: BRUNO MARS (SINGER)

1990s

• 1990: JUDGE DAVID SOUTER WAS SWORN IN AS THE 105TH U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
• 1994: CONGRESS APPROVES THE CALIFORNIA DESERT BILL. THE BILL WILL ALLOW FOR THE EXPANSION AND UPGRADE OF DEATH VALLEY AND JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL MONUMENTS, AS WELL AS THE CREATION OF THE MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE AND SEVERAL LARGE WILDERNESS AREAS. REPUBLICANS FILIBUSTERED AGAINST THE BILL BUT FAILED TO PREVENT ITS PASSING. AFFECTING 6 MILLION ACRES, THE LEGISLATION WAS THE LARGEST LAND CONSERVATION BILL EVER ENACTED FOR THE US OUTSIDE ALASKA

2000s

• 2001: TOM RIDGE WAS SWORN IN AS THE FIRST DIRECTOR OF THE NEWLY CREATED OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY
• 2004: KENYAN WANGARI MAATHAI WAS AWARDED THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. SHE WAS THE FIRST AFRICAN WOMAN TO RECEIVE THE AWARD.
• 2005: A MAGNITUDE 7.6 EARTHQUAKE STRUCK PAKISTAN AND PARTS OF INDIA AND AFGHANISTAN. MORE THAN 73,000 LIVES WERE LOST

2010s

• 2014: TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE MOON.
• 2017: CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES BEGAN IN WINE COUNTRY

COURTESY www.almanac.com