Three letters written by Jackie Robinson. The 1954 press release announcing the signing of Sandy Koufax. Details of the planning and construction of Dodger Stadium.
These are some of the documents that have been donated to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to commemorate the life and career of Walter O’Malley C1926, the famed sports executive who owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1944 until his death in 1979.
Announced by the Hall of Fame in June, the Walter O’Malley Archive features 70 boxes worth of documents and photographs assembled and curated by his children Peter O’Malley W’60 and Terry O’Malley Seidler.
Some other of the items include documentation on the Dodgers’ momentous move to Los Angeles; the genesis of Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, the first fully integrated spring training facility in the American south; and materials related to the Dodgers’ goodwill tours of Japan in 1956 and 1966.
Peter O’Malley, himself a longtime owner and executive of the Dodgers who helped globalize the sport of baseball [“Profiles,” Jul|Aug 2015] said in a press release that his father’s files are “historic and offer great insight … for scholars, researchers, and authors to access.”
Walter O’Malley, who had previously been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008, was also added to the Dodgers’ Ring of Honor in a ceremony at Dodger Stadium on August 10. —DZ
