![]() O’Malley had taken title to Wrigley Field, located at 42nd and Avalon in Los Angeles, on Februin an important exchange with Phil Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs. One possibility that O’Malley investigated late in 1957 was the famed Rose Bowl in Pasadena, but the exorbitant cost of converting the football field to a baseball diamond made it untenable. O’Malley scrambled to make temporary arrangements for Dodger home games while Dodger Stadium was to be constructed. O’Malley saved the newspaper clipping of the decision of L.A. But, that was more than acceptable to O’Malley, who had made it clear that he desired to design, build, privately finance and maintain his dream baseball stadium. San Francisco voters had agreed to fund a municipal stadium, while Los Angeles voters turned down a proposition to subsidize a stadium in May 1955, long before the Dodgers considered Los Angeles. O’Malley even helped arrange a meeting at New York’s Hotel Lexington between San Francisco Mayor George Christopher and Stoneham to discuss possible terms of an agreement. However, O’Malley suggested to Stoneham that he reconsider San Francisco. Horace Stoneham, owner of the Giants, had previously decided to relocate to Minneapolis. While the Dodgers were heading to Los Angeles, the New York Giants had announced on Augthat they were already moving to San Francisco for the 1958 season. City Council’s approval of a contract with O’Malley and the Dodgers, set the wheels in motion for the significant westward expansion of major league baseball. The announcement that the Dodgers were drafting the Los Angeles territory on October 8, 1957, following the L.A. Emil Praeger to Walter O’Malley, December 14, 1954 Emil Praeger had rejected years earlier because of its poor foundation. The last straw seemed to come when powerful Robert Moses, Parks Commissioner for the City of New York, insisted on pointing O’Malley out of Brooklyn to Flushing Meadows, Queens to land that O’Malley and his highly-regarded engineer Capt. But, try as he might, O’Malley kept getting blocked in his request for assistance in assembling the needed land, which he would have purchased. ![]() Parallel to their friendly persuasion were the extended efforts of O’Malley to design, build, privately finance and maintain baseball’s first dome stadium at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn. For several years, Los Angeles officials had tried to convince Major League Baseball that their city was ready to earn “big league” status and needed the popular Dodgers. The footprint of the 16 major league teams extended no farther west than Kansas City in 1957. Only after doors kept closing on him in Brooklyn in his decade-long challenge to replace aging Ebbets Field with its limited parking for 700 cars did O’Malley then look to broaden baseball’s borders. Having visited Los Angeles on only three occasions before making the momentous decision to go west with the Dodgers, O’Malley was not even sure where the ballclub would play months before Opening Day! Looking ahead a month and a half, a dark cloud hung over O’Malley, the Dodgers and the City of Los Angeles, as voters would be asked on June 3 to either accept a referendum known as “Proposition B” (affirming the approved contract between the Dodgers and the city) or reject it, which would send the team’s future into a tizzy. ![]() It was a perfect Southern California day bright, sunny and clear with temperatures hovering around 70 degrees. At least for the day, no clouds could rain on his parade. ![]() What a sense of elation Walter O’Malley must have been feeling as the Dodgers played their first game in Los Angeles on April 18, 1958. History in the Making First Major League Game in Los Angeles
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