LOS ANGELES (AP) -The Los Angeles Coliseum has honored presidents, popes and other historic figures with bronze plaques on its famed archways. Another one was added another on Wednesday – this one a little closer to home.
It was for Walter O’Malley, who moved the Brooklyn Dodgers west in 1958 and played at the Coliseum until Dodger Stadium opened in 1962.
The unveiling of the plaque took place just 18 days before O’Malley will be inducted posthumously into the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown.
“He wasn’t much for awards, quite frankly,” said Peter O’Malley, who took over from his father as president of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1970 when Walter became chairman of the board in 1970, and assumed ownership upon his death in 1979.
“But I think what would have impressed him today as much as much as the great honor of the plaque is the gathering of some of the people who he worked with 50 years ago – some more than 50 years ago. That would have made it a very special day for him.”
O’Malley’s plaque will hang in the peristyle end of the stadium alongside three others with Dodger connections – longtime Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, Jackie Robinson and another depicting the team’s four years at the Coliseum.
Wednesday’s turnout included numerous family, friends and longtime Dodger employees, players and executives. Even Roger Owens, Dodger Stadium’s famous peanut vendor, showed up in Walter O’Malley’s honor and tossed a bag of peanuts to each person as they departed.
“It’s hard to believe that 50 years ago – half a century – we were playing in the Coliseum while Dodger Stadium was being built,” Peter O’Malley said before the ceremony. “It was a gathering place for our family because we didn’t know many people in Los Angeles and we were at every home game. It was really the first home my sister, Terry, and myself in Los Angeles because we didn’t know many people here.”
Scully and longtime Spanish-language counterpart, Jaime Jarrin, were among those who spoke at the ceremony. So did Peter O’Malley and Terry Seidler O’Malley, who co-owned the club with her brother before it was sold to the Fox Group in 1997.
Another longtime Dodgers play-by-play man, Ross Porter, hosted the proceedings. Former Dodgers outfielder Ron Fairly, who got the game-winning hit in the 13th inning of the Coliseum finale, also attended along with pitcher Jerry Reuss and 1959 World Series hero Chuck Essegian.
“He had many favorites. Ron Fairly would be on the short list,” Peter O’Malley said. “He used to needle my dad pretty good, and he would needle Ron.”
Fairly recalled a time in 1963, right after the Dodgers completed their four-game sweep of the Yankees in the World Series.
“We were having a victory party up in the Stadium Club,” Fairly said. “Fresco Thompson, the director of minor leagues, was on the microphone and giving this wonderful speech. At the same time, Mr. O’Malley came up to me and said, `Ron, after Fresco gets off the microphone, I would like you to get up and speak on behalf of the players that probably won’t be here next year.”’
The Dodgers were 330-288 at the Coliseum, going 88-68 in 1959 and winning a six-game World Series from the Chicago White Sox. Dodger Stadium opened in 1962, and the club won six more pennants and two more World Series titles while Walter O’Malley was still alive.
aid. “I think that was even higher than the championships.”
Tommy Lasorda, who managed the Dodgers for 20 seasons under the O’Malley banner, was touched to see his former boss recognized in this manner.
“He would say, `I don’t need this.’ But he does need it,” Lasorda said. “He was tremendous. He built a bridge from the East Coast to the West Coast, and he built another bridge from Los Angeles to Japan. He was a great, great man. I loved him so much, I felt like he was my second father.”
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