Minox Camera

Walter O’Malley was born too early to take advantage of a camera phone, but he had his own spontaneous camera-worthy moments with his Minox subminiature camera.

O’Malley was a busy President of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, but often felt the need to capture a moment in photo and made great use of his special camera.

He regularly carried his Minox item to events as the groundbreaking for Dodger Stadium, at Holman Stadium in Vero Beach, by his cabin in Lake Arrowhead, or ball games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and other National League cities.

The Minox subminiature was developed in the late 1930s, but did not begin to see regular use until World War II. With its pocket size of 3 ¼ inches extending to 3 ¾ inches when the shutter was engaged, it was discovered there were several military and industrial uses for such a camera.

Still, the small camera could provide a sufficient photo. Using a negative that was only 8mm (5/16 of one inch) X 11mm (7/16 of one inch), the images produced displayed a reasonable photo size of 4 X 6 inches.

O’Malley loved to carry his miniature Minox camera with him to record a moment with his friends and his family and his photos have played a small part of Dodger history.