Small Change

“No, I did not say sixth sense, Walter O’Malley, I said six cents.” Those words could have been spoken by a Justice Walter Hart after hearing a verdict in Brooklyn Supreme Court forcing Dodger President O’Malley to pay six cents to settle a law suit. The bizarre suit ended on June 14, 1951 in which O’Malley had to pay the change to Harold A. Rich, who identified himself as a bank vice president. Rich had sued O’Malley for a “finder’s fee” involving O’Malley’s purchase of stock in the New York Subways Advertising Company in 1950. Apparently, after the six cents were paid, all was forgiven and Rich was a little richer.

SOURCE: POLITICS AND PEOPLE COLUMN, HAROLD H. HARRIS, JUNE 15, 1951