This Day in Walter O’Malley History:

  • While working for the Brooklyn Trust Company, attorney Walter O’Malley watches the Brooklyn Dodgers defeat the Chicago Cubs at Ebbets Field, 3-2.

  • Alma Feltner O’Malley, Walter O’Malley’s mother, passes away in Amityville, New York. She was born on March 6, 1883 in New York City and married Edwin J. O’Malley on January 16, 1902 in the Bronx, New York. Walter was the couple’s only child.

  • Walter O’Malley meets with his mentor George V. McLaughlin and Dodger President Branch Rickey. McLaughlin, the powerful civic leader and Brooklyn Trust Company President, had previously assigned O’Malley to watch over the financial affairs of the struggling Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1943, O’Malley joined the Dodgers as General Counsel.

  • In an apathetic vote, Los Angeles residents reject a proposition for a $4.5 million bond issue to build a new baseball stadium. The failed proposition meant that any team owner relocating in Los Angeles would have to privately finance a new stadium. Walter O’Malley kept a newspaper clipping of this in his new stadium file.

  • Roscoe McGowen of The New York Times clears up the confusion as to what member of the Dodger Board of Directors had caught a seven and one-half foot, 125-pound sailfish in Acapulco, Mexico. The New York Journal-American reported that Judge Henry Ughetta of Brooklyn’s Appellate Division had caught the fish, but McGowen reports that affidavits from Dr. Herbert Fett, Dodger team doctor, and Everett McCooey stated that Dodger President Walter O’Malley was the one who caught the large sailfish. “He (O’Malley) really did a professional job playing a near record sailfish on nine-thread line,” wrote Dr. Fett. “In case you forgot, O’Malley was the U.S. Atlantic Tuna Tournament champion in 1942.” McCooey agreed it was O’Malley who was the rightful fisherman. “I would have given anything to have landed the 125-pound sailfish that O’Malley took,” said McCooey. O’Malley had caught the fish during a visit to see the Monterrey Club play in the Mexican League.

  • In preparation for voting on the “Proposition B” referendum, a live, five-hour Dodgerthon is held on KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles. A jam-packed lineup of civic leaders, celebrities and sports stars including Jerry Lewis, Ronald Reagan, George Burns, Chairman Joe E. Brown of the Taxpayers’ Committee for “Yes on Baseball,” Dean Martin, Jack Benny, Laraine Day, Debbie Reynolds, Ray Walston, Casey Stengel and Jackie Robinson (via tape) all participate. Also, on this day, in what Walter O’Malley describes to L.A. City Councilwoman Roz Wyman as “one of the most important games in Dodger history,” the Dodgers blanked the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, 1-0, behind the pitching of Stan Williams, who made his first major league start. Don Zimmer singled in the fourth inning to drive in the only run. The Dodgers then return home and are warmly greeted by 7,500 enthusiastic fans at Los Angeles International Airport, as the Dodgerthon program continues live with interviews of the players by Vin Scully. “It’s the biggest welcome I’ve ever seen,” said Dodger Manager Walter Alston. In his personal appointment book, O’Malley simply jots, “Dodgerthon!”

  • In its editorial section, The Los Angeles Examiner writes about the upcoming “Proposition B” referendum in which voters will decide the future of the previously agreed contract between the City of Los Angeles and the Dodgers. “The opposition’s reckless wrenching of the facts has confused the issue in many ways. The contract’s enormous values to the city — in many tens of thousands of dollars in new taxes, in millions in added business, in vast new recreational facilities — have become obscured. At times, it even seems forgotten that the 50,000-seat ball park planned for the ravine will be built with some $10,000,000 to $12,000,000 of Dodger dollars — not tax dollars. And who has spoken out against Proposition ‘B’? A few individuals who fear their narrow, personal interests might be in some way harmed. But — not one representative civic organization. The Examiner, in the wholehearted belief that the passage of Proposition ‘B’ is overwhelmingly in the basic, long-range interests of all people of Los Angeles and of its economy, unreservedly urges a ‘YES’ vote on this significant ballot measure.”

  • American Football League (AFL) Commissioner Al Davis meets at Dodger Stadium with Walter O’Malley. Davis had been named AFL Commissioner two months earlier.

  • The California Father’s Day Council hosts an awards luncheon at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles honoring film and television star Dick Van Dyke and Walter O’Malley, respectively, as the recipients of the 1966 California Father and Grandfather of the Year. In its release, the Council writes, “O’Malley long has been one of baseball’s most progressive figures and was ultimately responsible for major league expansion to the west coast. He is the father of two children and the grandfather of six.” Van Dyke and O’Malley are presented with George Washington medals at the luncheon.

  • Walter O’Malley sends an Inter-Club Communication to three of his trusted employees — Dick Bird, managing director of Dodgertown; E. John Burns, corporate secretary; and Ira Hoyt, the resident engineer — in which he states, “At our recent directors meeting and after considerable discussion, it was decided to go ahead with the new residence buildings at Dodgertown with strong emphasis on economy and efficiency in handling the work. As you know, the amount is very substantial. Dick Bird...will supervise all activities at Dodgertown specifically spring training, golf course, groves, public relations, mobile home development and new construction. Ira Hoyt...will be in full charge of all construction work and will be responsible for the work’s progress, its costs and will be required to approve all payments. E. John Burns as corporate officer will approve all bills for all activities at Dodgertown but specifically will concentrate on the leasing arrangements at Safari Pines (golf club) and our contractual relationships with Mobilex and the public.”