This Day in Walter O’Malley History:
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Walter O’Malley appears on the Edward R. Murrow television program “See It Now — Pay Television” on Channel 2 to discuss the topic of subscription TV. He stated that subscription (or toll) TV would provide fans access to all games on television for 50 cents a game and believed more than one million would sign up.
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The City of Los Angeles’ previously approved contract with the Dodgers is ruled invalid by Superior Court Judge Arnold Praeger, which sets off a series of appeals and legal challenges. In his press conference, Walter O’Malley states, “It would not be good tactics to discuss another contract while this one is involved in litigation. I am perhaps a stubborn man. But we were offered the Chavez Ravine site, accepted it and came out with the intention of building a park on it. We are not abandoning the program. There is no possibility of us going into Wrigley Field and our stay at the (Los Angeles Memorial) Coliseum definitely is on a temporary basis.” Gladwin Hill, The New York Times, July 15, 1958
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Sports columnist Jim Murray, who was inducted into the writers’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987, interviews Walter O’Malley at the Statler Hotel for a feature in Sports Illustrated.
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In his “Clouting ’Em” column, Joe King writes in The Sporting News that fans at new Dodger Stadium are seeing a change in the way the Dodgers score runs. “Suddenly, the fans learned there was another way to do it besides bumping the ball over the fence,” said Walter O’Malley in the article. The fans began chanting “Go, Go, Go” whenever shortstop Maury Wills gets a hit or walk. “Hardly anybody asks me how to steal a base,” said Wills, “but a lot of them want to know about switch-hitting.” With Willie and Tommy Davis hitting triples, the fans are quite excited about alternate ways of scoring runs. However, Jim Gilliam said, “A homer is a homer — it’s decisive. You got to have luck to make triples. Willie and Tommy hit lots of line drives right at fielders.” Joe King, "Clouting 'Em," The Sporting News, July 14, 1962
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The NFL New Orleans Saints begin workouts at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, expanding the development of the Dodgers’ Spring Training base to more year-round activities.