In view of the action of the Los Angeles City Council yesterday and in accordance with resolution of the National League made Oct. 1, the stockholders and directors of the Brooklyn Baseball Club have today met and unanimously agreed that necessary steps be taken to draft the Los Angeles territory.
— press release, October 8, 1957
Much has been written about the fabled Brooklyn Dodgers and their move to Los Angeles. Despite having no connection to the borough of Brooklyn (one of my grandfathers was from 161st in the Bronx though1), I’ve found the legend of the Dodgers to be fascinating. I’ve read Roger Kahn’s Boys of Summer and countless articles on the subject. I’ve heard the jokes about hated Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley like “who were the three worst men of the 20th century, Hitler, Stalin and Walter O’Malley” and “if Stalin, Hitler and O’Malley were in the same room and you had two bullets what would you do?” … “Shoot O’Malley twice” and laughed.
So after processing all of this information about how great it was that Brooklyn had a team and how tragic it was that they left, I have come to the conclusion that despite intense New York provincialism2 on the subject, the Dodgers move was that big a deal. The transfer to Los Angeles reflected the decline of urbanism and the rise of suburbanism as well as anything else.
O’Malley wasn’t the villain he was made out to be either. I am convinced he acted in good faith for several years to build a new stadium with his own money in Brooklyn and the politicians and especially Robert Moses wouldn’t let it happen. He may not have been a “pure” baseball man, but in his relentless pursuit of profits he invested in his team in such a way that brought championships. He was smart enough to realize that a well-run team was good business.
It is an interesting coincidence that O’Malley’s plan to build a domed stadium in the center of Brooklyn’s mass transit hub appears to becoming reality with the Barclays Center. One can only wonder how Brooklyn, Los Angeles and America had been if it had been the Dodgers setting up shop there.
Moses was probably the principal villain in the Dodgers exodus, but ultimately, a changing America was probably the biggest reason.
1Grandpa used to always refer to Tommy Lasorda as “the Brooklyn manager.” I found it interesting that he still thought of the Dodgers as Brookyln’s team so long after they left. He rooted for the team that played down the street from him though and his daughter (my mother) even worked for those Yankees in the 1960s.
2New York is the one American city that has earned the right to be so full of itself because its New York.
