Charles Ebbets started with the Brooklyn Dodgers in their first year of 1883. Beginning as a clerk in the team’s front office, his good nature and strong work ethic helped a quick climb up the ladder that ended as owner of the franchise. In the 1945 book, “The Brooklyn Dodgers,” Frank Graham wrote about Ebbets, “He sold tickets, hawked score cards through the stands, attended to all the little drudgeries in the business office that the other employees were glad to shirk, and made friends for the club by his good humor and his patience.” Ebbets was elected to the Hall of Fame’s Honor Rolls of Baseball in 1946. Shown here is a letter from May 17, 1917 from Ebbets to Yankee owner T.L. Houston on beautiful and vintage Brooklyn letterhead.

When Charles Ebbets passed away in 1925, his share of Dodger ownership was passed to Grace Ebbets who kept her hand in the Brooklyn club until selling to a new ownership group that included Walter O’Malley in 1945. The O’Malley family would increase their influence before selling all interest in the club in 1997.

Revered by many and vilified by some, Walter O’Malley was one of the most influential owners in the history of Major League Baseball. Shown here is a check drawn on the Los Angeles Dodgers account made out December 15, 1958 to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles. O’Malley moved the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958 and held the title of Chairman until his death in 1979. The team then went under the control of Walter’s son Peter O’Malley.

Walter O’Malley turned over the presidency of the Dodgers to his son Peter on St. Patrick’s Day, 1970. Under Peter’s stewardship the team won World Series championships in 1981 and 1988 and was a box office hit. The franchise was the first to draw three million fans and have reached that mark more than all other franchises combined. In the collection is a ticket stub from the final game of O’Malley ownership of the Dodgers. Dated Sunday September 27, 1998, the ticket is signed by Peter O’Malley.