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The Dodgers are a cornerstone franchise in baseball. The long and storied history of the franchise includes one of the game’s greatest family stewardships, that of the O’Malleys.

Walter O’Malley first bought into the team in 1944 to begin a family reign that lasted more than 50 years. From that moment forward, he continually accumulated shares and built his influence. Though he gained controlling interest in 1950, it took another quarter century before the O’Malleys had sole ownership of the club.

To fully understand the chronology of the O’Malley ownership, we turn back the clock to 1897 when Charles Ebbets bought into the club. At that time the team played in South Brooklyn’s Washington Park. A less-then-desirable location, the park was near factories that bellowed out smoke and a polluted canal that filled the air with foul odors.

Ebbets wanted a new home for his team. In 1912 construction magnates Ed and Stephen McKeever bought out Ebbets’ partner Henry Medicus. Together Ebbets and the McKeevers built Ebbets Field in Flatbush.

When the stadium’s namesake passed away in April, 1925, Ed McKeever replaced Ebbets as team president. At Ebbets’ funeral Ed caught a cold then soon contracted influenza. He passed away two weeks later on April 29, 1912. His brother Stephen took over as Brooklyn’s president.

When Stephen died in 1938 he left his shares to his daughter Elizabeth “Dearie” McKeever and her husband James Mulvey. They maintained partial ownership over the next four decades.

In 1944 O’Malley, Branch Rickey, John L. Smith and Andrew Schmitz bought 25% of the team from Ed McKeever’s heirs. After Schmitz dropped out, the trio of O’Malley, Rickey and Smith bought 50% of the team from the Ebbets estate.

When Smith died in July of 1950, O’Malley and Smith’s widow decided not to renew Rickey’s contract as team president and general manager. The move forced Rickey to sell his shares and leave the club. O’Malley bought Rickey’s stake in the team.

Mrs. Smith sold her shares to Walter a few months before the team’s move to Los Angeles in 1958. Walter then controlled 75% of the club with the other 25% in the hands of the Mulveys.

Dearie Mulvey passed away in 1968 leaving her husband Jim with her family’s share of the Dodgers. When Jim died in 1973, the taxes on his estate forced his children to sell the remaining shares. In 1975 Walter O’Malley bought out that interest to end the McKeever/Mulvey 62-year run with the team. The move gave the O’Malleys sole ownership of the franchise.

Walter turned over the Dodger presidency to his son Peter in the 1970s. As club president, the younger O’Malley extended the Dodgers’ influence in the game worldwide.

The O’Malley reign over the Dodgers ran more than a half century. It includes the team’s only World Series triumph in Brooklyn, and five Fall Classic victories in Los Angeles. In 1978 the team became the first to draw 3,000,000 fans. Under Peter they surpassed that mark in 13 of the next 21 seasons. Their family remains one of the grandest and most influential in the history of the game.

In the collection is this historic correspondence to the Mulvey heirs from Walter O’Malley. Interestingly one of those heirs was daughter Ann who was married to Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca.

Dated March 12, 1975, the letter concerns O’Malley’s acquisition of the Mulveys’ interest in the Dodgers. This transaction was the final piece that gave him sole ownership of the team he first bought a part of in 1944.

The letter reads in part, “Another era in the history of the Dodgers has come to a close. I know that must leave you sad. Peter and I had hoped that conditions would have permitted the relationship to have continued but we also realize from our frank conversation talks with Bud and the lawyers that the taxes on Jim’s estate presented a problem that could only be solved by the sale of stock Fortunately, the company is able to work out a program with the bank that made its acquisition of the stock possible.”

The younger O’Malley had much to say about the letter.

“I thought my dad’s letter in 1975 expressed his thoughts very well,” Peter O’Malley said. “Dearie and Jim Mulvey were longtime friends of my family and then my sister Terry and I had the good fortune to know the next generation Bud, Chickie, Ann and their spouses.

“Spring training was a most enjoyable time of the year and we had an opportunity to keep in touch with the family for many years including exhibition games and St. Patrick’s Day parties.

“In 1969, we recognized the Mulvey family with the Jim and Dearie Mulvey Award named for Jim and Dearie, who had passed on November 24,1968. The award was presented annually to the outstanding rookie on the major league Dodgers in spring training camp. Several recipients of this award were Ted Sizemore (1969), Steve Yeager (1972), Fernando Valenzuela (1981) and Orel Hershiser (1983). My Dad could not have had better partners and our family could not have had better friends.”

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Owner of the Dodgers in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles, 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 ran the team until turning over the presidency of the team to his son Peter in 1970.

Under O’Malley leadership, the Dodgers remained a cornerstone franchise of the Major Leagues. For his work, Walter was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.

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The presidency of the Dodgers changed hands in 1970 from Hall of Fame owner Walter O’Malley to his son Peter. Under the younger O’Malley, the Dodgers ascended to new heights.

The team reached the World Series three times in the decade. Fans packed the stands like never before. In 1977, the Dodgers broke the MLB attendance record set by the team in 1962.

In 1978, they became the first team to surpass the 3-million mark in home attendance. Four years later they attracted a record 3,608,881 paying customers.

Under Peter’s guidance the team made nine postseason appearances, claimed five National League Pennants, and won it all in 1981 and 1988.

Peter and his Dodgers were at the forefront as big league baseball expanded its reach into Asia. In 1994 the first Korean-born big leaguer Chan Ho Park debuted with the Dodgers. From 1997-2001 he averaged 15 wins per season, making the All Star team in his final season with Los Angeles.

O’Malley’s team signed Hideo Nomo in 1995. The Japanese right-hander started the All Star Game that season and earned the the Rookie of the Year Award. Nomo became the first player to permanently relocate from Japan to the US, two decades after the MLB debut of Masanori Murakami. After O’Malley opened the doors, many players from Japan came to the US to play baseball at its highest level.

Peter made nearly 100 trips to Japan, solidifying baseball relations of the two countries. In 2015 he received “The Order of the Rising Son”, for his contributions to Japanese baseball. The honor dates back to 1875 to the Meiji Emperor.

Elsewhere Peter pushed for the inclusion of baseball in the Olympics and built privately-funded baseball fields internationally. Peter O’Malley left an imprint on baseball here and throughout the world.

In the collection is this letter dated February 8, 1974. O’Malley responds to a fan’s inquiry. He responds in part, “Please understand that all our old contracts and correspondence are kept on file here at Dodger Stadium are not discarded…”

The ever-cordial O’Malley then signs his name at the bottom of the letter.

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In 1977 Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson mailed current and former stars of the game requesting their consent to lend their name to the Babe Ruth Advisory Board. Peter O’Malley agreed to this help the cause.

He writes, “Brooks, to help out the youth today is in my heart. If only one of those kids becomes even an attempt at what the Babe represents, it will be worthwhile.”

O’Malley then signs his name, adding the Dodger Stadium address. The O’Malley family owned the Dodgers dating back to the Brooklyn days. Peter’s Hall of Fame father Walter moved the team from New York to Los Angeles in 1958.

When it was time for Walter to step aside, his son carried on the family name with pride. Under Peter the Dodgers continued their winning ways and stood as a cornerstone franchise in baseball.

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Peter O’Malley had a tough act to follow when he assumed the Dodger presidency in 1970. His father Hall of Fame executive Walter O’Malley built the Dodgers into one of baseball’s cornerstone franchises.

The younger O’Malley continued his father’s work and kept the Dodgers on an upward arc. Los Angeles supported the team like no other city in the history of baseball. In 1978 Peter’s Dodgers became the first team to surpass the 3,000,000 mark in attendance. Under his leadership, this figure became a common benchmark in LA.

On the field the team continued it’s winning ways, earning National League pennants in 1974, 1977, and 1978. In 1981, Peter’s Dodger club was the champion of baseball. The success continued with another World Series title in 1988.

Peter O’Malley also thrust the Dodgers to the forefront of international baseball. In 1994 Chan Ho Park made his Dodger debut as the first Korean-born big leaguer. The following season Hideo Nomo earned the Rookie of the Year Award as the first Japanese-born big leaguer in more than 30 years since Masanori Murakami played for the Giants.

O’Malley himself became American baseball’s foremost ambassador to Japan, making nearly 100 trips there. In 2015 he received “The Order of the Rising Son”, for his contributions to Japanese baseball. The honor dates back to 1875 to the Meiji Emperor.

Peter O’Malley quite simply and repeatedly elevated the stature and prestige of the team his father once ran.

In the collection is this letter from former commissioner of baseball Happy Chandler. Written to Peter and dated March 18, 1985, it states the obvious.

Chandler writes, “Peter, your father would be very pleased how well you have managed the Dodgers’ affairs since his departure.”

Baseball’s former chief closes the letter warmly to the Los Angeles owner, “I hope to see you around the circuit. If you ever come this way, Mama Chandler and I both say, ‘latchstring’s always out for you and yours.”

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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.

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Walter O’Malley turned over the presidency of the Dodgers to his son Peter on St. Patrick’s Day, 1970. Under Peter’s leadership the Dodgers remained a first-division club.

From 1979 when he assumed the Dodger presidency until 1998 when he sold the franchise, the Dodgers finished first six times and won the World Series twice.

The O’Malley Dodgers were also at the forefront of the expansion of baseball globally, helping introduce the sport to the Olympics and signing players from Asia when the practice was still in its infancy.

Shown here is Peter O’Malley’s business card as Dodger president.

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In this letter dated July 22, 2021 Peter O’Malley reflects on his family’s nearly half-century stewardship of the Dodger franchise.

“Our family is really fortunate to have so many extraordinary memories of when we were responsible for the Dodgers. My dad was president from 1950-1970 and I followed him as president from 1970-1998, resulting in nearly 50 years of family leadership.”

Peter goes on to share his personal memories of his family’s time with the team.