Wagner-Cashmore plan to build a $30-million downtown Brooklyn

Wagner-Cashmore plan to build a $30-million downtown Brooklyn

ByTom

  February 6, 1956 – Supporting the Wagner-Cashmore plan to build a $30-million downtown Brooklyn, NY sports center, Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley promises to buy four million dollars worth of bonds. The proposed legislation, which will be passed and signed by New York Governor Averill Harriman in April, becomes irrelevant due to a lack of…

Walter OMalley

Walter OMalley shows off a domed stadium idea 1955

ByTom

Walter O’Malley, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, wanted to build a domed stadium in Brooklyn with Buckminster Fuller, designer of the geodesic dome. It was to replace Ebbets Field and be where the Barclay Center is now. Robert Moses and New York City denied the project. The rest is history, but imagine if… “Walter O’Malley…

Red Barber resigns as a Brooklyn Dodger broadcaster and will take the ‘catbird’ seat with the rival New York Yankees

Red Barber resigns as a Brooklyn Dodger broadcaster and will take the ‘catbird’ seat with the rival New York Yankees

ByThis Day in Baseball

Red Barber resigns as a Brooklyn Dodger broadcaster and will take the ‘catbird’ seat with the rival New York Yankees. The ‘Old Redhead’ is reported to have left the team because he was upset with Brooklyn owner Walter O’Malley, who refused to support him when he failed to get a higher fee from Gillette, the sponsor of the 1953 World Series on television.

Norma Bel Geddes
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Norman Bel Geddes designs a 5,000 seat complex for the Brooklyn Dodgers in Vero Beach, Florida

ByTom

1952 – Norman Bel Geddes, after designing a 5,000 seat complex for the Brooklyn Dodgers in Vero Beach, Florida, states that team owner Walter O’Malley has asked for a stadium design for the team. It is to have a retractable dome, garage, automatic hotdog vending machines, and artificial turf that can be painted in different colors.

Representative Emanuel Celler’s committee finds multi million dollar difference from Walter O’Malley’s numbers

Representative Emanuel Celler’s committee finds multi million dollar difference from Walter O’Malley’s numbers

ByBaseball

1951 – Representative Emanuel Celler’s committee issues financial data from 1945-1949 that differs with Walter O’Malley’s numbers. According to Celler, the Brooklyn Dodgers made a profit of 2.364 million dollars in the five-year period. The Dodgers’ “loss” of $129,318 in 1950 included a $167,000 loss due to the promotion of the Brooklyn Dodgers professional football team. In his continuing investigation into antitrust violations, Celler says that evidence in his committee suggests altering the reserve clause in that it does limit players.

Branch Rickey signs a five-year deal with the Pirates to be the club’s executive vice president and general manager

Branch Rickey signs a five-year deal with the Pirates to be the club’s executive vice president and general manager

ByTom

Branch Rickey signs a five-year deal with the Pirates to be the club’s executive vice president and general manager. The ‘Mahatma’s’ magic doesn’t seem to work, as the Bucs will compile a 269-501 record (.349) during his tenure in Pittsburgh.

Walter O'malley

Walter O’Malley succeeds Branch Rickey as president of the Dodgers

ByThis Day in Baseball

Walter O’Malley succeeds Branch Rickey as president of the Dodgers. O’Malley, who had offered to buy Rickey’s share of the club to become majority owner, is forced to pay more money when ‘the Mahatma’, in a final act of defiance about being told to leave the organization, offers his share of the team to a friend for a million dollars, a deal the new president believes, but can’t prove, to be as “fraudulent as a four-dollar bill.”