Under the leadership of Peter O’Malley, President of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1970-1998, the Dodgers made nine postseason appearances; won the 1981 and 1988 World Championships; captured five National League Pennants; had the best record in the N.L; won the Topps’ Minor League Organization of the Year award four times; and had five consecutive N.L. Rookies of the Year from 1992-96.
From 2012-18, O’Malley was Chairman, Historic Dodgertown – Vero Beach, Florida, the site of Dodger Spring Training from 1948-2008. In December, 2018, Major League Baseball succeeded O’Malley, signing a long-term lease with Indian River County and renaming the site “Jackie Robinson Training Complex” on April 2, 2019. In 1948, Dodgertown became MLB’s first fully-integrated spring training site in the South, as all Dodgers, including Robinson, were housed, dined and played together on property. In 1962, as Dodgertown Director, despite local opposition, O’Malley integrated Holman Stadium.
O’Malley succeeded his father, Walter, the Baseball Hall of Fame executive, as Dodger President on March 17, 1970. During his presidency, Dodger Stadium was renowned for its beauty, family-friendly ticket prices and a clean, safe environment for fans, who attended in major league record numbers. When the Dodgers retired Robinson’s uniform number 42 at Dodger Stadium in 1972, O’Malley had a lengthy discussion with Robinson who was seeking equality for Blacks in baseball, and Jackie publicly expressed his appreciation to O’Malley for his attitude to help.
On three occasions, the Dodgers were selected as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work for in America.” They were the only sports franchise designated with that honor, twice in book form and once in Fortune. O’Malley was featured on the April 12, 1982 cover of Forbes. In 1987, a benefit, hosted by O’Malley, began JRF’s first major endowment fund campaign.
O’Malley’s commitment to baseball’s worldwide growth is unparalleled, including advocating for years the inclusion of the sport in the Olympic Games (which came to fruition in 1992) and player signings from foreign countries, which opened the door for new talent markets. O’Malley privately built youth and adult baseball fields in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China (1986); Managua, Nicaragua (1992) and Dublin, Ireland (1998), while creating a state-of-the-art baseball academy in the Dominican Republic (1987). In 2015, O’Malley received the highest honor by a non-Japanese civilian from the government of Japan for his more than 60 years of friendship through baseball.
