Peter O'Malley

For other people named Peter O'Malley, see Peter O'Malley (disambiguation).

Peter O'Malley
O'Malley at Dodger Stadium in 2015
Born	(1937-12-12) December 12, 1937 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business
Occupation(s)	Former President and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers
Spouse	Annette Zacho ​ ​ (m. 1971; died 2023)​
Children	3
Parents	Walter O'Malley (father) Katherine "Kay" Hanson (mother)
Relatives	Terry O'Malley Seidler (sister) Peter Seidler (nephew)
Baseball career
Career highlights and awards
As president 2× World Series champion (1981, 1988)

Peter O'Malley (born December 12, 1937) is an American former owner (1979–98) and president (1970–98) of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He currently is a part-owner of the San Diego Padres since 2012.

Early life

O'Malley was born at Carson C. Peck Memorial Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, to long-time Dodger owner Walter Francis O'Malley (1903–79) and Katherine Elizabeth "Kay" Hanson (1907–79). He has a sister, Therese "Terry" O'Malley (born 1933), who was co-owner of the team.

O'Malley graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was president of his fraternity Phi Gamma Delta, and from the Wharton School of Business in 1960.

Career

Los Angeles Dodgers

In 1962, O'Malley was named the director of Dodgertown, the team's spring training headquarters located in Vero Beach, Florida. In 1965, he became president and general manager of the minor league Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League, where many future Dodger stars and coaches were on the roster.

In 1967 O'Malley moved to the major league club as vice president of stadium operations and in 1969, as executive vice president. He took over the presidency of the Dodgers from his father on March 17, 1970. His father, Walter, who had been Dodger Chairman of the Board since that date, died on August 9, 1979.

O'Malley has been widely credited with running the Dodgers as a professional, highly respected and emulated organization, operated with consistent methods and values, encompassing a style known as "The Dodger Way." Among his unique business practices were treating his staff to ice cream at 2 p.m. every day the Dodgers were in first place, freshly baked cookies on sell-out games and overseas trips in the offseason after particularly successful years. In 1997, Fortune magazine named the Dodgers as the only sports franchise selected as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work for in America." It was the third time the team had received the recognition after being named in books of that title in 1984 and 1993.

On March 19, 1998, Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation (then the parent company of the Fox Television Network) acquired the team for what was alternately reported as $311 million or $350 million (equivalent to $540 to $610 million in 2023). This was the highest price ever paid for a US sports franchise at the time.

O'Malley relinquished the club presidency to become Dodger chairman of the board; he resigned that post at the end of the 1998 baseball season. Murdoch appointed NewsCorp subsidiary's Fox Television executives to oversee the Dodgers, with mixed results. The sale was reported as an estate and tax planning move for the O'Malley family, as Terry had ten children and Peter three. None had immediately emerged as a candidate to succeed Peter, and he acknowledged that the new economics of the game had dictated that the days of family baseball ownership, without support of a separate corporation, were largely over. NewsCorp sold the Dodgers in 2004 for $430 million (equivalent to $660 million in 2023) to Frank McCourt, a Boston developer.

Growth of international baseball

Hallmarks of O'Malley's baseball career were his contribution to baseball's introduction as an Olympic sport, and his years of promotion of baseball globally, particularly in Latin America, Japan, and China, where a donation he made provided for construction of the country's first baseball stadium in 1986. Named Dodger Stadium, it is in the coastal city of Tianjin. He also funded the building of the O'Malley baseball fields in Managua, Nicaragua (1992), and Corkagh Park in Clondalkin, West Dublin, Ireland (1998), considered the main home of Irish baseball. He believed that these initiatives would bolster baseball's popularity around the world, while also benefiting both the Dodgers and the future of American baseball in general.

O'Malley was also deeply involvement in the U.S. Little League program as longtime chairman of the Little League Foundation.

NFL stadium plans

In 1996, after earlier consideration and partly owing to a phone call from Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan on August 22, 1995, at 3:25 p.m., O'Malley met with NFL officials to discuss the possible construction of a football-only stadium on Dodger-owned property surrounding Dodger Stadium. His plan offered solutions to a number of problems faced by the NFL in locating a team in Los Angeles, following the departure of both the Rams and the Raiders. First, it provided for scarce, centrally-located land. Second, the proposal came attached to highly regarded, established sports franchise management via the O'Malley involvement. Third, like Dodger Stadium, the new facility would be privately financed, and thus not entangled in lengthy municipal funding debates. Fourth, the plan called for alignment with an expansion team, meaning that no existing franchise would have to be moved.

Published reports indicated that O'Malley spent upwards of $1 million on an initial round of architectural renderings, land use studies and environmental impact research, and quickly garnered substantial support among NFL owners who would have to vote their approval. As meetings continued over the next year, O'Malley received a call from Mayor Riordan, asking him to cease pursuit of the NFL franchise. The city had decided that the team should play in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, already more than 70 years old, and absent any of the considerable amenities now standard in NFL stadiums. O'Malley reluctantly shelved his work and withdrew, noting that while he believed strongly in the viability of his proposal, "you can't fight City Hall." The Rams, however, would return to Los Angeles from St. Louis in 2016; a year later, the Chargers also relocated to Los Angeles from San Diego.

Purchase of the San Diego Padres

On November 2, 2011, one day after the announcement that Frank McCourt would be selling the Dodgers, O'Malley expressed interest in repurchasing his former team. He withdrew his bid on February 21, 2012. In August 2012, O'Malley formed a partnership with Ron Fowler, nephews Tom and Peter Seidler, and sons Brian and Kevin O'Malley which purchased the San Diego Padres.

At the time of the purchase, O'Malley's nephew said that O'Malley, the team's minority owner, would serve as a "sounding board and patriarch" for team's front office.

Personal life

O'Malley was married to Annette Zacho from 1971 until her death on July 20, 2023. They had three children together: daughter Katherine, and sons Brian and Kevin who were part of the group who purchased the Padres.

Honours

• Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon (2015)
• Named an “Honorary Citizen of Tianjin of the People’s Republic of China” by the People’s Government of Tianjin (1991)
• Appointed member, Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee Board of Directors (1979)
• Inducted into the Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame, New York (2013)
• Medallion of Merit from the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Los Angeles (2013)

External links

Media related to Peter O'Malley at Wikimedia Commons