Speaker 1: I want to share a very special conversation we had
Speaker 1: tonight with Peter O'Malley. The O'Malley family is synonymous with
Speaker 1: the Dodger family and certainly great to have Peter here
Speaker 1: and his sister Terry Sidler. And this was a very
Speaker 1: candid and intimate conversation I was able to have with
Speaker 1: the great Peter O'Malley after the special pregame ceremony which
Speaker 1: honored his father, Walter O'Malley. And in case you don't
Speaker 1: know the backstory, Walter O'Malley passed away in nineteen seventy nine,
Speaker 1: but Peter O'Malley became the president of the Dodgers in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, so the transition was in place. And
Speaker 1: as a young man, Peter O'Malley started from the very
Speaker 1: bottom and worked his way throughout the organization to really
Speaker 1: know the ins and outs. And here's what mister O'Malley
Speaker 1: had to say about that and many other things surrounding
Speaker 1: the O'Malley family, Walter O'Malley, and the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: And that's the key word that if you're responsible for
Speaker 2: your family or for driving a car with the kids
Speaker 2: in the car, responsibility and that always kind of stuck
Speaker 2: in my mind that if you realize, Hey, Peter, you're
Speaker 2: responsible for this franchise, You're going to get up early,
Speaker 2: you're going to work late, You're going to come in
Speaker 2: here Saturdays and Sundays in the wintertime. So I nobody
Speaker 2: ever asked me for advice, but that's kind of on
Speaker 2: my mind.
Speaker 3: Do you realize how much the O'Malley family meant not
Speaker 3: only to your players, to the staff and the organization,
Speaker 3: but to the city.
Speaker 2: I think I do. I think I'm talking to tell
Speaker 2: you the luncheon. Were you with the luncheon today? No? Okay, Well,
Speaker 2: I had a chance to visit with all them who
Speaker 2: I knew on my watch. I didn't know the fellows
Speaker 2: that came after, but they truly appreciated it was a
Speaker 2: special time. It's going to get greater. The stadium is greater,
Speaker 2: the teams are going to be greater, the players are
Speaker 2: going to be greater. But when we had it, it
Speaker 2: was a special, unique time that everyone looks back at
Speaker 2: with fun. Even living in the barracks at Dodgertown Old
Speaker 2: Navy Barracks, everybody complained no heat, no air conditioning, no telephones,
Speaker 2: the fuse would go. Nobody had electricity. But the next
Speaker 2: morning everybody laughed and said, I survived the night or mosquitoes,
Speaker 2: but you know when it gets hot. No, the reviews
Speaker 2: of that fifty years are pretty good.
Speaker 3: What was Walter O'Malley the father like?
Speaker 2: He was great? You know, he fished together, we hunted together.
Speaker 2: He was honest. He we disagreed, maybe a couple of
Speaker 2: times on something minor. He would hear me out, Okay,
Speaker 2: well why do you want to do that? I would
Speaker 2: tell him and he might say, yeah, I think you're right,
Speaker 2: or well think about this. No it it was a
Speaker 2: frank relationship.
Speaker 3: It seems like you not only took the torch, but
Speaker 3: you ran with it.
Speaker 2: Well. Yes, I thought about going to law school when
Speaker 2: I was an undergraduate at Penn and then I thought, hey,
Speaker 2: I'd like to run a farm team. And the fell
Speaker 2: in Spokane. Spencer Harris, the GM he passed away in
Speaker 2: the winter suddenly and there's an opening General Managers of Spokane, Washington,
Speaker 2: and my dad and Buzzy said would you want to
Speaker 2: do that? And I said sure, So I go to Spokane.
Speaker 2: That was great experience running the tripa a farm team
Speaker 2: in the Coast League. So and then came here vice
Speaker 2: president stadium operations, dealing with the maintenance, the unions, that
Speaker 2: ticket takers and everybody else. So the pattern, if you
Speaker 2: look back at the path, it wasn't by design. It
Speaker 2: just happened to follow the different areas of responsibility, and
Speaker 2: so it worked out.
Speaker 3: Mister O'Malley, the history lesson. We've gotten his, of course
Speaker 3: from the great Vin Scully about not only the Dodgers,
Speaker 3: but your father. And I remember interviewing Vin for the
Speaker 3: first time and he said his two wishes before he left.
Speaker 3: In his words, this mortal coil was that Gil Hodges
Speaker 3: and your father, Walter O'Malley, would get into the Hall
Speaker 3: of Fame.
Speaker 2: That's very true. Well let's take Vinnie first. He really
Speaker 2: wanted Gil in the Hall of Fame, and Gil Vinnie
Speaker 2: wanted Gil to get in the Hall of Fame. And
Speaker 2: I think Vinnie helped. And if you look back at
Speaker 2: Gil's record when he played, his numbers were up there.
Speaker 2: But then after he retired, new numbers, new circumstances. But
Speaker 2: Gil's numbers, in my opinion, should have put him in
Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame quicker before other numbers got not inflated.
Speaker 2: They were earned for different reasons. As far as my goes,
Speaker 2: I think Vinnie lived to see my dad go in
Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame. Yeah he did. Yeah, he was
Speaker 2: alive then. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: He told me that he appreciated when the team was
Speaker 3: moving to Los Angeles that your father did not have
Speaker 3: a secretary call him. He called Vin Scully directly.
Speaker 2: Sure, fifty six trip to Japan. Everybody's got a roommate,
Speaker 2: every ballplayer, doctors, trainers, everybody on the trip. That's the
Speaker 2: way it was in those days, to to a room.
Speaker 2: So my dad says that Peter's going to go with
Speaker 2: us to the fifty six trip to Tokyo. Could he
Speaker 2: room with you? Now? Ever, gracious Vinnie would never say no,
Speaker 2: even if he felt like he's are you kidding, mister Omanley.
Speaker 2: Of course. Now that's where Vinnie and I bonded on
Speaker 2: that fifty six. He wasn't in the room a lot.
Speaker 2: He used in two beds in the room. He was
Speaker 2: out doing his thing. He was a single guy. He
Speaker 2: wanted museums and places of art and drama and all that.
Speaker 2: But yeah, fifty six, that's a long time. That's someone
Speaker 2: he and I are really connected.
Speaker 3: That's amazing Vinny telling.
Speaker 2: That to my dad. Imagine my dad's saying it to
Speaker 2: Vinnie and Vinny saying, of course, mister o'meal you no problem,
Speaker 2: just like what else is new?
Speaker 3: So you mentioned that your dad was somewhat of a
Speaker 3: father figure to Vinnie. So were you Did you have
Speaker 3: a brother type of relationship with him, especially after that trip, I.
Speaker 2: Would say, yeah, brother, Vinnie was ten years older, but yeah,
Speaker 2: brother works, brother works, A good friend works, honest relationship. Vinnie.
Speaker 2: I talked about things that he may not have talked
Speaker 2: to too many people about, honest because he knew me,
Speaker 2: and I think we trusted each other. He told me
Speaker 2: something I'm never going to repeat it.
Speaker 3: I could sit here all day with you. You just mean
Speaker 3: so much to the city and to Dodger fans. The
Speaker 3: O'Malley family is synonymous with Dodger baseball, and family is
Speaker 3: synonymous with the O'Malley So, thank you so much for
Speaker 3: your time, and rightfully so, your father and the O'Malley
Speaker 3: family will always be remembered here.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Just one quick note, my sister and I
Speaker 2: were blessed with great parents. I don't say that too
Speaker 2: often because not everyone is fortunate to have that experience.
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of families are split, divided and
Speaker 2: everything else. But my sister Terry and I grew up
Speaker 2: in a perfect mother, father for people, home support, fun.
Speaker 2: It was remarkable. So I would give my sister Terry
Speaker 2: and I talk about it a lot. I'd give that
Speaker 2: a lot of credit. And I'm lucky. That's a blessing.
Speaker 2: Not everybody else can say that. Sadly, thank you for
Speaker 2: your time, all right, good to be with you.