Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner,and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles [Hardcover]

Michael D'Antonio (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 19, 2009

Resented by some in New York and beloved in Los Angeles, O’Malley is one of the most controversial owners in the history of American sports. He remade major league baseball and altered the course of history in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles when he moved the Dodgers to California. But while many New York critics attacked him, O’Malley looked to the future, declining to argue his case. As a result, fans across the nation have been unable to stop arguing about him – until now. Using never-before-seen documents and candid interviews with O’Malley’s players, associates, and relatives, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael D’ Antonio finally reveals this complex sportsman and industry pioneer. Born into Tammany Hall connections, O’Malley used political contacts to grow wealthy during the Great Depression, and then maneuvered to take control of the formerly downtrodden Dodgers. After his defeat in a war of wills with the famed power broker Robert Moses, O’Malley uprooted the borough’s team and transplanted them to Los Angeles. Once in Los Angeles, O’Malley overcame opponents of his stadium and helped define the city. Other owners came to regard him as their un-official commissioner as he worked behind the scenes to usher in the age of the players’ union and free agency. Filled with new revelations about O’Malley’s battle with Moses, his pioneering business strategies, and his relationship with Jackie Robinson, Forever Blue is a fascinating history of baseball, business, and the American West.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although Walter O'Malley has been dead for nearly 30 years, D'Antonio's latest work is perhaps the most meticulously detailed and comprehensive account to date of the former owner of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. Through research in O'Malley's letters, documents and myriad interviews with those close to him, D'Antonio (Tin Cup Dreams) presents a well-rounded portrayal of one of the most polarizing figures in baseball history: one New York writer referred to O'Malley as one of the three worst human beings who ever lived, while a Los Angeles journalist described O'Malley as a man who did more for baseball than any commissioner. D'Antonio paints the whole picture, starting with O'Malley's early days as a lawyer who originally began working with the club in a troubleshooting capacity, to taking total control of ownership in 1950. During O'Malley's tenure with the Dodgers, the team had some of its most famous moments in history—the debut of Jackie Robinson, the club's first World Series title in 1955 and, of course, the team's infamous move to Los Angeles. D'Antonio explores everything—O'Malley's business dealings, his personal relationships with Robinson and Branch Rickey, the on-the-field fortunes of the Dodgers. With D'Antonio's access to O'Malley's most personal documents, even baseball historians will find something to learn. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* New York writer Jack Newfield called Walter O’Malley one of the three worst people who ever lived. The others were Hitler and Stalin. O’Malley’s transgression? He moved Brooklyn’s beloved Dodgers across the country to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. D’Antonio was accorded unprecedented access to more than 30,000 documents previously unreleased by O’Malley’s heirs. Additionally, he conducted hundreds of interviews with O’Malley’s family and associates, many who spoke about O’Malley for the first time. The O’Malley he reveals here is neither hero nor villain—sorry, Mr. Newfield—but rather an extraordinarily astute businessman and baseball visionary. After working for the Dodgers for years, O’Malley was able to buy the team but at unfavorable terms due to a struggle for control with another potential owner. He had no animus toward Brooklyn; the move to Los Angeles was his best business option. He also opened the door to baseball’s expansion from a strictly east-of the-Mississippi endeavor to a coast-to-coast enterprise. There are also revealing personal insights. For example, O’Malley’s wife essentially lost her ability to speak during their courtship. He never wavered in his devotion, and she communicated for the rest of her life through notes, facial expressions, and slight whispers. This is a wonderfully readable, insightful, and—for anyone interested in baseball history—important biography of the man who forever changed the course of the game in America. --Wes Lukowsky

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover; First Edition edition (March 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594488568
• ISBN-13: 978-1594488566
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,008,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Besides the influence of family and growing-up experiences in small town New Hampshire I have been most affected by two people I met in college, my wife Toni and my first mentor, writer Donald Murray. Both have encouraged me to express my creativity, connect with others, and find ways to serve. They understood intuitively what I later found expressed so well by Viktor Frankl in Man's Search for Meaning. I've found that if I don't take maysellf too seriously, and add a little silliness, it's a pretty good recipe.
Today I live in Long Island, not far from the sound. I have two grown daughters, Amy and Elizabeth, who have becopme the other great influences on my life.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Rehabilitation of Walter F. O'Malley April 26, 2009

By W. C HALL VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The writers Pete Hamill and Jack Newfield one night decided each would make a list of the three most evil people in history. When they compared the results, both lists had the same names: Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin and the former owner of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, Walter Francis O'Malley.

Non-baseball fans would no doubt be puzzled by O'Malley's inclusion on the list. But any lover of the game, especially a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, understood the hatred of O'Malley, who had taken the Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1958. In the half-century since, O'Malley has been branded a greedy villain who did more than move a franchise. He was the man who tore the heart out of Brooklyn.

Efforts by O'Malley's descendants and others to rehabilitate his reputation reach their zenith with Michael D'Antonio's new biography of O'Malley, which was produced with the full cooperation of O'Malley's children. I have read extensively in the field of baseball history, especially New York baseball history, and have encountered a lot about O'Malley, but always as a secondary character. It this volume, he takes front and center. I learned a lot about the man I didn't know before, especially his life before he began doing legal work for the Dodgers.

The O'Malley who emerges in these pages isn't a saint, but he fares far better than he does in most baseball literature. The idea that New York power broker Robert Moses was the true villain in the loss of the Dodgers isn't new--books by Neil Sullivan and Michael Shapiro also support that thesis--but it receives reinforcement here. O'Malley earns plaudits for his vision in bringing baseball to the west coast, for building a ballpark that's still considered one of the best, for supporting the player's early unionization efforts; and for his leadership of the game through times of turmoil. If O'Malley was guilty of anything, D'Antonio seems to conclude, it was destroying the myth that professional baseball was a sport, not a business (and in his view that's not entirely a bad thing).

O'Malley finally earned a plaque in the baseball Hall of Fame last year. Hamill still wasn't convinced that he deserved absolution, and this volume isn't likely to win him over either. But other fans may be persuaded to rethink their distaste for O'Malley.--William C. Hall

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars It was victory in defeat! April 10, 2009

By jasby

Format:Hardcover

No one ever beat Robert Moses but Walter O'Malley was certainly a winner in the contest that pushed him out of his beloved Brooklyn. I was a Brooklyn Dodger fan as a kid. The book was slow in capturing me, but it did happen in chapter six which recapped the 1951 pennant race. From that point I was totally involved. D'Antonio was very kind to O'Malley and the O'Malley family. Perhaps, too kind. This is certainly a book worth reading if you are interested in baseball history. You get a glimpse into the politics of New York and the incomparable Robert Moses. Moses is a subject of study all to himself. See THE POWER BROKER by Robert A. Caro.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars D'Antonio's FOREVER BLUE take us behind the headlines to the story of the people December 13, 2009

By C. A. Webb TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I have always felt that the true test for a writer is to take us beyond what we think we know about a subject, and reveal something that makes it more than a story and something more real. Michael D'Antonio has achieved this feat with FOREVER BLUE. Whatever you thought you knew about the players involved, the book takes you into dimensions that make the story more about people and how actions can set in motion a course that would have ripple effects for years to come. Bravo!