The man who orchestrated the Brooklyn Dodgers’ move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles will be enshrined in Cooperstown.
Walter O’Malley was among five old-time baseball figures elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee Monday.
He assumed control of the Dodgers in 1950, and oversaw the development of a team that won four pennants and its first World Series soon after.
But O’Malley, who passed away in 1979, is best known for moving the team out west when he could not secure funding for a new stadium in Brooklyn.
Among the Brooklynites who are steaming over the news is Borough President Marty Markowitz. He says even 50 years later, the loss of the Dodgers is still a sore subject.
“This is the way the Baseball Hall of Fame shows respect to Brooklyn? I just would say ‘fuggetaboutit!'” said Markowitz. “The truth of the matter is that Robert O’Malley along with Robert Moses were the major reasons why our beloved team was taken out of Brooklyn, thereby hurting and breaking the hearts of Brooklynites for generations to come.”
As a compromise, Markowitz suggests that the Baseball Hall of fame also admit Gil Hodges, the Dodgers first baseman. Hodges hit at least 30 home runs for five consecutive seasons and played in six World Series with the Dodgers.
