Portal:Philadelphia/Selected biography/July 2008

80px|left|Walter Francis O'Malley. Walter O'Malley was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1979 and who was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He served as the Dodgers' chief legal counsel when Jackie Robinson broke the racial color barrier in 1947. In 1958, as the Dodgers' owner, he brought major league baseball to the West Coast, moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and coordinating the move of the New York Giants to San Francisco at a time when there were no teams west of Missouri. For this, he was long vilified by Brooklyn Dodgers fans. However, neutral parties have called him a visionary for the same business action, and many authorities cite him as one of the most influential sportsmen of the 20th century. His detractors say that he was no visionary, just a man who was in the right place at the right time, yet still regard him as the most powerful and influential owner in baseball after moving the team. O'Malley's Irish father, Edwin Joseph O'Malley, was politically connected. Walter, a University of Pennsylvania salutatorian, went on to earn a Juris Doctor, and he used the combination of his family connections, his personal contacts, and his educational and vocational skills to rise to prominence. First, he became an entrepreneur involved in public works contracting, and then he became an executive with the Dodgers. He rose from the team's lawyer to the Dodgers' owner and president, and he eventually made the decision to relocate the franchise. Although he moved the team, O'Malley is known as a businessman whose major philosophy was stability through loyalty to and from his employees. During the 1975 season, the Dodgers' inability to negotiate a contract with Andy Messersmith led to the Seitz decision, which limited the baseball reserve clause and paved the way for modern free agency. O'Malley ceded the team presidency to his son, Peter, in 1970 but held the titles of owner and chairman until his death in 1979, when he bequeathed the team to his children Peter O'Malley and Therese O'Malley Seidler.