roy campanella and peter o'malley attended the 1977 all-star game

and, o'malley (in the blue plaid blazer) was apparently starstruck at the sight of commissioner bowie kuhn (with his hand on campanella's shoulder) while campy was decidedly less impressed.  at least that is what this recently acquired 1977-79 sportscaster card has me thinking.

this was the last of the dodger sportscaster cards that i needed.  i had been watching a few versions of it for the past few months, and finally decided to pull the trigger.  it's really a fascinating card.  at first, i assumed that it featured a photo taken at dodger stadium - perhaps during the 1977 or 1978 world series because of kuhn's presence.  to be sure, i did some research on the program that the guy in front of o'malley is holding.  it turned out to be the program from the 1977 all-star game.

so, unless that guy carried that program around with him, the photo was taken in yankee stadium on july 19, 1977.  i don't know who the guy with the program is, but the guy to his left (behind kuhn) looks way familiar.  anybody know who he is?

this is the second card in my collection showing campy in his wheelchair, the other being his 1959 topps symbol of courage card.  in fact, the only cards i have of his from his playing days are a 1955 bowman and the 1957 topps dodger sluggers card.  so, i am now officially setting my sights on his solo 1957 topps card. i'll worry about his '52 high number later.

oh my o'malley! this is just all kinds of awesome!

i will say one nice thing about frank mccourt.  his staff still forwards mail to peter o'malley.  o'malley, of course was the owner of the dodgers prior to the fox regime who then sold the team to mccourt.  o'malley's father, walter, brought the dodgers to california from brooklyn.  peter was the team president before taking over the reins when his father passed away in 1979, and he served as co-owner with his sister until selling the team in 1998.  if i recall correctly, o'malley was concerned about the tax responsibilities for a family-owned franchise, so it seems he comes from a more fiscally responsible background than that of the current owners.  before i come off sounding too much like plaschke, i'll move on.

what i am getting at is that it took only about 2 weeks for this card, a 1978 topps dodgers team card,

to get to dodger stadium, where it was thankfully forwarded to o'malley's office somewhere in la, signed by the former owner, and returned to me.  i am fully stoked.  even though he is not on the card, the o'malleys were obviously a huge part of the team of my youth, and i am very very happy to add this to my collection.

mr. o'malley also included a hall of fame post card of his father

along with a request to 'visit walteromalley.com'.  i have plugged that site before, but it is worth doing again - it is a treasure trove of information for dodger fans.

just for good measure, i'll update my modest 1978 topps dodgers autograph project - here's the tally:

team card (red adams) - through the mail success!
team card (mark cresse) - through the mail success!
team card (john hale) - through the mail success!
team card (peter o'malley) - through the mail success!
team card (boog powell) - through the mail success!
dusty baker - through the mail success!
glenn burke - ebay success!
ron cey - through the mail success!
vic davalillo - ebay success!
terry forster - ebay success!
mike garman - through the mail success!
steve garvey - through the mail success!
ed goodson
jerry grote - through the mail success!
burt hooton - through the mail success!
charlie hough - through the mail success!
tommy john - in person/through the mail success!
lee lacy - through the mail success!
tom lasorda - ebay success!
dave lopes - through the mail success!
ted martinez - ebay success!
rick monday - in person/through the mail success!
manny mota - through the mail success!
johnny oates - ebay success!
doug rau - through the mail success!
lance rautzhan - through the mail success!
rick rhoden - through the mail success!
bill russell - through the mail success!
reggie smith - through the mail success!
elias sosa - through the mail success!
don sutton - through the mail success!
steve yeager - ebay success!
nlcs (davey lopes) - through the mail success!

28/29 = 97%

in all fairness, i must admit that i sent a 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee dodger stadium card to mr. mccourt right after that set was released sometime in 2009.  i haven't heard back.

thanks mr. o'malley!

where are the walter o'malley cards?

baseball cards usually feature players.  that makes sense.  sometimes, though, managers get their own cards.  sometimes, coaches are featured.  topps, for a couple of years, produced cards of the league presidents.  these days, even mascots are getting their own slice of cardboard.  and, thanks to legendary cuts, i own cards of a couple of executives (branch rickey and al campanis) and other pioneers of the sport (such as abner doubleday).  but, while i am bracing myself for some sort of george steinbrenner tribute next year, i don't believe any cards have been made for team owners.  certainly not for walter o'malley.  all he did was help expand the sport.

i had been thinking about making a card of my own for the former dodger owner for quite a while, and finally got around to it in order to send one to mark at stats on the back.  he collects one card of every hall of famer, you see, and didn't have one for o'malley who was enshrined in cooperstown in 2008.  here then is the 1958 topps walter o'malley card that should have been:

keep the dodgers in brooklyn, indeed.

the dodgers moved to los angeles in time for the 1958 season, with o'malley orchestrating the move.  he had taken control of the team at the end of the 1950 season after having first purchased an interest in the team in 1945.  the easy story is that o'malley wanted a new stadium in brooklyn but was rebuffed and los angeles was willing to 'play ball', so to speak, with a land deal.  he convinced the giants to move to the west coast rather than the twin cities, and the rest is history.  it is more complex than that for sure, but you can delve into it at walteromalley.com or some other source at your leisure.

o'malley was at the helm of the dodger ship up until his death in 1979 which means that he was the owner of the team during their 1977/1978 nl championship runs.  so, i also made a card for my 1978 topps burger king/update set:

a nice shot of him in his office overlooking the left field pavilion.

i will steal text directly from the team history section on walteromalley.com to sum up: 

"successful on-field performances were a mainstay during the stable tenure of walter o’malley. in fact, as president of the brooklyn and los angeles dodgers from 1950-70, the dodgers finished in first or second place in the national league 12 out of 19 times. add to that, the 10 years in which o’malley was dodger chairman of the board and the dodger teams finished in first or second place on eight more occasions. with postseason appearances in 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977 and 1978, the dodgers were one of baseball’s most prominent teams in the era. four dodger teams won world championships, including the first and only title in brooklyn in 1955. the other world champion dodger clubs in los angeles included 1959, 1963 and 1965 under walter o’malley’s leadership. while o’malley employed only three managers in 29 years, the dodgers possessed some of baseball’s most recognizable stars, including hall of famers pee wee reese, duke snider, jackie robinson, roy campanella, sandy koufax, don drysdale and don sutton."

here's to you, walter o'malley, and your cards that should have been!