Peter O’Malley Bows Out of Dodgers Auction

Yesterday afternoon Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reported that Peter O’Malley has withdrawn his bid for ownership of the Dodgers. A favorite amongst the bidder pool here at Lasorda’s Lair (10% of voters chose O’Malley in our poll-5th overall), the O’Malley family owned the Dodgers for 47 years before selling the team to FOX for $350 million in 1998. The Dodgers clinched all six of their World Championships under the O’Malley reign.

O’Malley had made it through the first round of bidding, and he had aligned himself with the South Korean conglomerate E-Land. The 11 bidders who made it through to the next step in the sale process were asked to submit a new offer this week. Shaikin’s source said that O’Malley was concerned that his highest offer would likely not be enough. The remaining bidders will be whittled down to five come Thursday.

Son of Walter O’Malley, Peter took over ownership of the Dodgers in 1979 when his father passed away. His professionalism and the respectable way he ran the organization was dubbed “The Dodger Way.” It is said that he would treat his staff to ice cream  every day at 2:00 pm when the Dodgers were in first place. Ice cream aside, Peter O’Malley did his best to continue his father’s Dodger legacy. Although some have criticized his decisions during his later years at the helm, his good intentions cannot be questioned.

The 74-year old Brooklyn born O’Malley has publicly criticized Frank McCourt in the past, and he called for him to sell the team. We welcomed the idea of O’Malley being able to restore and preserve Dodger tradition that has been sadly tarnished during the McCourt era. Out of all the bidders, O’Malley would have had the best interest of the Dodgers at heart.

O’Malley has said that he still would like to help with the new ownership transition. We hope that whoever the new owner will be, he will take him up on the offer.