Book Review: Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner

Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles
Michael D'Antonio
Riverhead, 2010
400 pp.

In the hearts of Brooklyn baseball fans, the name Walter O'Malley evokes painful memories of the Dodgers being uprooted from Ebbets Field and moving to the far extremes of the West Coast. For the citizens of Los Angeles, O'Malley represents a forward thinking visionary who lead the progress of Major League Baseball to grow with our nation's westward expansion.

In "Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles", Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael D'Antonio paints an in-depth account of O'Malley's life that goes beyond the Dodgers moving out of Brooklyn.

D'Antonio explores how O'Malley ascended the ranks as the son of a Tammany Hall pol to become one of the most influential lawyers for the Brooklyn Trust Company. It was there with the Brooklyn Trust Company that O'Malley would enter the foray of Brooklyn Dodger ownership, buying shares of the company in 1944.

Great and exciting detail is given to how O'Malley positioned himself to purchase the controlling shares of the Brooklyn Dodgers, including those of general manager Branch Rickey. With complete control of the Dodgers ballclub, he lobbied tirelessly to keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn. It is during this period that he would meet his greatest rival, Robert Moses, the powerful head of city planning. The two would engage in an embattled series of exchanges that would eventually lead O'Malley looking to California's greener pastures.

For the truly die-hard Brooklyn Dodger fans, the story might as well end here, as they could no longer cope with seeing the Dodger Blue wear jerseys that represented such a far away city. For the readers of "Forever Blue ..." this is just where the story picks up, as O'Malley has his own set of challenges moving the Dodgers to Los Angeles. See how he maneuvers through various lawsuits and city referendums before being able to build Dodger Stadium to the tune of $20 million.

D'Antonio does his best to devillify O'Malley as the leading cause for the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn. He is presented as a sharp businessman who dealt heavily with the politicos of his time to advance the positioning of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The book drags initially with an overload of information on O'Malley's upbringing and formative years. While necessary to develop the scope of O'Malley's persona, the real crux of the action begins when O'Malley gains his first stake in the Dodgers and continues his maneuvers until he has complete control of the ballclub.  It is at this point where baseball fans will take interest in the rest of the details of his journey.