The Dodgers Move West

New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. xii, [2], 252, [6] pages. Illustrations. Notes. Index. Neil J. Sullivan is a Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College - CUNY. He has taught at Baruch since 1978 in courses ranging from introductory American Government, Public Policy and the Culture of Science, Animal Rights and Welfare, and the Capstone course. While playing golf in the summer after receiving tenure, he received a flash from above that he could now write about anything, including why the Dodgers left Brooklyn. Having attended their first game in his boyhood home of Los Angeles, this seemed to be a splendid idea, and it turned into The Dodgers Move West. Subsequent baseball books have included The Minors: The Struggles and the Triumph of Baseball's Poor Relation from 1876 to the Present; The Diamond Revolution: The Prospects for Baseball after the Collapse of Its Ruling Class; and The Diamond in the Bronx: Yankee Stadium and the Politics of New York. For many New Yorkers, the removal of the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1957 remains one of the most traumatic events since World War II. Sullivan's reassessment of a story shifts responsibility for the move onto the local governmental maneuverings that occurred on both sides of the continent. Conventional wisdom has it that Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley cold-heartedly abandoned the devoted Brooklyn fans for the easy money of Los Angeles. Sullivan argues that O'Malley had, in fact, wanted to stay in Brooklyn, hoping to build a new stadium with his own money. Ebbets Field had become obsolete. Yet an uncooperative New York City administration blocked O'Malley's plan to use the ideal site at the Atlantic Avenue Long Island Railroad terminal. A political battle over the Dodgers' move also erupted in Los Angeles. Mayor Poulson's suggestion to use Chavez Ravine as the new stadium site triggered opposition from residents concerned about a giveaway. Eventually a telethon campaign that enlisted the help of celebrities such as Groucho Marx, George Burns, and Ronald Reagan enabled the approval of the deal. This engrossing book offers new insights into the power struggles existing in the nation's two largest cities.