brooklyndodgermemories

Money, Money, Money, yes he knew expansion was probably coming and he wanted to get to the candy store first before anyone else.

Absolutly O'Malley wanted to get there first.In fact O'Malley along with NL president Warren Giles gave New York to the Yankees and the American League in exchange for exclusive rights in LA. Only when Branch Rickey threatened to start a 3rd major league with a team in New York City did he relent and in exchange for the american league allowing a new National league team in New York, the american league was allowed a team in LA.

I was happy to hear about the Continental league as a kid knowing that we'd get a team back in NY. It probably would have been a good league after awhile the same way it worked for both football and basketball. The one thing I wonder, were Branch Rickey's motives more then just baseball, was he looking to get back at O'M.

I think that is why MLB "caved in"......anything that had Branch Rickey's fingerprints on it was VALID, and therefore a threat.

Yes they had alot of credibility and probably would have pulled alot of players over to their new league with higher salaries sort like the AFL or the ABA.

O'Malley basically ran the National League in those days.The last thing he wanted was for Branch Rickey to be back in baseball in New York. Thats why he reluctantly agreed to swap rights in New York for rights in LA with the American League. Remember in those days the two leagues were separate entities, unlike today.

I think Rickey wanted to get back at O'M badly, I didn't know he had to allow American league in LA but NY and LA have supported 2 teams well over the last 47 years. What do you think would have happened had the Dodgers stayed in Brooklyn, would the Giants have moved to the twin cities, would expansion still taken place so quickly.

I think if the Dodgers had stayed, the Giants would have gone to Minny. The west coast was gonna get MLB by 1961 at the latest. The Giants would have tried (maybe) to return to NY (you know they looked into that move back in 1970 or around then). O'Malley would have blocked that attempt no doubt.

I didn't know the Giants were looking to move back to NY, they were never as successful as the Dodgers were in LA in San Fran, I wonder why they've stayed so long out there

It is a fact that Horace Stoneham was complaining that he was drawing 600,000 while the Mets were gettin' 2,000,000. He lamented the fact that he moved. Giants' fans like RalphZigTyko have written posts at BBF and in his blog that the Giants investigated returning to NY.

In those days all the National League teams had to okay a franchise shift. After the 1956 season, Stoneham asked for permission to move to Minneapolis, and was turned down. We now know why, the Giants were turned down, O'Malley had other ideas. Minneapolis would have made perfect sense for the The Giants, they owned territorial rights, and were well known due to having their AAA team there. Had the Giants been granted permission to move to Minneapolis, perhaps then the Washington Senators move to LA instead of the Dodgers. Of course we now know that O'Malley wanted out of Brooklyn to escape the shadow of Branch Rickey and would probably moved somewhere else. The Dodgers had a farm team in St. Paul, but I don't think that area would have been able to support 2 teams.