Franchise-moving is nothing new — not exactly — a higher-than-higher high-tech invention.
So why are so many people getting huffy-miffy about the Rams vacating St. Louis for Los Angeles.
OK, it doesn’t happen every day, but it sure happens every century; many many times.
I was a Brooklynite — born and bred — when the Brooks’ won the World Series in 1955.
The celebration wasn’t as keen or meaningful than V-J Day ending World War II, but it sure seemed as if the Dodgers would remain in King’s County as long as the tide changed at Coney Island.
What prompted Walter O’Malley to give two million Brooklynites heartburn by transporting his franchise to Los Angeles?
There are two versions; each plausible, because they involved two men — the other being Robert Moses — who as easily stamp on the…show more content… The thinking was that if Moses as the city’s unequivocal power broker, could allocate space for a new ballpark in Downtown Brooklyn, O’Malley would’ve kept the club at the Flatbush-Atlantic Avenue Hub.
But, Moses wanted the ballpark built in Flushing Meadow, not far from Citi Field. And who wants a team called “the Queens Dodgers?”
The second version, exonerates Moses and puts the onus on O’Malley who easily would be a strong contender for as the World’s biggest money-grubber. Someone once told me that O’Malley believed that he was a direct descendant of King Midas.
In any event, many believe that, no matter what was said, O’Malley was destined to move, because of a fabulous offer he couldn’t refuse from the LA people.
My pal, Rudd, who worked with O’Malley — alias “The Boss” — put it this way about the move:
“I’m convinced that the boss doesn’t want to go to California, if he can get a good deal in Brooklyn. And he figures he can squeeze a bargain out of Wagner that will give him enough reason to
