Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner, and the Dodgers of Brooklyn and Los Angeles

Should have resonance for all Noo Yawkas...

"Forever Blue" certainly resonated for me, but then I spent many a summer afternoon in the President's box at Ebbets field, since his family and mine were very friendly and lived only a couple of blocks apart in Amityville. To further complicate any objectivity I might otherwise have had, I ended up going to high school at Brooklyn Prep (also Gil Hodges' alma mater), a mere three blocks away from Ebbets Field. So that's my full disclosure, and that said, I liked this book objectively: Walter O'Malley has for fifty-plus years been almost universally -- but, of course, especially in Brooklyn -- impugned as the monster who robbed Brooklyn of its pride and joy. I believe it's about time an alternative theory of the universe was postulated, and d'Antonio does a fine job of that in "Forever Blue."

I recommend this book to any sports fan, particularly if you're from NYC, whose mind is open to the possibility that there could conceivably be more than one side to every story. This is the other side of the Dodgers' departure.

Forever Blue- one side of the story, only

D'Antonio's research on the life of Walter O'Malley is interesting and provocative yet one-sided toward the family. He comes up short in a pair of accounts: that Robert Moses is the real villain in the Dodgers (and the Giants) leaving New York City: and that Southern California was ignorant toward baseball until O'Malley and Vince Scully arrived from Brooklyn.

What he also fails to note, and no New York journalist will ever admit, that New York City baseball is extremely overrated. New York was ahead of the field regarding the nation's media hub and it's successes are always overstated (even more so in its coverage of the NBA and the praised gushed on the Knicks, whose two titles in the early 70s are treated like the only 'dynasty' ever in the sport). The NY baseball era from 1947 to 1958 is no better than similar spans in Chicago, St. Louis, Oakland and Baltimore and none of those teams relocated.

His point from O'Malley that major league baseball is a business is valid but it still remains true that O'Malley was first and foremost, greedy. Robert Moses didn't ruin Brooklyn, Brooklyn ruined Brooklyn with a big boost from the most corrupt government in the U.S., led by Walter O'Malley's father himself.

Baseball had thrived in Southern California prior to the Dodgers, an area that developed 10 times as many major leaguers than New York. Vin Scully didn't educate the fans about baseball, he educated them about the Dodgers. D'Antonio fails to note the prior success of the Rams and Lakers, also major league teams, who arrived prior to O'Malley in L.A.

The book is a different perspective but no matter what happened in LA, O'Malley is still the person who moved the Dodgers from their rabid fan base.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Thorough history of the Brooklyn Dodgers

This is a great read for fans of the Dodgers and/or baseball in general. Thorough and detailed history of The O'Malley clan and baseball from the teams inception through the move west. Great info culled from surviving players/execs/family members associated with "The Bums." Highly recommended.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.