Peter O'Malley

Peter O'Malley
Peter O'Malley in July 2008
Born	(1937-12-12) December 12, 1937 (age 79) Brooklyn, New York
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business (1960)
Occupation	Former President and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers
Parent(s)	Walter Francis O'Malley Katherine Elizabeth Hanson (1907–1979)

Peter O'Malley (born December 12, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York) was the owner (1979–98) and president (1970–98) of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball.

He was born at Carson C. Peck Memorial Hospital on December 12, 1937 to long-time Dodger owner Walter Francis O'Malley (1903–79) and Katherine Elizabeth "Kay" Hanson (1907–79). Peter has a sister, Theresa "Terry" O'Malley Seidler (born 1933), who was co-owner of the team.

He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was president of his fraternity Phi Gamma Delta, and from the Wharton School of Business in 1960. In 1962, Peter was named the director of Dodgertown, the team's spring training headquarters located in Vero Beach, Florida. In 1965, he became general manager of the minor league Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League, where many future Dodger stars and coaches were on the roster.

He subsequently moved to the major league club as director of stadium operations and then executive vice president. Peter took over the presidency of the Dodgers from his father in 1970, and became owner when his father died in 1979. On March 19, 1998, Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation acquired the team for what was alternately reported as $311 million or $350 million. This was the highest price ever paid for a US sports franchise at the time.

Peter O'Malley relinquished the club presidency to become chairman and CEO; he resigned those posts at the end of the 1998 baseball season. Murdoch appointed NewsCorp subsidiary's Fox Television executives to oversee the Dodgers, with mixed results. The sale was reported as an estate and tax planning move for the O'Malley family, as Terry had ten children and Peter three. None had immediately emerged as a candidate to succeed Peter, and he acknowledged that the new economics of the game had dictated that the days of family baseball ownership, without support of a separate corporation, were largely over. NewsCorp sold the Dodgers in 2004 for $430 million to Frank McCourt, a Boston developer.