Many felt that O'Malley, who was raised in the Bronx, feared that he was continuing to lose fans to the more successful Yankees. However Buzzie Bavasi, the General Manager of the Dodger at this time had a different perspective. Bavasi recalled a meeting he had in O'Malley's office, where O'Malley asked "Look down there. What do you see? " (Sullivan 111). Bavasi looked out to the welfare office, which was across the street from the office and replied "I see a long line of poor Puerto Rican people getting their welfare checks, " (Sullivan 111). Bavasi continued with "The Puerto Rican part did not bother Walter. What did bother him was the word ˜poor'. By looking out the window, he could see the future. And the future he saw involved too many people without enough money to adequately support the Dodgers. " (Sullivan 111). From both O'Malley's willingness to sign Jackie Robinson, and this interview from Bavasi it is clear that O'Malley was far from a racist. His decision to move did not seem to be at all motivated by the changing racial makeup of Brooklyn and New York in general. He decided to move the beloved Dodgers from Brooklyn to across the country in Los Angeles, because the middle class was leaving Brooklyn as well. The late 1940s and early 1950s saw a major influx in suburbs and automobiles. The mostly white middle class that had made up the majority of the population of New York was leaving the city for the suburbs in droves. With this white flight and influx in poverty all around New York, the Yankees and baseball were faced with a new decision, the issue of integration.
Looking at Walter O'Malley's stint as an owner in the MLB he had one of the leagues most successful franchises and also one of the most profitable. Though one decision he was a part of, not as an owner but as chief legal counsel to the Dodgers, is looked back on as one of the defining moments in the history of professional sports.
