Walter O’Malley, the longtime owner of the Brooklyn and later Los Angeles Dodgers, has signed this Rawlings Official League ball. O’Malley assumed full ownership of the Dodgers in 1950, having served as the team’s lawyer for a number of years. O’Malley proved a deft owner for the ballclub, signing Sandy Koufax in 1954 and presiding over Brooklyn’s lone World Series triumph, a seven-game battle against the hated New York Yankees in the fall of 1955.

1955 would be O’Malley’s last great hurrah in Brooklyn, as it was his controversial maneuverings that shifted the Dodgers to the opposite coast in 1958. While the Dodgers adjusted well to their new digs, defeating the Chicago White Sox in the 1959 Fall Classic, this was a move that changed baseball forever and ushered in the new, modern era of cross-country baseball. O’Malley owned the Dodgers until his death in 1979, at which time his son, Peter, took the reins of the ballclub. The elder O’Malley has signed the sweet spot of this ball in red liquid ink roller, creating a visually pleasing signature that rivals that of any MLB All-Star. A truly unique item in that research indicates that there have only been three single-signed O'Malley baseballs up for sale since 2003. Known examples like this ball are in the single digits and it is accompanied by a LOA from JSA (Z83463).

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