2,790 Miles

[BornthedaythebumswontheWS]

Mapquest indicates that it is 2,790 driving miles from 55 Sullivan Place (the official address of old Ebbets Field), in Brooklyn, NY, to 1000 Elysian Park Ave. (the address of Dodger Stadium), in Los Angeles, CA.

A similar search reveals that the only two MLB cities that are *farther* away from Brooklyn, are San Diego, and Seattle. (Even San Francisco is not as far as LA.)

By looking at a map of the United States, it appears that Walter O'Malley was attempting to get the Dodgers as distantly removed from Brooklyn as he possibly could, while still keeping the team in the continental US.

How complicit were LA officials, in encouraging this transition; or was it only old Walter who wanted to get as remote from home as possible?

[penncentralpete]

Mapquest indicates that it is 2,790 driving miles from 55 Sullivan Place (the official address of old Ebbets Field), in Brooklyn, NY, to 1000 Elysian Park Ave. (the address of Dodger Stadium), in Los Angeles, CA.

A similar search reveals that the only two MLB cities that are *farther* away from Brooklyn, are San Diego, and Seattle. (Even San Francisco is not as far as LA.)

By looking at a map of the United States, it appears that Walter O'Malley was attempting to get the Dodgers as distantly removed from Brooklyn as he possibly could, while still keeping the team in the continental US.

How complicit were LA officials, in encouraging this transition; or was it only old Walter who wanted to get as remote from home as possible?

"MATHA" has covered this (and covered it well) many times throughout these threads. LA officials were more than complicit.

[The Real McCoy]

How complicit were LA officials, in encouraging this transition;

approximately 300 acres worth

[BornthedaythebumswontheWS]

approximately 300 acres worth
Did MLB think a west-coast team was worth it, at whatever cost? Did they think that NYC was over-saturated with teams?

Did they have any concept of expansion in 1958? I know that by '61 the AL expanded; and then the NL, in '62. Maybe they were willing to sacrifice Brooklyn, so as to get a team westward, beyond St. Louis.

[theAmazingMet]

Did MLB think a west-coast team was worth it, at whatever cost? Did they think that NYC was over-saturated with teams?

Did they have any concept of expansion in 1958? I know that by '61 the AL expanded; and then the NL, in '62. Maybe they were willing to sacrifice Brooklyn, so as to get a team westward, beyond St. Louis.

Yes they did. The ultimate goal of MLB was for each city to have only one team, thereby acquiring a monoploy in that market. Teams like the Yankees, Phillies, Cardinals and Red Sox were only too happy when they were left standing alone in each market. This plus O'Money's greed, and Stoneham's incompetence led to the two storied NY teams leaving the biggest market on the earth for the left coast. As far as expansion, it doesn't seem to be a reality as LA, SF and other west coast cities could have supported (obviously) a MLB team, but no expansion was ever planned. I don't know whether or not an agreement existed between the PCL and MLB regarding non-expansion into these markets. Maybe MLB liked the number of teams and wanted to keep the games and schedules the same. I'm just speculating here, maybe others have concrete facts on the subject.

[BornthedaythebumswontheWS]

Yes they did. The ultimate goal of MLB was for each city to have only one team, thereby acquiring a monoploy in that market. Teams like the Yankees, Phillies, Cardinals and Red Sox were only too happy when they were left standing alone in each market. This plus O'Money's greed, and Stoneham's incompetence led to the two storied NY teams leaving the biggest market on the earth for the left coast. As far as expansion, it doesn't seem to be a reality as LA, SF and other west coast cities could have supported (obviously) a MLB team, but no expansion was ever planned. I don't know whether or not an agreement existed between the PCL and MLB regarding non-expansion into these markets. Maybe MLB liked the number of teams and wanted to keep the games and schedules the same. I'm just speculating here, maybe others have concrete facts on the subject.
Good points. As you speculate, there may well have been a fear of having to expand to 162 games, (finally done in '61 in the AL).

I wonder why the White Sox weren't shipped west (they being the last of the 2 team-in-one-city situation)? For that matter, why weren't the Braves sent out there, in '53, or the Athletics, in '55?

It seems that there were other options.

[tonypug]

The PCL wanted to become a third major league. Some cities LA in particular wanted to get into MLB without waiting for the PCL to be granted msjor league status.During the 1955 winter meetings, expansion was discussed by both leagues and tabled for the moment. O'Malley knew the time was fast approaching. O'Malley wanted to get away from the shadow of Branch Rickey as much as he wanted to make money. MOving the team across the country and leaving NYC to the Yankees, O'Malley reasoned would soon make Brooklyn a distant memory. Of course to O'Malley's dismay, Rickey had one more card up his sleeve.