|
|
July 15, 1958
By Keith Thursby
Times staff writer
Los Angeles and the Dodgers lost a round in court in their efforts to build a baseball stadium in Chavez Ravine.
Superior Court Judge Arnold
Praeger ruled that the contract between the city and the Dodgers was
invalid. The deal had been struck when the team moved to Los Angeles,
then voters narrowly approved it in a June 1958 election. Two local
taxpayers then filed lawsuits trying to stop the deal.
The Times' main story led with
a couple of painful sports metaphors, reporting that Judge Praeger
"struck out the Dodgers' Chavez Ravine deal," which according to the
paper was "a 32-page doubleheader decision."
The paper was a strong
proponent of the ballpark and there were often clues in stories if you
weren't sure where the paper stood. Deep in the main story on Praeger's
ruling was this passage: "As for the voters who decided last June 3
that they were in favor of the Chavez Ravine recreational park--that
doesn't count!" Interesting how the project was described.
In a story about city
officials' reactions, Councilman John Holland was referred to as
"perhaps the bitterest foe" of the stadium plans. The ruling seemed
certain to be appealed, but Holland instead hoped "that plans may be
speedily revived to have the major league baseball stadium constructed
near the Coliseum in or adjacent to Exposition Park."
Dodger owner Walter O'Malley remained confident that the ballpark would be built in Chavez Ravine.
"We came to California in the
first place because we felt it was a fine country and because we wanted
to build a new modern stadium," O'Malley said in a story by The Times'
Al Wolf. "Chavez fits in perfectly with that plan--and we are not
abandoning the program."
keith.thursby@latimes.com
|
From The Times' editorial page, July 16, 1938. Note the Bible passage.
|
|
|
e can add this to The Times' editorials against a federal anti-lynching law (not necessary) and offering refuge to people fleeing Nazi persecution (they would just go on welfare and take jobs away from Americans): What's all the fuss with a recall election? One thing that's evident about The Times' editorial pages in this era is that they were staunchly in favor of the status quo.
Meanwhile, we seem to be in favor of a ballot initiative on working women that I don't entirely understand. Looks like some digging is in order.
At left, petitions are filed seeking to recall Mayor Frank Shaw. He says his opponents are a "disgruntled, discredited, hypocritical handful of politicians, racketeers and misguided zealots...." Los Angeles? Why it's the "white spot" of the nation!
And we'd be willing to host the 1940 summer Olympics after Tokio was forced to withdraw because of the war between Japan and China.
Also ... Katharine Hepburn and Howard Hughes? Let me say that again: Katharine Hepburn and Howard Hughes?
Email me
Note to Jaded: It's not such a bargain. Adjusted for inflation, $13.33 is $190.61 USD 2007.
|
|
July 12, 1958
 By Keith Thursby
Times staff writer
Los Angeles officially threw its hat into the Olympic rings for the 1964 Summer Games.
Mayor Norris Poulson announced the bid after a meeting with the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games.
"We in Southern California, Los Angeles in particular, already have unparalleled facilities for the successful staging of the Games," Poulson said in Braven Dyer's story in The Times. The 1932 Olympics had been a success in Los Angeles.
Money was already an issue in picking future Olympic cities.
Dyer wrote that "many European countries claim, after having made the long trip to Australia for the 1956 Olympics, that they will seek to keep the big international program in Europe for years to come, travel expenses being so heavy for many nations which lack the financial standing of the United States."
Unlike many of the paper's stories leading up to the Dodgers' move, Dyer's piece kept the Olympic bid in perspective. He pointed out that Tokyo was expected to make a bid in 1964 since the city was awarded the 1940 Games, a competition that didn't take place.
Tokyo was named the host city in 1964, with Detroit finishing a distant second in the International Olympic Committee voting. Detroit was viewed as a better Olympic city than Los Angeles? California did get another Olympics in 1960, with the Winter Games coming to Squaw Valley.
L.A. had to wait until 1984. Detroit is still waiting.
keith.thursby@latimes.com |
 |
July 6, 1968
By Keith Thursby
Times staff writer
  he Lakers, always a team with a certain amount of star power, acquired one of the game's biggest stars in Wilt Chamberlain.
Chamberlain would join Jerry West and Elgin Baylor and the Lakers hoped he would be the difference in turning a good team into an NBA champion. The Lakers were a premier franchise, playing in their new home the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, but had trouble getting past the Boston Celtics in the finals. Sound familiar?
The first story in The Times heavily credited an Associated Press report and even quoted AP writer Ralph Bernstein.
Chamberlain, reached in San Francisco, said: "There will be no announcement Monday or Tuesday concerning me unless it is the fact that I will be in New York on those days helping Mr. Nixon with his campaign." So the Lakers were getting not only a post player but a budding politician?
Chamberlain had long been one of the game's top personalities. No other NBA player had on their resume a 100-point game, let alone time spent with the Harlem Globetrotters.
The Times confirmed the trade in a July 9 story. One part of the story that really shows how long ago this was: Chamberlain's salary was estimated at $250,000, "but Wilt himself has claimed that even those estimates are low."
One of the players sent by the Lakers to the Philadelphia 76ers, center Darrall Imhoff, had some interesting comments about mixing Chamberlain in with the team's established stars.
"I don't know if you can have any happiness with three superstars on one team," Imhoff said. "One of the great things about our team is that we've had no dissension and have had great camaraderie on and off the court."
The Lakers continued to have disappointments in the finals but did win a title with Chamberlain, defeating the New York Knicks in 1972. By then, Baylor had retired. Chamberlain was the championship series' most valuable player.
keith.thursby@latimes.com |
 | Above, early coverage of the the Times Cup, a race that dates to 1903. The Los Angeles Times Trophy is still awarded by the Los Angeles Yacht Club. |
|
|
 t left, trouble in Whittier at the state school for juvenile delinquents. Supt. G.P. Greeley is accused of failing to enforce discipline, creating "a shocking, immoral state of affairs" at the school.
Evidence includes "obscene letters, indecent postals and notes," The Times says. Several young female inmates report overtures and "mistreatment" from school officers while male inmates tell of vicious beatings, the story says.
View Larger Map And the Bethlehem Institution, with its El Club Belen branch at 618 New High St., reports success in teaching English to immigrants, notably Italians, Poles and Slavonians, The Times says.
Email me |
 |
|
| June 26, 1968 By Keith Thursby
Times staff writer
 difficult to imagine a better debut than Bobby Bonds' first game for the Giants against the Dodgers.
Bonds, described in Dan Hafner's story as a tall, rangy youngster from Riverside, hit a grand slam in his first major league game, a 9-0 victory in San Francisco. Only once before had a player hit a grand slam in his first game.
"I couldn't believe I had hit a home run. I just ran around the bases," Bonds said in The Times' story. "Maybe it will dawn on me tomorrow."
Hafner mentioned that Bonds was considered the eventual replacement for Willie Mays, still playing center for the Giants and the face of the franchise. Nothing like a little pressure. Bonds was a three-time all star with the Giants, but he was traded to the Yankees in 1974 for Bobby Murcer, who had been expected to be the next Mickey Mantle.
Bonds bounced around after that, playing for the Angels, White Sox, Rangers, Indians, Cardinals and Cubs before ending his career with the Yankees. His son, Barry Bonds, of course, is currently out of baseball after setting the major league career home run record.
keith.thursby@latimes.com |
|
|
 |
| June 26, 1938 By Keith Thursby
Times staff writer
 It might be the shortest newspaper notice in Jackie Robinson's career.
A two-paragraph item in The Times announced that Robinson, described as the "sensational all-around Pasadena Junior College athlete," would be leaving for Buffalo to compete in the AAU track and field championships the following month.
Robinson had been the recipient of a campaign to raise money for the train trip. The Times said that Charles W. Paddock, a former world-record sprinter, had started the campaign and Robinson's "school mates" had raised most of the $239. The story also mentioned that a local newspaper conducted the campaign, which must mean it was some other paper. Paddock worked at the Long Beach Press-Telegram and Pasadena Star-News, according to websites such as http://frankwykoff2.com/charley_paddock.htm
Robinson also came up in a June 21 Los Angeles Angels game story. The Times reported that Robinson would participate the next night in an exhibition race as part of "Track Night" at Wrigley Field to raise money for the Buffalo track meet. The next night's story mentioned the race but not Robinson. Readers did learn, however, that one of the runners from Riverside Junior College forgot to bring his track shoes and had to borrow a pair of baseball spikes.
keith.thursby@latimes.com |
|
  lbert and Alfred... Before and after... Lost and found... Found but still missing ... still haunted by something and still walking in a dream.
I pulled the photos of Albert and Alfred from their old-fashioned paper
envelope, slightly tattered and crumbling--the kind The Times used
before the library switched to manila folders.
Albert is just another middle-aged man in a coat and
tie. He's losing his hair and has a thin mustache, with a pleasant
half-smile that looks like he was being coached by some portrait
photographer. Albert Clark Reed, 45, looks like any other husband and
father from the 1950s. His wife called him a "cool, levelheaded
scientist and test pilot."
He graduated from Caltech in 1929 and returned for more studies in
1932. During World War II, he was a flier and worked on classified
military projects, The Times says. After the war, he and his wife,
Florence, lived in Seattle, where he tested and designed aircraft for
Boeing. The Times says he was a consultant and test pilot on the Stratocruiser, a problematic aircraft with a troubling record, like the Romance of the Skies, which crashed at sea in November 1957.
Albert and Florence moved from Seattle to Pasadena in
1944 and bought a home near the Rose Bowl at 475 Bellmore Way. A few
years later, they had a son, Timothy James. There were some arguments,
but apparently nothing serious. And maybe some money problems.
"He loved to bet the horses," Florence said after he disappeared. "Bet
them heavily. Even owned two horses once. I don't know. He may have
been having financial troubles. He never mentioned finances to me. I
know he made a good deal of money. As much as $3,000 ($23,706.89 USD
2007) or more a month. But he never discussed such things with me."
On Monday, July 7, 1952, Albert got in his 1941 sedan with his
briefcase and bag of clothing and headed for Caltech. He was preparing
to meet with military officials in Washington about some classified
matter; it's not clear what it was. He had recently finished work on Project Vista,
a controversial program stemming from the Korean War that also
evaluated how existing technology--including nuclear weapons on the
battlefield--could be used by NATO countries to repel an attack by
superior forces of the Soviet Union. (More about Project Vista here).
But he never arrived on campus.
The years passed. Years of waiting and wondering and investigation by
police and the FBI. Years of crackpot calls and false hopes. Until the
day she died in 1955, Florence never gave up hope that Albert would
return. "I want Al to know that if it's a matter of pride, if he's
ashamed to come back, if ... well, no matter what he's done, I want him
to know we want him back. No matter what he's done."
Florence couldn't keep up the house payments and without proof that
Albert was dead, she couldn't claim any money on his large insurance
policies, so she let them lapse. She and Timmy moved to South Pasadena
and she got a job selling welding rods and did public relations for a
manufacturer until she had a nervous breakdown. The disappearance was
especially hard on their son, who had a heart ailment, The Times said.
When his mother died, Timmy went to live with relatives back East and
took their family name.
Police turned up a few leads: Albert sold his 1941 sedan to a Pasadena
car dealer for $100. He sent Florence his driver's license and a
handwritten will in an envelope postmarked San Bernardino leaving all his possessions to her with
instructions that Timmy was to get everything in the event of her death. The day after he
vanished, a woman called Florence and said, "Your husband is being held
for information" and added "the plans are in the den."
In 1955, an acquaintance ran into Albert in San Gabriel and they had a
few drinks. Albert said he was going to go home and clear up his family
affairs. But he never did.
Photograph by Larry Sharkey / Los Angeles Times
Albert Clark Reed, photographed at his mother's Glendale home in 1958.
nd here's where we meet Alfred Cole Reese in 1958. He's lanky and
muscular; tough and wiry and completely bald. He's wearing jeans and a
heavy denim work shirt with sleeves rolled up, exposing muscular arms.
Alfred looks like a hardened endurance runner. His face is lean and his
eyes are tired and sad, The Times said.
Alfred could fill in some of the missing pages of his life--what he did after he disappeared--but he couldn't explain why.
After selling the car that morning, he took a bus to Phoenix, where he
got a job through the Teamsters moving freight. Eventually, he wound up
working with horses and became a racetrack groom, migrating from Del
Mar to Santa Anita to Hollywood Park, wherever there was a job.
Horses, he said, are "wonderful, intelligent, sensible creatures. I enjoy working with them."
No one suspected he had ever been a leading scientist, The Times said.
In fact, nobody around the racetracks ever showed much interest in what
he had done with his life. All they knew is that Alfred had a good way
with horses. "One of the best grooms I ever had," his employer told The
Times. If it hadn't been for a new law that racetrack employees had to
be fingerprinted, Alfred's earlier life might have remained a secret
forever.
In looking at Albert's story, some people saw a rebel courageously abandoning the 1950s rat race run by the men in the gray flannel suits.
A Times op-ed piece by Al Thrasher said: "Albert gave all the normal
indications of being perfectly willing to follow the accepted pattern of
behavior--hit the ball hard; make as much money as possible; climb as
far and as fast as possible and try not to step too hard on the faces
of others as you mount; join the right organization and whoop it up for
progress and conformity; keep your affairs in order; make a will and
be ready to lean quietly forward over your desk and expire from either
a heart attack or a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 52.
"But one day Albert Clark Reed looked around him and said: 'Nuts.' "
A reader replied:
"Any major change we make in life, especially a drastic one, takes
courage... but to abandon one's family, to run away from any
responsibility or obligation can hardly be classed or praised as wise
and courageous."
The only man who could actually explain his behavior was at a total loss for why he vanished.
 "Time and time again, he closed his eyes for long seconds after a
question, his facial muscles working, his tired mind focusing futilely
on blurred pictures," The Times said.
"And time and time again, he answered softly:
" 'I can't recall ...
" 'I don't know ...
" 'I'm so confused.' "
At first, Albert said he intended to keep on working with horses. He
had a warm reunion with Timmy, but decided that his son was better off
with relatives.
By 1959, with some refresher classes at UCLA, Albert was once again in
the aerospace industry, at Del Mar Engineering Laboratories, which made
weapons training systems for interceptor pilots. He was living with a
family in Brentwood and had bought a horse. "It seemed to me that maybe
I could contribute something to our national security," he said.
He still couldn't provide an answer to the eternal question of why he vanished.
An anonymous reporter asked whether he thought he might someday return to the stables.
"You can never tell," he said.
And with that, Albert disappeared from the pages of The Times.
Postcript: After Florence died, an attorney handling her estate
discovered that she had a secret life as well. Using the name Florence
Green, she had hidden $17,500 ($133,571.50 USD 2007) in cash and
jewelry in five Pasadena banks.
Email me
|
|
|
|
wenty years after Ed Ainsworth's series
on Los Angeles' congested streets, The Times takes another look at
traffic. I (almost) never grow tired of saying that the incredible
number of transportation studies performed in Los Angeles would fill a
library.
Above, Ozzie Virgil makes his debut with the Tigers.
He was traded to the Kansas City Athletics in 1961, and after coaching
under Clyde King in Phoenix, joined manager King at the San Francisco
Giants in 1968.
Below, Superior Court Judge Stanley Mosk calls
for the creation of a crime commission ... Times Education Editor Dick
Turpin joins a contingent of Stanford students to establish a campus in
Germany. The Stanford in Germany program will continue until 1976
... Actor Eddie Albert and his wife, Margo, greet 4-year-old Maria,
whom they have adopted from Spain ... Rhonda Fleming and Dr. Lewis
Morrill are splitsville ...
Email me
|
|
June 16, 1958
By Keith Thursby
Times staff writer
  he struggling Dodgers traded a piece of their past for a player rich in Los Angeles minor league history.
Steve Bilko, who hit 148 home runs in three seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, was traded by the Reds in exchange for pitcher Don Newcombe, a former National League MVP who had been a disappointment in Los Angeles. Two others were involved in the transaction, but the story in The Times predictably focused on the two key figures.
Bilko had become a minor league legend with the Los Angeles Angels by hitting 55 home runs in 1956 and 56 in 1957 playing his home games in cozy Wrigley Field. He had hit only four home runs for the Reds at the time of the trade. With the Dodgers going nowhere fast in 1958, he probably seemed like a low-risk deal. "Bilko's a pull hitter, and maybe he can hit some home runs in the Coliseum for us," General Manager Buzzie Bavasi told The Times.
And in Los Angeles, he had name value. Less than a year before, The Times chronicled Bilko's run at the Pacific Coast League home run record of 60, set in 1925 by future Yankee Tony Lazzeri. The Times pictured Bilko next to a photo of Babe Ruth, who held the major league homer record, also with 60.
Manager Walt Alston seemed less enthusiastic about the trade. Maybe he was trying to figure out how to use three first basemen -- Bilko, Gil Hodges and Norm Larker. "The deal's been made. That's all there is to it. We're satisfied. I think it will help both clubs," Alston said.
Bilko wasn't the answer in 1958. He hit only seven home runs for the Dodgers and next went to Detroit. But he returned to Los Angeles and Wrigley Field in 1961 as a member of the expansion Los Angeles Angels. He hit 20 home runs, then eight more in his final season with the Angels in 1962.
keith.thursby@latimes.com |
There are times when the old newspapers absolutely leave me speechless--and not in the good way. Yes, I realize this is a comic strip ("Tarzan") and yes, I realize it's 1938 and not 2008. But good grief, I still find it shocking that something like this could be syndicated in the mainstream media. And to think that the comic books of the 1950s were persecuted because they supposedly warped young minds.
"Reprints of Rex Maxon's Tarzan strips in the USA have been a rarity." --Dale Broadhurst.
|
|
e have a very newsy day in Los Angeles. At left, the Shriners convention winds up with floats and Hollywood stars in the Motion Picture Electrical Pageant.
This kind of writing is hard to duplicate: "The West's largest arena--Memorial Coliseum--was transformed for the night into a gargantuan jeweled brooch such as Cellini might have been proud to have fashioned.... The electrical giants on the Colorado River groaned and whined as switches were thrown, hurtling the entire load of one high-power line direct from the dam power houses to the Coliseum."
The host is Jack Benny and the parade features Harold Lloyd, Mary Pickford, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Boris Karloff, Mickey Rooney, some starlet named "Movita.," My favorite moment? Leo Carrillo on a "white neon-lighted horse." Of course there are elephants... and Eastern potentates ... and Nubian slaves...
Franklin Pierce McCall is arrested in the kidnapping and death of 5-year-old Jimmy Cash. McCall's mother says: "The boy has been in no trouble before in his life."
And Luise Rainer and Clifford Odets are splitsville.
|
Photograph by the Los Angeles Times
People line up to get into the trial of Police Capt. Earle Kynette in the Harry Raymond bombing.
|
|
n the case of the Harry Raymond bombing, defense attorney George Rochester attacks witnesses' credibility, especially George Sakalis, who is getting $100 a month from the district attorney, Rochester says.
Rochester also charges that John Fisher, who said Police Capt. Earle Kynette tried to buy pipe that would shatter easily (presumably for a pipe bomb), was once a member of the KKK and might be prejudiced against Kynette, a Catholic.
Also, 178 girls from the Los Angeles Orphan Asylum get a day at the beach ... Britain is buying 400 airplanes from Southern California's manufacturers: 200 bombers from Lockheed and 200 trainers from North American Aviation ... Eleanor Holm, who was suspended from the Olympic swim team for drinking, and bandleader Art Jarrett are splitsville. No, I've never heard of them either.
And you can get this hairdo at the Broadway.
Email me
|
June 9, 1968
By Keith Thursby
Times staff writer
  on Drysdale's string of scoreless innings and consecutive shutouts finally ended in a 5-3 Dodgers victory over the Phillies.
Tony Taylor scored on a sacrifice fly in the fifth for the first run against Drysdale after 58 2/3 scoreless innings. Drysdale's streak would stand until 1988, when Orel Hershiser was on the mound and Drysdale in the broadcast booth for the Dodgers.
The game featured a protest by future Angels Manager Gene Mauch, who was running the Phillies in 1968. He wanted Drysdale checked to make sure he wasn't putting anything on the baseball. Umpire Augie Donatelli looked at Drysdale's wrist and hair and warned him not to touch the back of his head the rest of the game.
A few days later, The Times published photos of Don Sutton and Drysdale being checked by umpires. Manager Walt Alston complained that his pitchers were being singled out. After Tom Seaver and the Mets blanked the Dodgers, 1-0, Alston wondered why Seaver wasn't given the same treatment Drysdale and Sutton received.
"[Umpire Ed] Sudol said it is up to the umpires as to who'll they'll check," Alston said. "He said it's up to them to decide whether a pitcher is throwing a sinker or a splitter.
"They had better get some experts umpiring behind home plate if they're going to distinguish between the two pitches. I don't think they're qualified to do it."
keith.thursby@latimes.com |
 |
 |
 Floyd Roberts of Van Nuys, who gained much of his experience on the dirt track at Ascot, wins the Indianapolis 500.
Roberts averaged 117.2 mph in a four-cylinder car (at left) built and owned by Lou Moore and designed by Harry Miller, both of Los Angeles.
In Oakland, Earl Ortman of Los Angeles sets a record in closed-course speed flying, 265.539 mph.
James Bailey Cash Jr., 5, is kidnapped from his bed in Princeton, Fla. The FBI searches for clues in the abduction and killing of 12-year-old Peter Levine of New Rochelle, N.Y., as the boy's mutilated body is cremated. (Franklin Pierce McCall is convicted of killing the Cash child and executed in the electric chair. The Levine kidnapping was never solved.)
And rumors spread in Vienna as the Nazis round up hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of Jews, according to incomplete reports.
Email me |
|
|
Above and at left, I'm not sure which is more remarkable, the story about Kate Welsh, the sister of prizefighter Fred Welsh, or the byline: Louise M. George.
As late as the 1950s, reporters rarely got bylines, so it's impossible to tell who wrote a story, making it especially difficult to determine how many women writers were working in a newsroom in the early 20th century. The usual assumption is that they were rare and relegated to the women's pages.
But Louise M. George is not only remarkable for being a newswoman, even more noteworthy: she wrote about boxing. Not just this story, but a few others as well. Don't get me wrong, she also wrote a fair number of society stories, but she made occasional ventures into sports.
Here's a sample of her writing about Kate Welsh: "... the boxers (I believe that is the polite name) had on shockingly few clothes but every man straightened himself and forgot the coarse jest on the tip of his tongue when this slip of a girl drew near."
Email me
|
May 23, 1958
By Keith Thursby
Times staff writer
 A heavy hitter joined the political fight over a new stadium for the Dodgers.
Warren Giles, president of the National League, warned that the Dodgers could be forced to leave Los Angeles if voters turned down Proposition B on the June 3 ballot. At issue was the contract already agreed upon by the city and the Dodgers to build a stadium at Chavez Ravine.
“It will be my personal recommendation to our league that we take immediate steps to study ways and means of relocating the franchise in another city,” Giles said.
Giles said the league wanted to keep the team in Los Angeles but that the Coliseum was only a short-term answer. Playing in a suburban location like Pasadena’s Rose Bowl wouldn’t do, either.
The story was played big in The Times, with separate accounts on the front page of the main news section and in sports.
Dodger owner Walter O’Malley sounded worried. “The Dodgers want to stay out of politics and we wish politics were not involved in baseball at this time,” O’Malley told The Times’ Al Wolf. “We have our hands full with many problems on and off the field. This presents another.”
keith.thursby@latimes.com
|
The Irish giant of jujitsu, Leo McLaglen, is accused of vanishing with the proceeds of a match at 
Chutes Park--but not to worry. He'll be back in 1933 to help train the LAPD in the martial art (see photo above). He's a captain in the international police, The Times says in a May 23, 1933 story.
Email me
|
May 15, 1958
Above, Albert "Baby" Arizmendi vs. Wally Hally at the Olympic. Arizmendi died in 1963 at the age of 48 after a long illness ... Below, George Sakalis, a key witness in the trial of Police Capt. Earle Kynette, is cleared of charges that were trumped up in Arizona in an attempt to keep him from testifying in the Harry Raymond bombing ... The city of Los Angeles prepares for summer by opening the swimming pool at the Exposition playground and the "Griffith plunge" ... A vice crackdown continues with 11 men arrested at 4104 Long Beach Blvd. for shooting dice and two investigations of the gambling ship Rex, anchored three miles off Santa Monica.
Email me
Above, a look back at Anna Jarvis, who died in seclusion after inaugurating an annual tribute to mothers (especially her own) only to have it turned into a commercialized holiday hijacked by merchants. Below, one woman's view of Mother's Day ... Robert G. Neumann's thoughts on Algeria and the Mideast, especially the role of Muslim women ... And every last word of the contract for Dodger Stadium, as a present to all the moms who are Dodger fans.
Email me
Above, the initial Jackie Robinson story, May 9, 1958. Below, the next day, when Robinson modified his remarks... Unfortunately, the Urban League's award to the Dodgers apparently wasn't considered newsworthy, so The Times didn't cover it and we don't know precisely what was said.
Email me
Above, in Louisiana, even the boxing ring is segregated ... Below, problems for Bing Crosby's son Dennis. A "tall, willowy, Hollywood brunette" says he's the father of her 5 1/2-month-old daughter Denise--and there are allegations that the man who performed Dennis' Las Vegas wedding to Pat Sheehan is no longer accredited by his church ... An Illinois firm wins the contract to build the county's Hall of Administration ... And Julie Andrews marries her childhood sweetheart, Tony Walton.
Email me
Above, Walter Alson has faith in Don Drysdale ... Below, Vice President Nixon says it's too early to declare whether he will run for president in 1960 ... Southern California prepares for a simulated atomic blast ... And Dennis Crosby is astonished to discover that his Las Vegas wedding to Pat Sheehan was performed by a Protestant minister and not a justice of the peace. Pat Crosby was granted a divorce in 1964 after testifying that Dennis drank heavily and disappeared for long periods of time ... Dennis committed suicide in 1991 at the age of 56.
Email me
May 4, 1958
By Keith Thursby
Times Staff Writer
It’s a familiar story when a sports team trades in its home for a bigger, brighter facility with more luxury suites and a higher price tag.
I remember when Anaheim Stadium underwent a face lift to lure the Rams out of Los Angeles. I started going to Angels games in 1967 and for the most part the teams were awful and the crowds small. But the stadium was comfortable and convenient with its own special touches.
There were no seats in the outfield and you could watch freeway traffic beyond the fences during a game. Cars stopped on the freeway shoulder to watch the game and eventually a police car would arrive to clear out the cars. That was the highlight some nights.
Then the powers-that-be decided to enclose the stadium to add seats for the Rams, ruining the place for pure baseball fans. There was money involved, of course, but back then, multipurpose stadiums were popular. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, San Francisco and San Diego all had stadiums that were shared by the football and baseball teams. Not pretty places, but functional.
Now we’re in a retro phase that started when Camden Yards was built in Baltimore. It’s the fashion to find a downtown area that needs freshening up and put in a ballpark with good views, close seats and a feel for the city and its history. And only baseball is played on these fields.
The latest version of Anaheim Stadium, or whatever it’s called these days, is closer to its original design. Much of the touches added when the Rams moved in are no longer part of the ballpark (it’s probably the best thing Disney did as the team’s owner). The seating capacity is smaller and the bad seats for baseball are for the most part gone.
The Dodgers’ plans to build around Dodger Stadium can be lumped in this group, because part of the stated idea is finding a way to keep the Dodgers in Dodger Stadium.
Back in 1958, baseball was undergoing one of those generational shifts caused in large part by the Dodgers and Giants moving to California. A story published in This Week magazine, which was distributed in The Times, offered a sense of desperation and inspiration from the game’s leading official.
Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick suggested a new kind of ballpark that he said could solve the game’s problems. The stadium could be used all year, in any weather, for everything from baseball to curling matches. He called it a sports palace.
What kind of features would be part of this palace? The story includes an artist’s conception of the super stadium with a movable or translucent roof, multi-level parking, air conditioning, restaurant, movie theater, race track and subway station. Frick called the concept an ultra-modern community center. Oh, yeah, there would be a field for baseball too.
"Sure, it would cost a fortune," Frick told writer Al Hirshberg. "But so does a one-sport park. Why spend something like $10 million for a park you can’t use in winter or bad weather when, for a few million more, you can build the kind of plant I have in mind? It would pay for itself in a few years."
Some of the commissioner’s comments about financing such a venture seem, well, refreshing.
"As a baseball man, you’d go to a city and offer to pay your share. You can’t say, 'If you don’t build a sports palace I’ll take my ballclub somewhere else.' "
Frick served as baseball commissioner from 1951 to 1965. The closest thing to a sports palace built during Frick’s era probably was the Houston Astrodome, which opened in 1965 and was home to baseball’s Astros and football’s Oilers.
keith.thursby@latimes.com 
May 4, 1958
By Keith Thursby
Times Staff Writer
 The Dodgers’ contract with the city of Los Angeles heated up as a political issue in the spring of 1958. Proposition B was on the June 3 ballot and stories started appearing with some regularity in The Times about various groups or politicians weighing in on either side of the issue.
Television would not be left out of the discussion.
Dinah Shore (at right in a 1942 photo by Bruno of Hollywood) was one of the top names in TV in 1958. She had graduated from a 15-minute show to an hour program on Sunday nights. Cecil Smith, The Times’ entertainment editor, profiled her as busy and happy — but worried about the Dodgers.
| |
