“Play Ball! Images of Dodger Blue, 1958-1988”
on View in Central Library, July 12–November 9, 2008

Photographs from Library’s Collection Capture 30 Years of Dodger History

The move of the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers to the West Coast in 1957 and the fame and fortune that followed are captured in the new Los Angeles Public Library photo exhibit, “Play Ball! Images of Dodger Blue, 1958-1988,” on view from July 12 through November 9, 2008 at the Central Library’s First Floor Galleries, 630 W. Fifth St., downtown.

Most of the exhibit’s images are selected from the Los Angeles Public Library’s archive of photographs from the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, which folded in 1989, and others were taken from the Library’s Security Pacific National Bank collection, which includes the Valley Times newspaper and the Hollywood Citizen News collections.  Some of the images have original markings including "crop marks" showing the mechanics of deadline-driven journalism before the age of computers and digital cameras.

“Since 1958, the Dodgers have been a vital, integral part of the social fabric of Los Angeles,” said Exhibit Curator David Davis, a contributing writer at Los Angeles Magazine. “This exhibit uses the Library's photography collection to chronicle the team's first 30 years in L.A., including their epic move from Brooklyn, the controversy over building Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers' five World Series wins and the heroics of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Steve Garvey, Tom Lasorda, Fernando Valenzuela and so many other phenomenal players.”

The move of the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles was a combination of the advancements in air travel, the team being in the right place at the right time and team majority owner Walter O’Malley’s determination to build and have control of a new baseball stadium for his team.

After World War II, non-stop transcontinental air travel became routine and baseball teams could locate farther apart – as far west as California – and maintain the same number of regular season games. When Los Angeles officials attended the 1956 World Series looking to attract a team, they were not even thinking of the Dodgers.  But O’Malley, who was having difficulty buying suitable land for a field he could control in New York, sent word he was interested. Los Angeles offered him what New York would not – an opportunity to  buy land to build a ballpark and ownership of that ballpark.

The Los Angeles Dodgers played their first game in Los Angeles on April 18, 1958, defeating the San Francisco Giants, a former New York rival, 6-5 in front of nearly 79,000 people at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

This is the second sports exhibit that Davis has curated using the Library’s photo collections. He also coordinated the popular 2004 Central Library exhibit “Play by Play: A Century of Sports Photography, 1889-1989.”

“Play Ball! Images of Dodger Blue, 1958-1988” is free and open to the public during library hours:  Monday – Thursday:  10 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Friday & Saturday:  10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sunday: 1 – 5 p.m.  The library is closed holidays.  For more information, call (213) 228-7500 or visit www.lapl.org/events.

This exhibit is sponsored by Farmers Insurance Group and is made possible by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles.  To support the Los Angeles Public Library, call  (213) 228-7500 or visit www.lfla.org.

The Los Angeles Public Library serves the largest urban population of any library in the country.  Its Central Library, 71 branch libraries, more than six million books and state-of-the-art technology provide everyone with free and easy access to information and the opportunity for life-long learning.

Images Available: http://www.lapl.org/newsroom/

The Central Library is located in Council District 9, represented by Councilmember Jan Perry.

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