It’s Time for O’Malley to Pull Purse Strings

It is ironic to read about Peter O’Malley lamenting that players have the leverage in contract negotiations because of free agency.

“There has to be a middle ground. There has to be a better way to compensate the players,” O’Malley said.

When the late Walter O’Malley was in essence a free-agent owner in 1957, he exerted plenty of leverage and little middle ground.

It is true that O’Malley needed a new stadium. When the city of Los Angeles started courting the Dodgers during the 1956 World Series, it put O’Malley in a very strong negotiating position.

O’Malley wanted New York City to condemn valuable land in downtown Brooklyn and hand it over to him for the new stadium site.

The city countered with the plan for a stadium to be built at city-owned Flushing Meadow Park.

As we all know, Walter O’Malley was given enormously valuable downtown land.

Downtown Los Angeles, that is.

The stadium that is now called Shea was opened in 1964 on the Flushing Meadow site.

In the future, please spare us stories about the O’Malley family calling for moderation in the free marketplace.

JASON MEISLER

Santa Monica