Therese "Terry" O'Malley Seidler (born May 16, 1933) is an American former baseball owner and executive who owned the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1979 to 1997, alongside her brother Peter O'Malley. She is one of a few women to serve as the principle owner of a Major League Baseball team, inheriting half the team after the death of her father Walter O'Malley.
Terry O'Malley Seidler | |
|---|---|
 O'Malley in December 1957 | |
| Born | Therese O'Malley May 16, 1933 New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | College of New Rochelle (B.A.) |
| Occupation | Baseball owner |
| Spouse |
Roland Seidler Jr.
(m. 1958; died 2006) |
| Children | 10, including Peter |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Peter O'Malley (brother) |
Early life
editBorn Therese "Terry" O'Malley in New York City on May 16, 1933, she was the eldest child of Katherine "Kay" (née Hanson) and Walter O'Malley. Her younger brother, Peter, was born in 1937. She spent her early life split between Amityville, New York and Brooklyn.[1]
O'Malley attended Froebel Academy and graduated from St. Francis Xavier Academy in Brooklyn. She enrolled in College of New Rochelle where she was elected freshman class president and Mission Queen as a senior, played basketball and softball and was a member of the student council in 1953–1954. In Amityville, she was a member of the Narrasketuck Yacht Club where she took part in sailboat racing. Her hobbies also included ice-skating and swimming.[1]
Career
editUpon graduating from college, O'Malley served as executive secretary for the Dodgertown Summer Camp for Boys in Vero Beach, Florida for three summers. When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, O'Malley moved to California with her family. She worked as her father's personal secretary.[1]
After marriage to Roland Seidler, Terry devoted herself to her family. In 1978, she returned to the Dodgers executive office and served on their Board of Directors. She and Peter O'Malley, who had been serving as President of the team for a few years, inherited the team outright upon the death of their father in 1979. In 1981, Seidler was named secretary of the Dodgers Board of Directors in 1981, continuing in that role through 1998,[1] when the O'Malley's sold the team to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.[2]
On the 50th anniversary of the opening of Dodger Stadium, April 10, 2012, Seidler threw out the ceremonial first pitch. On the stadium's inaugural opening day, her mother Kay had thrown the ceremonial first pitch.[1]
Historic Dodgertown
editIn 2012, Seidler and O'Malley both joined efforts to buy Dodgertown, the Dodger's spring training facility in Vero Beach, Florida until they moved to Camelback Ranch in Arizona. The old facility was about to be torn down due to Indian River County's inability to find a willing tennant.[3] The facility was turned into a year-round multi-sport training and conference center.[4]
Thanks to the efforts of the O'Malleys, Historic Dodgertown became a Florida Heritage Landmark on November 10, 2014.[5]
Personal life
editSeidler married Los Angeles native and businessman Roland "Rollie" Seidler in October 1958. They had met earlier that year, during a doubleheader between the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies at the Los Angeles Coliseum on May 4.[1] The couple remained married until his death in June 2008 at their home in Pasadena, California.[6] They had ten children together, including Peter Seidler, who was the principal owner of the San Diego Padres until his death in 2023.[7]
See also
editReferencess
edit- ^ a b c d e f "Terry O'Malley Seidler: Love for Family and Baseball". walteromalley.com. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
- ^ Chass, Murray (January 7, 1997). "O'Malley Announces He'll Sell Dodgers". The New York Times.
- ^ Waldstein, David (April 19, 2015). "A New Spring for Old Dodgertown". The New York Times.
- ^ "O'Malley keeps Historic Dodgertown moving forward". TCPalm. December 31, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
- ^ Kruth, Cash (November 6, 2014). "Historic Dodgertown to be celebrated with ceremony". MLB.com.
- ^ "Roland Seidler Jr., 77; Founded L.A. Investment Firm". Los Angeles Times. June 11, 2008.
- ^ Jiménez, Jesus (November 14, 2023). "Peter Seidler, Big-Spending San Diego Padres Owner, Dies at 63". The New York Times.
External links
edit
Media related to Terry O'Malley Seidler at Wikimedia Commons
