The Los Angeles Dodgers are the hot new item for sale, and many new suitors are likely to come out of the woodwork. However, one of the suitors has a history with the club, a very storied one. Peter O'Malley, the longtime former owner and president of the Dodgers, has decided to throw his hat in the ring, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times:
"I am confident I can restore [the Dodgers] to respectability quicker, sooner and probably better than — or at least as well as — anyone else."
O'Malley, 73, called the revival of the Dodgers his top priority beyond his family and said he hoped to run the team for several years.
O'Malley is still immensely popular among Dodgers fans, a link back to the days of family ownership in sports. Before the 2010 season, there was an event with Joe Torre and Sandy Koufax at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. It was a wonderful and rare event simply because the very private Koufax opened up for 90 minutes. But one of the biggest cheers of the night was for O'Malley, who was sitting in the crowd and acknowledged on stage.
As far as money, Shaikin reports O'Malley has said he would have "no concerns about assembling a group that could pay the $1 billion or more that might be necessary to buy the Dodgers." It would be an interesting blast from the past, that's for sure. Whether or not O'Malley would be successful remains to be seen.
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