Editing Los Angeles Dodgers (section)

==Team history==
===Brooklyn Dodgers===
{{Main|Brooklyn Dodgers}}
The Dodgers were founded in 1883 as the '''Brooklyn Atlantics''', borrowing the name of a [[Brooklyn Atlantics|defunct team]] that had played in Brooklyn before them. The team joined the [[American Association (19th century)|American Association]] in 1884 and won the AA championship in 1889 before joining the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] in 1890. They promptly won the NL Championship in their first year in the League. The team was known alternatively as the '''Bridegrooms''', ''' Grooms, Superbas, Robins''' and '''Trolley Dodgers''', before officially becoming the '''Brooklyn Dodgers''' in the 1930s.

===Jackie Robinson===
{{Main|Jackie Robinson}}
For most of the first half of the 20th century, no Major League Baseball team employed an African American player. [[Jackie Robinson]] became the first African American to play for a Major League Baseball team when he played his first major league game on April 15, 1947, as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegram.com/news/20190131/as-i-see-it-happy-birthday-jack-roosevelt-robinson|title=As I See It: Happy birthday, Jack Roosevelt Robinson|last=Mitrovich|first=George|website=telegram.com|language=en|access-date=February 21, 2019|archive-date=February 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222042028/https://www.telegram.com/news/20190131/as-i-see-it-happy-birthday-jack-roosevelt-robinson|url-status=live}}</ref> This was mainly due to general manager [[Branch Rickey]]'s efforts. The deeply religious Rickey's motivation appears to have been primarily moral, although business considerations were also a factor. Rickey was a member of [[The Methodist Church (USA)|The Methodist Church]], the antecedent denomination to [[The United Methodist Church]] of today, which was a strong advocate for [[social justice]] and active later in the [[American Civil Rights Movement]].<ref name="The New York Times – Branch Rickey">{{cite news | title=Branch Rickey, 83, Dies in Missouri | url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1220.html | access-date=December 29, 2008 | work=[[The New York Times]] | archive-date=July 25, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725220959/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1220.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

This event was the harbinger of the integration of professional sports in the United States, the concomitant demise of the [[Negro league baseball|Negro leagues]], and is regarded as a key moment in the history of the American Civil Rights Movement. Robinson was an exceptional player, a speedy [[stolen base|runner]] who sparked the team with his intensity. He was the inaugural recipient of the [[Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award|Rookie of the Year]] award, which is now named the Jackie Robinson Award in his honor. The Dodgers' willingness to integrate, when most other teams refused to, was a key factor in their 1947–1956 success. They won six pennants in those 10 years with the help of Robinson, three-time MVP [[Roy Campanella]], Cy Young Award winner [[Don Newcombe]], [[Jim Gilliam]] and [[Joe Black]]. Robinson would eventually go on to become the first African-American elected to the [[Baseball Hall of Fame]] in 1962.

===Move to California===
[[File:HollywoodStarsCap.png|thumb|left|upright=0.5|The [[Pacific Coast League|PCL]]'s [[Hollywood Stars]] (logo, ''pictured'') and [[Los Angeles Angels (PCL)|Angels]] played in L.A. before the arrival of the Dodgers in 1958]]
[[File:Dodgers Greats.JPG|thumb|Former Dodger greats who played in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles adorn the exterior of [[Dodger Stadium]].]]
Real estate investor [[Walter O'Malley]] acquired majority ownership of the Dodgers in 1950 when he bought the 25 percent share of co-owner [[Branch Rickey]] and became allied with the widow of another equal partner, [[John L. Smith (pharmaceutical executive)|Mrs. John L. Smith]]. Shortly afterwards, he was working to buy new land in Brooklyn to build a more accessible and profitable ballpark than the aging [[Ebbets Field]]. Beloved as it was, Ebbets Field was no longer well-served by its aging infrastructure and the Dodgers could no longer sell out the park even in the heat of a pennant race, despite largely dominating the National League from 1946 to 1957.

O'Malley wanted to build a [[Brooklyn Dodgers proposed domed stadium|new, state-of-the-art stadium in Brooklyn]]. But City Planner [[Robert Moses]] and New York politicians refused to grant him the eminent domain authority required to build pursuant to O'Malley's plans. To put pressure on the city, during the 1955 season, O'Malley announced that the team would play seven regular-season games and one exhibition game at Jersey City's [[Roosevelt Stadium]] in 1956.<ref name="Jersey City">{{cite web|url=http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nl/bdodgers/brooklyn.html|title=Brooklyn Dodgers (1890–1957)|website=www.sportsecyclopedia.com|access-date=November 20, 2009|archive-date=October 25, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091025002014/http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nl/bdodgers/brooklyn.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Moses and the City considered this an empty threat, and did not believe O'Malley would go through with moving the team from New York City.

After teams began to travel to and from games by air instead of train, it became possible to include locations in the far west. Los Angeles officials attended the [[1956 World Series]] looking to the [[History of the Washington Senators|Washington Senators]] to move to the West Coast. When O'Malley heard that LA was looking for a club, he sent word to the Los Angeles officials that he was interested in talking. LA offered him what New York would not: a chance to buy land suitable for building a ballpark, and own that ballpark, giving him complete control over all revenue streams. When the news came out, NYC Mayor [[Robert F. Wagner, Jr.]] and Moses made an offer to build a ballpark on the World's Fair Grounds in [[Queens]] that would be shared by the Giants and Dodgers. However, O'Malley was interested in his park under only his conditions, and the plans for a new stadium in Brooklyn seemed like a pipe dream. O'Malley decided to move the Dodgers to California, convincing Giants owner [[Horace Stoneham]] to move to San Francisco instead of Minneapolis to keep the Giants-Dodgers rivalry alive on the West Coast.<ref name="Jersey City" /> They were the first MLB teams both west and south of [[St. Louis]].

The Dodgers played their final game at Ebbets Field on September 24, 1957, which the [[1957 Brooklyn Dodgers season|Dodgers]] won 2–0 over the [[1957 Pittsburgh Pirates season|Pittsburgh Pirates]].

New York remained a one-team town with the [[New York Yankees]] until 1962, when [[Joan Payson]] founded the [[New York Mets]] and brought National League baseball back to the city. The blue background used by the Dodgers was adopted by the Mets, honoring their New York NL forebears with a blend of Dodgers blue and Giants orange.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/nym/history/timeline1.jsp |title=Mets Timeline |work=[[MLB.com]] |access-date=January 27, 2013 |archive-date=August 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807181520/http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/nym/history/timeline1.jsp |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Los Angeles Dodgers===
{{Main|History of the Los Angeles Dodgers}}
The Dodgers were the first Major League Baseball team to ever play in Los Angeles. On April 18, 1958, the Dodgers played their first Los Angeles game, defeating the former New York and now new [[1958 San Francisco Giants season|San Francisco Giants]], 6–5, before 78,672 fans at the [[Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum]]. Catcher [[Roy Campanella]], left partially paralyzed in an off-season accident, was never able to play in Los Angeles.

[[File:LA Coliseum 1959 World Series.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The [[1959 World Series]] was played partially at the [[Los Angeles Coliseum]] while Dodger Stadium was being built.]]
Construction on [[Dodger Stadium]] was completed in time for Opening Day 1962. With its clean, simple lines and its picturesque setting amid hills and palm trees, the ballpark quickly became an icon of the Dodgers and their new California lifestyle. O'Malley was determined that there would not be a bad seat in the house, achieving this by [[cantilever]]ed grandstands that have since been widely imitated. More importantly for the team, the stadium's spacious dimensions, along with other factors, gave defense an advantage over offense and the Dodgers moved to take advantage of this by assembling a team that would excel with its [[pitch (baseball)|pitching]].

Since moving to Los Angeles, the Dodgers have won twelve more National League Championships and seven more [[World Series ring]]s.<ref>{{cite web | url =https://dodgerblue.com/watch-dodgers-receive-2018-nlcs-rings-dodger-stadium/2019/03/31/ | title =WATCH: Dodgers Receive 2018 NLCS Rings During Clubhouse Ceremony | publisher =Dodger Blue | date =March 31, 2019 | access-date =May 14, 2019 | archive-date =May 14, 2019 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20190514172220/https://dodgerblue.com/watch-dodgers-receive-2018-nlcs-rings-dodger-stadium/2019/03/31/ | url-status =live }}</ref> The Dodgers have had only three [[List of Los Angeles Dodgers first-round draft picks|top-five draft picks]] since the [[Major League Baseball draft|MLB Draft]] was introduced in [[1965 Major League Baseball draft|1965]], and have had one top-ten pick ([[Clayton Kershaw]], No. 7) since 1985.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Los Angeles Dodgers - Draft Pick History - The Baseball Cube |url=https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/draft_team/15/ |access-date=2024-11-02 |website=www.thebaseballcube.com}}</ref>
[[File:Vic Correll -1978.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|In-game action at [[Dodger Stadium]], 1978]]