Editing Los Angeles Dodgers (section)

===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>