The baseball season was over, and the baseball writers who straggled into the front office of the Brooklyn Dodgers last week expected only routine fare: a freeloading lunch, and the news that Manager Charley Dressen had signed his 1954 contract. Instead, Brooklyn President Walter O'Malley sent them scurrying to the telephones with an announcement: "Brooklyn will have a new manager next year."
It was not that Charley Dressen wanted to leave Brooklyn—or even, said President O'Malley, that Brooklyn wanted to lose Dressen. Charley's irremediable error had been one of timing.
Back in late September,...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
