Celebrating the life of Roz Wyman, who brought the Dodgers to Los Angeles

Roz Wyman was 22 when she ran for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council and made a campaign promise that would forever alter the city: She would bring a Major League Baseball team to Los Angeles.

On Wednesday, Wyman—a lifelong baseball fan and Angeleno—died at her home in Bel Air at the age of 92 .

Wyman, the youngest person ever elected to the City Council and only the second woman, worked with Mayor Norris Poulson and county supervisor Kenneth Hahn to make good on her promise. They focused on the Dodgers and Walter O’Malley, who made his own promises to stay in Brooklyn while negotiating for a new ballpark in New York.

Despite O’Malley’s refusal to meet with Wyman—she informed him that she’d simply talk to the Giants about moving out west instead, writes Richard Sandomir at the New York Times—he ultimately realized that Los Angeles would likely give him the stadium that New York would not.

Wyman’s team soon secured enough City Council votes to approve a ballot referendum for Dodger Stadium, which passed with a 10-4 vote despite O’Malley’s inability to promise he’d move the team.

As negotiations continued, Wyman and O’Malley developed a strong trust. Peter O’Malley, Walter’s son, said in 2016 that Wyman “deserves all the credit” for facilitating the Dodgers’ move to Los Angeles.

Tommy Lasorda, longtime Dodgers manager, had high praise for Wyman, too: “They should erect a monument to her,” he said in 2000.

Valerie J. Nelson and Kenneth Reich at the Los Angeles Times tell Wyman’s story, from the origins of her political career to her legacy outside of baseball, in an obituary here.

Dodgers Links

Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic weighs in on whether the Dodgers really need Aaron Judge and which players would need to be shuffled around to make a deal work.

We all knew Albert Pujols was retiring at the end of this season, but now it’s official: Pujols has signed his retirement papers, reports Manny Randhawa at MLB.com.

Bryce Harper could have been a Dodger—if the team coughed up a long-term deal, writes Jorge Castillo at the Los Angeles Times.