Therese "Terry" O'Malley Seidler (born May 16, 1933) is an American former baseball owner and executive who owned the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

from 1979 to 1997, alongside her brother Peter O'Malley. She is one of a few women to serve as the principal owner of a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

team, inheriting half the team after the death of her father

Walter O'Malley Walter Francis O'Malley (October 9, 1903 – August 9, 1979) was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1979. In 1958, as owner of the Dodgers, he br ...

Early life

Born Therese "Terry" O'Malley in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on May 16, 1933, she was the eldest child of Katherine "Kay" () and

. Her younger brother,

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

, was born in 1937. She spent her early life split between

Amityville, New York Amityville () is a Political subdivisions of New York State#Village, village in the Babylon (town), New York, Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island, in New York ...

, and

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. O'Malley attended Froebel Academy and graduated from St. Francis Xavier Academy in

. She enrolled in

College of New Rochelle The College of New Rochelle (CNR) was a private Catholic college with its main campus in New Rochelle, New York. It was founded as the College of St. Angela by Mother Irene Gill, OSU of the Ursuline Order as the first Catholic women's college in ...

where she was elected freshman class president and Mission Queen as a senior, played basketball and softball and was a member of the student council in 1953–1954. In Amityville, she was a member of the Narrasketuck Yacht Club where she took part in

sailboat racing The sport of sailing involves a variety of competitive sailing formats that are sanctioned through various sailing federations and yacht clubs. Racing disciplines include matches within a fleet of sailing craft, between a pair thereof or among ...

. Her hobbies also included ice-skating and swimming.

Career

Upon graduating from college, O'Malley served as executive secretary for the

Dodgertown Holman Stadium is a baseball stadium in Vero Beach, Florida, built in 1953 from an abandoned naval base, to accommodate spring training for the Brooklyn Dodgers as part of a complex now called Historic Dodgertown. In addition to the Dodgers' sp ...

Summer Camp for Boys in

Vero Beach, Florida Vero Beach is a city in and the county seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,354. Nicknamed "The Hibiscus City", Vero is situated about south ...

, for three summers. When the Dodgers moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, O'Malley moved to California with her family. She worked as her father's personal secretary. After marriage to Roland Seidler, Terry devoted herself to her family. In 1978, she returned to the Dodgers executive office and served on their Board of Directors. She and Peter O'Malley, who had been serving as President of the team for a few years, inherited the team outright upon the death of their father in 1979. In 1981, Seidler was named secretary of the Dodgers Board of Directors in 1981, continuing in that role through 1998, when the O'Malley's sold the team to

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

News Corp The second and current incarnation of News Corporation, doing business as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company was formed on ...

. On the 50th anniversary of the opening of

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a ballpark in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a ...

, April 10, 2012, Seidler threw out the

ceremonial first pitch The ceremonial first pitch is a longstanding ritual of baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from their seat in the grandstand to ...

. On the stadium's inaugural opening day, her mother Kay had thrown the ceremonial first pitch.

Historic Dodgertown

In 2012, Seidler and O'Malley both joined efforts to buy

, the Dodger's

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

facility in

, until they moved to Camelback Ranch in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. The old facility was about to be torn down due to Indian River County's inability to find a willing tenant. The facility was turned into a year-round multi-sport training and conference center. Thanks to the efforts of the O'Malleys, Historic Dodgertown became a Florida Heritage Landmark on November 10, 2014.

Personal life

Seidler married Los Angeles native and businessman Roland "Rollie" Seidler in October 1958. They had met earlier that year, during a doubleheader between the Dodgers and the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

at the

Los Angeles Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Col ...

on May 4. The couple remained married until his death in June 2008 at their home in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. They had ten children together, including

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

and

Peter Seidler Peter Seidler (November 7, 1960 – November 14, 2023) was an American businessman. He was the chairman of the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). Early life Seidler was born in Alhambra, California, on November 7, 1960, to Roland ...

. Peter was the principal owner and chairman of the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

until his death in 2023, and John succeeded him as chairman in February 2025.

References

External links