He Might Be Out of Sight, but He’s Not Out of View

The last time, the only time until Monday, Peter O’Malley had to open an office was 34 years ago in Spokane, Wash., where his father, Walter, had sent him to run the Dodgers’ triple-A team. He took over the space formerly serving as the home of Bob’s Chili Parlor.

“This is a little nicer,” O’Malley said Monday as he greeted a visitor to his new corner office on the ninth floor of a modern high-rise building in downtown Los Angeles, motioning to a panoramic view that includes, off in the distance, the tall palm trees around Dodger Stadium.

O’Malley, as usual, had been one of the first to arrive at Dodger Stadium that morning, but this time, he was there just to pick up mail that had not been forwarded.

He dropped in to see the Dodgers’ longtime traveling secretary, Billy DeLury, then drove the 10 minutes to his first new work address since 1967, the year he arrived from Spokane to direct Dodger Stadium operations as he continued his apprenticeship.

Another man might have been sentimental, reminiscing on almost four decades with the Dodger organization, a lifetime, really, if you count back to when his father first became involved with the team in 1942. But O’Malley decided two years ago Wednesday, the day he made his shocking announcement that he would sell the team, that he wouldn’t look back. As he entered the parking garage in the new building, he said he was excited.

“I felt like I did when I was driving up to the University of Pennsylvania for my freshman year, not knowing where to park, where to unload things, where to find my classes, where to find the dining room,” he said. “It was a great feeling, a feeling of anticipation.”

One difference is that O’Malley had a better idea then of what to anticipate. He knew that when he graduated from Penn’s Wharton School of Business and Finance, he would work for the Dodgers. Now, out of the family business, what business is he in?

O’Malley isn’t certain how to describe it, but then he isn’t absolutely certain about anything as he settles into his new surroundings.

Having earlier instructed his visitor by telephone where to park, he said, “It’ll cost you an arm and a leg, but maybe I validate. I’ll find out.”

Later, inside an office that still doesn’t have his name on the door, O’Malley mentioned that it is most important for him to remain involved in the growth of international baseball, whether it is by aiding in the organization of a “real” World Series involving more countries than the United States and occasionally Canada, consulting in the start of new professional leagues in countries such as Italy and China or advising existing ones in countries such as South Korea or Taiwan.

“I’m being vague,” he said. “But that’s not because I’m trying to be vague.”

O’Malley said he also will be there for the Dodgers whenever they call. Or even if they don’t call.

“Somebody asked me if I was bitter, and I said, ‘Bitter? I’m happy,’ ” O’Malley said. “If there was any bitterness, I’d feel turmoil inside. There’s no turmoil. The spirit of the transfer to Fox was good.

“Our lawyers said I should ask for a skybox for the rest of my life, whenever the Dodgers build skyboxes. Until then, they said I should at least get four seats behind the dugout.

“I said I didn’t want Fox committed to doing that. I don’t even have a parking pass. But if I want to go to a game, I’m sure I can call over there and they’ll find two or four seats for me somewhere.”

After major league baseball approved the sale to Fox near the beginning of last season, the Dodgers retained O’Malley as chairman, a position he relinquished last Thursday.

Whenever the owners made a dramatic move, such as the trade of Mike Piazza, the firing of Fred Claire and Bill Russell and the hiring of Davey Johnson, O’Malley appeared at the news conference to endorse it.

For the $311-million sale price, that’s the least Fox could have asked of O’Malley. But responding to suggestions that business at Chavez Ravine would have been different last season if he had been the owner, O’Malley insisted that isn’t so.

Addressing, for example, the Claire-Russell firing, he said: “Everyone realized that the new owner had to have confidence in the manager, the general manager and everybody else. Their confidence in Fred and Russell was not high.

“Therefore, the change was coming. If the change was coming, it was better to do it sooner than later.

“Now, everyone said, ‘Peter would have waited until the end of the year.’ Not necessarily. I thought the team was flat.”

As for signing Kevin Brown to a seven-year, $105-million contract, that’s not just the new Dodger way to play baseball. That’s the new way to play baseball, period. It’s a game O’Malley no longer could afford to play.

“The increase in ticket prices, the signage, refurbishing the stadium, that was all coming,” he said. “Even then, all we could see was red ink. Going to the Bank of America and asking for $10-[million] and $15-million loans gets old after two or three years.

“Because of the player salaries and the luxury tax, we were in a major storm. Fox has the resources to get the Dodgers through that storm and the will to spend the money. They are excellent owners.”

Whether they realize it yet, he said, Dodger fans should be happy he sold the team. It certainly seems as if he is, sitting inside his ninth floor office with the calming view, far above the storm.

Randy Harvey can be reached at randy.harvey@latimes.com