LOS ANGELES — Former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley will be honored by the Japanese government tonight as part of the team’s annual Japan Night.
O’Malley will receive The Order of the Rising Sun for the contributions he has made promoting friendly relations through baseball between Japan and the U.S. and the development of baseball in Japan.
The decoration, conferred by Emperor Akihito, will be presented by Harry H. Horinouchi, Japan’s consul general in Los Angeles, in a ceremony before the game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
O’Malley has made approximately 85 trips to Japan. His first came in 1956 when he joined his parents, Walter and Kay, and his sister, Terry, accompanying the National League champion Brooklyn Dodgers on their first goodwill tour to Japan.