Finally, The Quiet Man speaks out.

Peter O’Malley, whose family owned the Dodgers for 47 years, tells the Los Angeles Times in today’s editions that Frank and/or Jamie McCourt need to sell the team for the good of the city and the franchise.

Amen to that.

The money quote:

“For many years, the Dodgers have been one of the most prestigious institutions in our city and throughout professional sports,” O’Malley told The Times. “Sadly, that is not the case today.”

The scary quote:

“Frank has made it abundantly clear he is the long-term owner of the Dodgers,” said Steve Sugerman, Frank McCourt’s spokesman, “and he looks forward to the day when his four boys own and operate the team.”

o-m-g.

Anyway, we can only hope that the normally reclusive and controversy-shy O’Malley finally speaking out will help galvanize the city and the community to make it clear to Frank McCourt that he is not wanted in town. Our great hope is that he is forced to sell the team.

O’Malley made clear he would be willing to help run the team during a change in ownership, but said it would be a “short-term” situation.

Have to wonder, thinking back, how this would have turned out had Peter just kept the franchise, a decade ago. He was worried about inheritance taxes when he sold to Fox which, in 2004, sold to the McCourts. Or maybe just Frank.

I have always wondered, however, whether his father, the late Walter O’Malley, would have found a way to hold on to the team, which was perhaps the class organization in all of baseball during his stewardship. Walter was made of steelier stuff than his polite son.

That’s all hindsight, of course. All we can hope for now is the McCourts in our rearview mirror. Peter is for it, and when The Quiet Man speaks, people listen.