Peter Angelos handed away in the present day at age 94, as per an official assertion from the Orioles and the Angelos household. Angelos had been battling sickness for the previous couple of years and had left the general public eye, and his son John took over because the Orioles’ chairman and management particular person with reference to official league enterprise in 2020.
A Baltimore native, Angelos constructed his fortune by a famend authorized profession, most notably a landmark consolidated motion case in 1992 representing 1000’s of staff in varied fields who had been uncovered to asbestos over the course of their jobs. Angelos led a gaggle of buyers that bought the Orioles in 1993 for $173MM, and rapidly established himself as one thing of a maverick inside baseball’s possession circles through the 1994-95 gamers’ strike. Although the strike was settled earlier than substitute gamers took the sector for the 1995 season, Angelos’ refusal to make use of such gamers (who he considered as scabs) drew some animosity from his fellow house owners and respect from the MLBPA.
On the sector, the Orioles went by loads of ups and downs throughout Angelos’ tenure as proprietor. There was little doubt about Angelos’ want to win, as he instantly elevated the staff’s payroll and introduced a number of big-name free brokers into the fold, serving to Baltimore attain the ALCS in each 1996 and 1997. After that final ALCS look, nevertheless, the Orioles didn’t have one other successful season till 2012, as Angelos was usually accused of taking a heavy hand in baseball operations. This manifested itself in a revolving door of managers and basic managers, till issues started to stabilize underneath Buck Showalter and government VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette. The Orioles had 5 seasons of .500 or higher ball from 2012-16, together with three postseason appearances and one other journey to the ALCS in 2014.
The Orioles’ payrolls tended to fluctuate based mostly on the staff’s aggressive degree, and Baltimore ranked throughout the prime ten of league spending as not too long ago because the 2017 season. Angelos had specific considerations about sure kinds of baseball-related investments, maybe most notably a wariness about any sort of long-term assure to pitchers (particularly pitchers with any kind of damage historical past). Angelos was additionally famously important of baseball’s worldwide signing system, which resulted within the Orioles basically sitting out for the worldwide novice marketplace for a number of years.
John Angelos’ stewardship of the staff led to some adjustments to the Orioles’ enterprise, as GM Mike Elias was given broad leeway to modernize and revamp the baseball operations division as a part of a near-total rebuild. The O’s posted shedding information from 2017-21 (the latter three underneath Elias) earlier than successful 83 video games in 2022, after which bursting out to win 101 video games and the AL East crown final season. With an unbelievable core of younger expertise in place, the Orioles now appear like World Collection contenders each this season and maybe for a few years to come back.
This new period of Orioles baseball will happen considerably exterior of the Angelos household, because it was introduced in February that the staff had been offered for $1.725 billion to a brand new possession group led by David Rubenstein. (John Angelos remains to be an investor within the Orioles.). The information of the sale adopted years of hypothesis and drama about the way forward for the franchise, as authorized and private points throughout the Angelos household and the Orioles’ expiring lease at Camden Yards in 2023 led to some considerations that the O’s could possibly be offered or moved to a different metropolis. Because it turned out, the Orioles organized a brand new lease to stay at Camden Yards for no less than the following 15 years, and Rubenstein’s full buy of the group is anticipated to be authorised by the league inside a couple of weeks’ time. Rubenstein was initially slated to take over 40 p.c of the staff, however now will take full possession of the membership on account of the elder Angelos’ passing.
We at MLB Commerce Rumors ship our condolences to Angelos’ household, mates, and family members.
