Peter Angelos, longtime owner of the Orioles and almost-lifelong Baltimorean, passed away on Saturday. He was 94 years old.
Angelos had been ill for several years, and over the last three months, his family was able to fulfill at least two of his last wishes. In January, they found a group to purchase the Orioles, and last month, three senior partners at Angelos’ law firm agreed to buy it.
The son of Greek immigrants, Angelos was born in Pittsburgh on July 4, 1929. The family moved to Baltimore when he was a child, and he earned his bachelors and law degrees at the University of Baltimore. He was the valedictorian of his law class. He was a City Councilman at 29 and once ran for mayor before pivoting to building a formidable personal injury law firm.
In 1993, Angelos led the group of Baltimoreans who purchased the Orioles out of bankruptcy. They paid a combined $173 million for the ball club; in January, a group agreed to purchase the Orioles for $1.725 billion. (The sale is pending league approval.)
Angelos’ legacy is a complicated one. He could be rigid and controlling, and he ran the Orioles with an impossible-to-navigate blend of hesitation and aggressiveness. He clashed with members of his front office and staff, highlighted by the memorable day in 1997 when Davey Johnson resigned as manager and was named American League Manager of the Year. He was willing to dole out large contracts, but they rarely paid off. His teams put together some of the worst stretches in MLB history. There were 14 consecutive losing seasons between 1998-11. After a brief window of contention, the Orioles lost at least 108 games each year between 2018-21 (not including the shortened 2020 season), drawing comparisons to the Cleveland Spiders, a defunct National League team that went a record 20-134 in 1899.
However, Angelos was also renowned philanthropist who devoted hundreds of millions – often anonymously – to improving the Baltimore community. His failed mayoral bid was Baltimore’s first citywide biracial ticket. He was a devoted labor advocate who, during the 1994-95 work stoppage, was the only owner who refused to build a team of non-union players to replace those on strike. In 1995, he helped former Orioles infielder Rafael Palmeiro’s family leave Fidel Castro’s Cuba.
He saved the Orioles, who were Baltimore’s last remaining professional sports team at the time of purchase, and brought them back to the postseason in ’96 and ’97. When the Montreal Expos were to become the Washington Nationals in 2005, he was a key orchestrator in the creation of MASN (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network), which broadcasts both teams’ games, and ensured that the Orioles would be the majority shareholder. Last season, after a historically-painful rebuild, he watched his Orioles win 101 games, their most since 1979, and their first division title since 2014.
Peter Angelos loved baseball, and he loved Baltimore. That much was far from perfect, but always certain. And both are better for it.