Peter Angelos, who bought the Orioles in 1993 after finding success in the legal world, died on March 23 at the age of 94.
Angelos led a group that bought the Orioles for $173 million in 1993. He had been successful as a lawyer and pulled together a team of investors that purchased the club in a bankruptcy auction one year after Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened.
The Orioles did well at first under Angelos, who became popular initially with Baltimore fans. He helped gain popularity in 1994 when saying he wouldn’t use replacement players during a strike. Things got even better when the Orioles earned a wild-card playoff spot in 1996 and won the American League East in 1997.
But there were signs of change in 1996, when Angelos stopped a possible midseason trade of two players. The Orioles kept David Wells and Bobby Bonilla and bounced back to earn a playoff spot with a good second half.
Angelos had what The Washington Post later described as a tumultuous relationship with then-manager Davey Johnson, who guided the team to both playoff appearances. Johnson turned in his resignation after the 1997 season, the same day he won Manager of the Year honors.
That was the last winning season the Orioles had until 2012, when the team finished the 93-69 to claim the second AL wild-card spot under the leadership of manager Buck Showalter and executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette. Angelos’ Orioles returned to the playoffs in 2014, winning the AL East title for the first time since 1997. The Orioles earned a wild-card playoff spot again in 2016 and won the AL East in 2023.
The stretch of 14 consecutive losing seasons from 1998-2011 caused angst with fans. Negative comments and criticisms of Angelos grew louder and more strident.
Angelos stayed more in the background, remaining a quiet figure publicly, even as he engaged in a protracted dispute with the Washington Nationals over MASN rights fees. His son John became the club’s control person in 2020. In January, the Angelos family agreed to sell a control stake in the Orioles to a group led by David M. Rubenstein for $1.725 billion.
Angelos is survived by his wife, Georgia, and two sons, John and Louis.
Photo Credit: Jim Burger/PressBox