Orioles Owner Peter Angelos Dies At The Age Of 94
Sad news out of Baltimore with the news that Orioles owner Peter Angelos has died at 94. We knew this had been coming for a while but rumors starting swirling this morning that he had passed. 94 is a hell of a run, especially when you realize he bought the Orioles for $173 Million in 1993 and they recently agreed to sell for $1.7 Billion. Decent ROI.
He’ll get shit on by a lot of the fans who are new to the scene but early on he spent and spent and spent. He had the right idea as an owner. He refused to use scab players to preserve Cal’s streak during the strike, he was such a players owner and you have to respect that. Obviously as the years went on the tune changed because he eventually clammed up and stopped spending, some day Albert Belle’s hip is to thank for that.
He wasn’t the perfect owner, that doesn’t exist, but one thing you have to say about him is how much he loved Baltimore and the Orioles. Countless donations to children’s hospitals in the area, he had his head in the right place. His son may not, but he did. Again, basically the only owner to side with the players during the strike, he was a smart guy.
Want to know how much he loved the Orioles and Camden Yards? Owned the team all those years and never entertained a sale of the naming rights. Say he was money hungry, say he was greedy, he never wanted to make the extra coin from the name.
I understand fans disdain for him too, he was the owner during an absolutely awful and disgusting stretch of Orioles baseball, but that’s in the past and we’re moving on. The rest of the David Rubenstein sale can start to take place now with his death and hopefully his family is at peace now.
Rip Peter