The Baltimore Orioles confirmed on Saturday that longtime owner Peter Angelos, who was ninety-four, had passed away.
In a statement, the Orioles declared Angelos dead and mentioned that he had been sick for a number of years. The Angelos family has asked for philanthropic contributions in lieu of flowers, and will have a private funeral.
Leading the financial group that bought the Orioles in 1993, Angelos has been the team’s major owner ever since. Due to the team’s poor performance in the 2000s, Angelos, who had previously been a player-friendly owner prepared to spend huge sums of money, came under fire for dismissing his general managers and acting too quickly to make changes.
As Angelos’ health declined in recent years, his sons assumed greater responsibilities, which eventually resulted in quite a mess. In January, John Angelos announced that the family had an agreement to sell the team to a new group of investors. That pending sale has yet to receive final approval from MLB.
Angelos had been ill for several years. His family announced his death in a statement thanking the caregivers
“who brought comfort to him in his final years.”
Angelos’ death comes as his son John is in the process of selling the Orioles to a group headed by Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein. Peter Angelos’ public role diminished significantly in his final years. According to a lawsuit involving his sons in 2022, he had surgery after his aortic valve failed in 2017.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the Angelos family on the passing of Peter Angelos,” Rubenstein said in a statement. “Peter made an indelible mark first in business and then in baseball. The city of Baltimore owes him a debt of gratitude for his stewardship of the Orioles across three decades and for positioning the team for great success.”
Businessman and Legalist
Angelos spearheaded a group of financiers that acquired the Orioles in August 1993. Pam Shriver, a tennis player, filmmaker Barry Levinson, and author Tom Clancy were among the group. The $173 million asking price, which at the time was the most for a sports team, was part of a forced sale brought about by Eli Jacobs’s bankruptcy.
Angelos therefore, continued to be involved in a personal injury law practice and took a hands-on approach to managing his hometown team. Few player purchases were made without his agreement, and his $2.1 billion estimated net worth in 2017 was belied by his reputation for not splashing millions on expensive free agents.
His company sued the tobacco industry Philip Morris, securing a $4.5 billion settlement. in 1996 on behalf of the state of Maryland.
Angelos made headlines in baseball as well. Of the 28 owners that declined to follow through on a plan to substitute players for injured players during the 1994–1995 union strike, he was the only one who did so in 1995.
“We’re duty bound to provide Major League Baseball to our fans, and that can’t be done with replacement players,” he maintained.
At that moment, Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 straight games played was just 122 games away from being broken by Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. However, If the season had begun with substitute players and Ripken had continued to strike, the streak would have ended. However, before Opening Day, the owners and players came to an agreement, and Ripken went on to extend his record run to 2,632.