Mar 23, 2024, 03:02 PM ETBALTIMORE — Peter Angelos, owner of a Baltimore Orioles workforce that endured lengthy dropping stretches and a shrewd proprietor of a legislation agency who received high-profile instances towards business titans, died Saturday. He was 94.Angelos had been unwell for a number of years. His household introduced his demise in an announcement thanking the caregivers “who brought comfort to him in his final years.”Angelos’ demise comes as his son John is within the strategy of promoting the Orioles to a bunch headed by Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein. Peter Angelos’ public function diminished considerably in his remaining years. According to a lawsuit involving his sons in 2022, he had surgical procedure after his aortic valve failed in 2017.”I offer my deepest condolences to the Angelos family on the passing of Peter Angelos,” Rubenstein mentioned in an announcement. “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.”Editor’s PicksBorn on the Fourth of July in 1929 and raised in Maryland by Greek immigrants, Peter Angelos rose from a blue-collar background to launch a agency in his personal title after receiving his legislation diploma from the University of Baltimore in 1961.In August 1993, Angelos led a bunch of traders that purchased the Orioles. The group included author Tom Clancy, filmmaker Barry Levinson and tennis star Pam Shriver. The price ticket of $173 million — at the time the best for a sports activities franchise — got here in a sale compelled by the chapter of then-owner Eli Jacobs.While remaining energetic in a legislation agency specializing in private damage instances, Angelos assumed a hands-on strategy to operating his hometown workforce. Few participant acquisitions had been carried out with out his approval, and his repute for not spending thousands and thousands on high-priced free brokers belied his web value, which in 2017 was estimated at $2.1 billion.In 1996, his agency introduced a lawsuit on behalf of the state of Maryland towards tobacco large Philip Morris, securing a $4.5 billion settlement. The Law Offices of Peter Angelos additionally earned thousands and thousands of {dollars} by the settlement of asbestos instances, together with a class-action swimsuit on behalf of metal, shipyard and manufacturing facility staff.Angelos made headlines in baseball as effectively. In 1995, he was the one considered one of 28 homeowners who refused to stick to a plan to make use of alternative gamers throughout a union strike that started throughout the 1994 season.”We’re duty bound to provide Major League Baseball to our fans, and that can’t be done with replacement players,” he insisted.At the time, Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. was solely 122 video games from breaking Lou Gehrig’s file of two,130 consecutive video games performed. The streak would have ended if the season began with alternative gamers and Ripken remained on strike, however the homeowners and gamers reached an settlement earlier than Opening Day and Ripken finally ended up extending his file run to 2,632.Angelos additionally fought for years to create an exhibition collection between the Orioles and Cuba’s nationwide workforce, a quest that reached fruition in 1999. On March 28, the Orioles performed in Havana whereas Angelos sat alongside Cuban chief Fidel Castro. The groups met again on May 3 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.The collection marked the primary time the Cuban nationwide workforce had confronted a squad composed solely of main league gamers, and the primary time since 1959 {that a} large league membership performed in Cuba.”He’s always had an interest in politics, especially foreign policy. That, and his involvement with baseball, made it a natural thing,” John Angelos mentioned.Peter Angelos, pictured right here in 1999, led a bunch of traders that purchased the Orioles for $173 million — at the time the best for a sports activities franchise. Mario Tama/Getty PhotosThe Orioles by no means received a World Series with Angelos as their owner. The workforce lastly ended a run of 14 consecutive dropping seasons in 2012, reaching the postseason beneath supervisor (*94*) Showalter. Baltimore made it to the American League Championship Series in 2014. But in 2018 the underside fell out when the Orioles completed 47-115, the worst file within the majors and worst for the reason that franchise relocated from St. Louis in 1954.Showalter was fired, and a significant rebuild started the next season beneath rookie supervisor Brandon Hyde. The Orioles capped a swift rise from their rebuild by profitable 101 video games and a division title in 2023.Though the workforce was not often sensational, its dwelling base definitely stood out. Sellout crowds had been the norm after Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992. The iconic construction was constructed predominantly with brick, mortar and metal — a lot in the identical trend as old-time ballparks — and was the blueprint for different stadiums to comply with.In an period when homeowners typically promote the title of their workforce’s stadium or area to advertisers with the best bid, Angelos by no means succumbed to such a transaction.”Peter Angelos was a proud native of Baltimore who deeply appreciated owning the Baltimore Orioles,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred mentioned in an announcement. “Peter’s lifetime of philanthropy greatly benefited numerous worthy causes throughout his hometown. He championed the Orioles’ historic 1999 series with the Cuban National Team. Peter ably served the game on our Labor Committee, and I will always remember his personal support when I was first elected to this role in his home city in 2014.”As he neared his ninetieth birthday, Angelos lastly settled into the background and entrusted the operation of the workforce to his two sons, John and Louis.John Angelos is also president of the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, a regional community that televises Orioles and Washington Nationals video games. Though each groups share possession of MASN, the Orioles maintain a big majority curiosity.Louis, the youthful of the brothers, is an legal professional at the Law Offices of Peter Angelos and a consultant of Orioles possession.Though generally known as the owner of a baseball workforce and profitable legislation agency, Peter Angelos’ attain in Maryland went far deeper. He had a political profession that started with an unsuccessful run for state senate in 1958, however after that he held a seat on the Baltimore City Council from 1959 to 1963.In 1967, his bid to turn out to be Baltimore’s mayor ended within the Democratic major.Angelos additionally was a participant within the horse racing business. He purchased a number of horses and named one after his supervisor at the time — Showalter, who received his debut race as a 2-year-old at Laurel Race Course in 2015.Information from The Associated Press was used on this report.