EDITOR’S NOTE. Peter Angelos, a famous lawyer and Owner of Baltimore Orioles, who born in Baltimore in 1929 His parents were John Angelos (a bar owner) and Frances Angelos, who immigrated to the United States from Karpathos, Greece. Peter Angelos married Georgia Kousouris in 1966, and they had two children together, John and Louis. The rest of his biography follows…
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Orioles Owner Peter Angelos Passes Away
Peter Angelos passed away today at age 94, as per an official statement from the Orioles and the Angelos family. Angelos had been battling illness for the last few years and had left the public eye, and his son John took over as the Orioles’ chairman and control person in regards to official league business in 2020.
A Baltimore native, Angelos built his fortune through a renowned legal career, most notably a landmark consolidated action case in 1992 representing thousands of workers in various fields who had been exposed to asbestos over the course of their jobs. Angelos led a group of investors that purchased the Orioles in 1993 for $173MM, and quickly established himself as something of a maverick within baseball’s ownership circles during the 1994-95 players’ strike. Though the strike was settled before replacement players took the field for the 1995 season, Angelos’ refusal to use such players (who he viewed as scabs) drew some animosity from his fellow owners and respect from the MLBPA.
On the field, the Orioles went through plenty of ups and downs during Angelos’ tenure as owner. There was little doubt about Angelos’ desire to win, as he immediately increased the team’s payroll and brought several big-name free agents into the fold, helping Baltimore reach the ALCS in both 1996 and 1997. After that last ALCS appearance, however, the Orioles didn’t have another winning season until 2012, as Angelos was often accused of taking a heavy hand in baseball operations. This manifested itself in a revolving door of managers and general managers, until things began to stabilize under Buck Showalter and executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette. The Orioles had five seasons of .500 or better ball from 2012-16, including three postseason appearances and another trip to the ALCS in 2014.
The Orioles’ payrolls tended to fluctuate based on the team’s competitive level, and Baltimore ranked within the top ten of league spending as recently as the 2017 season. Angelos had particular concerns about certain types of baseball-related investments, perhaps most notably a wariness about any kind of long-term guarantee to pitchers (especially pitchers with any sort of injury history). Angelos was also famously critical of baseball’s international signing system, which resulted in the Orioles essentially sitting out for the international amateur market for several years.
John Angelos’ stewardship of the team brought about some changes to the Orioles’ business, as GM Mike Elias was given broad leeway to modernize and revamp the baseball operations department as part of a near-total rebuild. The O’s posted losing records from 2017-21 (the latter three under Elias) before winning 83 games in 2022, and then bursting out to win 101 games and the AL East crown last season. With an incredible core of young talent in place, the Orioles now look like World Series contenders both this season and perhaps for many years to come.
This new era of Orioles baseball will take place somewhat outside of the Angelos family, as it was announced in February that the team had been sold for $1.725 billion to a new ownership group led by David Rubenstein. (John Angelos is still an investor in the Orioles.). The news of the sale followed years of speculation and drama about the future of the franchise, as legal and personal issues within the Angelos family and the Orioles’ expiring lease at Camden Yards in 2023 led to some concerns that the O’s could be sold or moved to another city. As it turned out, the Orioles arranged a new lease to remain at Camden Yards for at least the next 15 years, and Rubenstein’s full purchase of the organization is expected to be approved by the league within a few weeks’ time. Rubenstein was initially slated to take over 40 percent of the team, but now will take full ownership of the club as a result of the elder Angelos’ passing.
We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Angelos’ family, friends, and loved ones.
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Peter Angelos
Peter Angelos was born on July 4, 1929, in Baltimore. His parents were John Angelos (a bar owner) and Frances Angelos, who immigrated to the United States from Karpathos, Greece. Peter Angelos married Georgia Kousouris in 1966, and they had two children together, John and Louis.
Angelos’ family lived in the working-class neighborhood of Highlandtown and lived in a row house. Angelos’ father owned a local tavern and mostly spoke Greek at home.
Peter Angelos wanted to be a politician, but he didn’t get very far. Though he was briefly elected to the Baltimore City Council, voters rejected his bids for Maryland’s state senate in the 1950s and for mayor in the ’60s. But Angelos remains a politician at heart. The former criminal defense attorney has been called the “most powerful private citizen in Maryland.” And as his campaign contributions and court cases demonstrate, his reach extends far beyond his home state.
Angelos has refashioned himself as an attorney to the little guy, representing consumers and workers in class-action suits against the likes of Philip Morris and Motorola. The turning point in his career came in the early 1980s when labor leaders cajoled him into accepting a suit on behalf of asbestos workers. Within a decade, asbestos had made Angelos a very rich man. His firm has reportedly made more than $100 million on asbestos rulings alone, and still handles as many as 500 cases each year.
His profile as a class-action litigator and his fees have since skyrocketed. As Maryland’s lead counsel against the tobacco industry, he signed on for a 25 percent fee — which turned out to be nearly $1 billion. (The state has since held up payment, arguing that Angelos’ take was simply too large.) Angelos has also sued manufacturers of lead paint and the diet drug fen-phen and is currently representing a man who claims that using a cell phone gave him brain cancer. The suit, which seeks more than $800 million in damages, worries cell phone providers like Motorola and Verizon Wireless. Though similar suits have failed, RCR Wireless News notes that the industry “has never faced a lawyer with the expertise, financial resources, and political firepower of a Peter Angelos.”
Angelos, who led a group of investors that purchased the Baltimore Orioles in 1993 for a then-record $173 million, wields considerable financial and political clout at home. When he wants something from state lawmakers, the measures he supports are referred to simply as “Angelos bills.” The state assembly gave lawyers like Angelos more time to sue by extending the statute of limitations on asbestos cases; the measure was sponsored by state Senator Norman Stone Jr., who later accepted a position with Angelos’ firm.
The assembly also created more judgeships to speed asbestos cases along; the bill passed after Angelos brought Orioles’ superstar Cal Ripken Jr. for a photo opp with state legislators. “The idea that one person could provide all this major legislation has been amazing,” House Minority Leader Robert Flanagan (R) told the Baltimore City Paper.
Angelos has extended his reach to international issues. In 1999, he became the first professional baseball owner to orchestrate a game with Cuba, reportedly securing a State Department waiver for his team’s trip to Havana following a White House meeting with then-National Security Advisor Sandy Berger.
He also drew the ire of Republicans last May by refusing to sign Cuban defectors to his ball club. Senator Jesse Helms (R.-N.C.), not known for his opposition to discrimination, demanded a federal probe of the Orioles to safeguard the rights of “Cubans who manage to flee the repressive regime of Fidel Castro.” Jim Nicholson, chairman of the Republican National Committee, also expressed outrage that Angelos would “turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed by Castro’s totalitarian state.”
