Peter Angelos

Peter G. Angelos (born July 4, 1929) is an American trial lawyer.

Angelos is also the majority owner of the Baltimore Orioles, a baseball team in the American League East Division.

Biography

Personal

Angelos's parents immigrated to the United States from Menetes, Karpathos, Greece. Angelos graduated from the Eastern College of Commerce and Law and the University of Baltimore School of Law. He practiced criminal defense law following graduation. In 1961, he founded his own firm and represented Baltimore labor unions and their members. Angelos redirected his practice to civil class actions in the 1980s, and in 1982, he represented a large number of plaintiffs in successful asbestos litigation. He reportedly earned more than $100 million in the case. Angelos also achieved considerable success representing the state of Maryland in a suit against Philip Morris and suing Wyeth, the makers of part of the diet pill combination fen-phen. Angelos's law firm currently has offices in Baltimore; Philadelphia; Cumberland, Maryland; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Wilmington, Delaware; and Knoxville, Tennessee.^[1]

Politics

A lifelong Democrat, he held a seat on Baltimore City Council from 1959 to 1963. He was the first Greek-American to be elected to the council. Angelos ran for mayor of Baltimore in 1964 as an independent, and while he lost with less than 10% of the vote, he became the first candidate in Maryland's political history to run as the lead on a bi-racial ticket. Three times in the 1960s he unsuccessfully challenged Republican incumbents in the Maryland Legislature. He has also used his influence with the small business community to call for the continuation of Maryland's archaic Contributory negligence laws while most of the United States has adopted the more equitable distributory negligence system.

Horse racing

Angelos breeds and races Thoroughbred horses and in 1998 purchased the 237-acre (0.96 km²) Ross Valley Farm in Baltimore County.^[2]

Baltimore Orioles

In 1993, Angelos led a group of investors which included Tom Clancy and Steve Geppi that purchased Baltimore Orioles for $173 million from Eli Jacobs.^[3] His official titles with the club are Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

Angelos arranged for a two-game exhibition series to be played between the Orioles and the Cuban national baseball team in 1999.^[4] The Orioles won the first game, played in Havana, while the Cuban team won the second game, held at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

In 2000, the team's general manager, Syd Thrift, told the Washington Times that the team had a practice of not signing players who had defected from Cuba, which he attributed to Angelos' desire to avoid doing "anything that could be interpreted as being disrespectful" by the Cuban government. Angelos denied the existence of such a policy. Subsequent investigations by Major League Baseball and the United States Department of Justice did not find evidence that the absence of Cuban players on the Orioles' roster or in its minor league system was due to discrimination.^[5]

In May 2009, a Sports Illustrated article reviewing owners of Major League Baseball franchises rated Angelos as the worst owner in the Major Leagues. The article notes that the methodology "was not scientific" and "weighing heavily in the decision was the team's success or failure on the field."^[6] Two weeks later, Brady Anderson, a member of the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame, responded in an op-ed to the Baltimore Sun, writing that Angelos deserves to be on a list of the "best owners in baseball."^[7]

On April 16, 2010, a Fox Sports article suggested that Angelos allegedly denied a job to Cal Ripken, Jr., an Oriole legend and student of the game, when Ripken offered to come work for the franchise in a supporting role to help the O's young talent develop. A day later, ESPN, MLB.com and the Baltimore Sun wrote that the Fox Sports story was inaccurate.^[8] Angelos denied that the two had spoken about potential opportunities with the Baltimore Orioles, but said he welcomed future discussions on the topic.^{[9] [10]}

On April 19, 2010, Cal Ripken Jr. issued a statement denying the Fox Sports story. In the statement, Ripken expressed an interest in returning to baseball and described his relationship with Angelos as "very good." ^[11]

Many Orioles fans have become disillusioned by the Peter Angelos era, during which the Orioles have experienced a lack of success, winning only 1 division title, no pennant, and often finishing in last place. But in recent years the Orioles have been doing better under general manager Dan Duquette and Manager Buck Showalter since 2012. In 2014, the Orioles won their division for the first time since 1997.

Awards

He was named "Marylander of the Year" by the Baltimore Sun in 1988, with a citation that read: "Measured by professional accomplishments and contributions to his city and region, he is the Marylander of this decade."^[12]

Angelos was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1996.^[13]

Charitable works

Angelos is well known for various acts of charity and philanthropy, having contributed millions to civic and community institutions around Maryland. He is the largest individual donor to the University of Baltimore and pledged $5 million to the school in 2008. In 2010, the Baltimore Sun reported that Angelos had recently donated $10 million to the university.^[14] The same report notes that during the particularly hot summer of 2010, Angelos anonymously donated $300,000 to keep Baltimore city pools open.^[14]

References

External links

• Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos - Official Website.
• Waldman, Ed. "Sold! Angelos scored with '93 home run," The Baltimore Sun, August 1, 2004.