By: Liz Farmer
Let’s face it — I don’t care how loyal you are or how much you love the history of baseball in this region, it’s not a good week to be an Orioles or Nationals fan.
Let’s start with the O’s: on Tuesday, Sports Illustrated came out with its best and worst owners list and guess who came in as the worst owner in baseball? You got it, our very own Peter Angelos. Since the 
lawyer bought the team for $173 million in 1993, the team has had two playoff appearances and posted a .486 winning percentage. Sure, the team’s value has more than doubled to $400 million, but one might argue the O’s could have been worth a lot more than that now.
Here’s what SI had to say: “[In 1993, the team] was a year removed from its Camden Yards debut with a stacked roster Angelos allowed former GM Pat Gillick to build….Then Angelos began his notorious meddling, firing popular manager Davey Johnson, burning through another five managers, killing trades proposed by his GMs and stripping down one of baseball’s proudest franchises.”
But I’d argue the Nats have it worse. Owner Ted Lerner, who bought the team in 2006 was named the fifth-worst owner in baseball. The team has actually gone down in value by $44 million from its purchase price of Read the rest of this entry »
By: Liz Farmer
The news today about Orioles owner Peter Angelos meeting with state officials last night about saving the Preakness Stakes got me thinking — does anyone remember when Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank bought Sagamore Farm a couple years back?
At the time, Plank said his motivation was, in part, the Preakness:
“Could you imagine someone saying, ‘Live from Santa Anita, the Preakness Stakes?’ It would be a tragedy,” Plank was quoted as saying last year. “We need to stand up and fight for that. The only way to do that is by having a healthy,striving industry here.”
I imagine Plank is a little distracted by Under Armour’s share price, the company’s new line of running shoes and the planned basketball shoe slated to hit the market next year. But as a farm owner who once said his dream was to win the Triple Crown, I wonder what he thinks about the latest developments with Pimlico Race Course being on the auction block and the possibility of the state stepping in to ensure Preakness stays here.
If Angelos is stepping up to the plate (no pun intended), should we expect other Marylanders in sports business follow suit? And who else might be a logical player here?
By: jackie.sauter
First things first. Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti seems to be a great guy. He even returned my phone calls when I covered the sports-business beat at The Sun.
Bisciotti seemed genuinely torn up about firing Coach Brian Billick. But here’s a question: Why haven’t Baltimore’s sports columnists and sports talk show hosts beaten up Bisciotti for “meddling” in the Ravens’ football affairs with the same vengeance that they routinely beat up Peter Angelos with for “meddling” in the Orioles’ baseball affairs?
Is there one iota of difference?
To be clear, I think both Bisciotti and Angelos have every right to “meddle.” They own the teams. You can’t meddle in something that’s your’s.
The reason Bisciotti’s gotten a free pass is that the sports writers also think he’s a great guy. Angelos — well, not so much. (And to be fair, Angelos also always returned my phone calls. We even shared a cab once from Major League Baseball’s New York headquarters to Penn Station.)
But if they think it’s wrong for Angelos to have his hand in baseball decisions, it’s hard for me to imagine why they wouldn’t think it’s wrong for Bisciotti to have his hand in football decisions.
Am I crazy?
ED WALDMAN, Managing Editor/Business
Photo courtesy of scout.com.
