Credit where credit is due: While Angelos had a lengthy period of years where he was making poor decisions with respect to the team, the fact remains that, in the MacPhail era at least, he seems to be making amends. This is not just about letting MacPhail call the personnel shots; it’s about (as Anderson points out) not selling the stadium naming rights, allowing fans to bring in food, spending the money to lock up Nicky, etc. etc.

An interesting editorial, worth a read (although no doubt Anderson has his own biases).

Angelos was a very successful businessman who has done his share of philanthropic work as well as not so savory stuff such as influencing legislators to his advantage. It’s typical big business stuff.

As for running the Orioles, he was incompetent and surrounded himself by incompetence for nearly the past ten years. He’s stated he didn’t much like owning the team. Fans don’t care how gentle or gracious he was with a player or three. They know the team was an embarrassment and Angelos’ reputation has suffered (I bet Matt Millen is also an OK guy). Angelos found a competent baseball man he trusted while they worked together on some player management issues. I still think this MacPhail hire is as much about trying to build a decent team as it is Angelos wanting to go out on a positive vibe.

for getting the hell out of the way.

But he is not foolish. He saw that his way didn’t work, so he brought in a smart baseball man and let him run. As long as he lets AM make the baseball decisions, Angelos is a fine owner by my standards.

Brady Anderson may have approved the letter, but I sincerely doubt he wrote it himself. (Does Brady really keep track of the food & beverage policies at Camden Yards?) Not that it’s unusual for something like this to happen. Major heads of organizations, political candidates, etc. frequently sign their names to op-eds that they didn’t pen themselves. I just wonder who called in the favor to counter the recent negative press of Angelos. There’s an intriguing larger dynamic at work, perhaps the beginning of an effort to remake the image of Peter Angelos.

It will be interesting to see how the public opinion of Angelos changes as the Orioles improve. In particular, I’ll be interested to see whether national writers stick with the familiar “meddling owner” script or instead give him credit for the MacPhail hire and other recent successes. There’s been much to complain about with the O’s for years now, but the the organization does finally seem to be getting some things right.

Pet peeve for “Brady”: Why are others referred to as “Mr.” (Mr. Angelos, Mr. Johnson) but “one of the most respected men in baseball” is just referred to as MacPhail?

Bud Selig directed MacPhail to Baltimore to fix the Orioles, imo, and Peter Angels was so beaten down by so many years of losing that he has let Andy have a free hand.

Ask Boswell

I find it hard to believe, and present it as an idea I haven’t heard. Boswell was also on the conspiracy theory that Angelos destroyed the O’s in order to prevent the Nats move to D.C. Show us some evidence Tom.

+2 to Rf34b for pointing to the corporate origins of “Brady’s” message— which don’t particularly bother me, either. Business is business, and the Orioles aren’t a philanthropic outfit.

As for an appropriate fan attitude toward PA at this juncture: I’m a long way from “Swell, Petey, all is forgotten, we can be double-buds now!”— for reasons you already know. In case you don’t, note the reminders above from drj (“he was incompetent and surrounded himself by incompetence for nearly the past ten years. He’s stated he didn’t much like owning the team. Fans…know the team was an embarrassment…”); from rebop (“I’m not about to forget the multiple ways in which Angelos fucked this franchise up over the past decade.”); and dayzd (“I’ll give him credit for getting the hell out of the way.”)

You can make long and detailed lists and complain loudly, as I have over the years. But let’s just skip down to a single point for present purposes:

Will a “new” PA bring back John Miller? Why was (arguably) the best announcer in MLB summarily heaved— and replaced by (unarguably) one of the worst? The “old” PA clearly didn’t give a rat’s +ss about the fan base generated over multiple decades by Orioles radio (on TOP and BAL), first running Miller out of town and then putting the club’s games on serial flagship stations of approximately 60 watts power run by high school kids using hamster-cage generators somewhere on Eastern Shore.

Sure, there’s plenty of other stuff. But the day Miller gets an apology, a fat raise and reports for work at OPACY again— that’s the day I’ll say “Petey, you’ve convinced me: you actually do care a whit about the hundreds of thousands of out-of-region Oriole fans you’ve alienated as well as the image and integrity of the franchise they grew up hearing about — and admiring, until you took over. Thanks for turning decent. Now please get out of the booth.”

Among the other criteria mentioned in the SI survey were the stability and capabilities of the front office. Had this article appeared two years ago, a valid argument could have been made against Mr. Angelos, and I am certain that he too would have acknowledged that the front office lacked stability. However, with the arrival of Andy MacPhail, one of the most respected men in baseball and the owner of two World Series rings, this criticism is off the mark as well. According to MacPhail, Angelos has given him full latitude to run the club.

Andy MacPhail has been here just about 2 years, correct? We had losing seasons for 9 consecutive years in a row before that, and have had 1+ since then, correct? So how can anyone just gloss over 9 years of bad decisions? That’s 11% of the average human lifespan, consumed with bad team after bad team. This is why people hate Peter Angelos. Now, sure, most fans are pleased with MacPhail’s moves, myself included, and we should be. But it’s a little hard to forget going through a decade+ of losing, particularly when we’re not even winning yet.

I loathe referring to other teams ballparks for this reason, unless it’s by some short, non sponsor nick like ‘the Bank’

Brady Anderson, or someone claiming to be Brady, has replied to a Bugs and Cranks piece about his Baltimore Sun op-ed.

http://www.bugsandcranks.com/patricksmith/a-weird-message-from-brady-anderson/