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MANIFESTO - History: |
OVERVIEW
Think for a second about what Orioles baseball means to you.
You would not be visiting this site or wasting your time if you
didn’t at least have an interest, a memory or an opinion about
the Orioles.
Like most of us, there was a point in your life when you loved
the Orioles and they were one of the most important things in
your life.
Maybe it’s a date during the 1950s or 1960s. Maybe you saw
Brooks play in 1964. Maybe it was a game during the 1966 World
Series or McNally leaping into the air. Maybe you were there the
day Frank Robinson hit one out of the stadium in 1968. Maybe
Luis Aparicio was your favorite player. Or Boog Powell. Or Jim
Gentile. Or Mark Belanger. Or Brady Anderson.
Maybe you spent Mother’s Day at the park, or remember going to
33rd Street with your Dad or your buddies or your little league
team.
Perhaps you were there the day Palmer threw the no-hitter. Or
remember the World Series of ’69, ’70 or ’71.
Maybe you remember watching Earl Weaver storm after umpires on
television during the 1970s. The forgettable year Reggie Jackson
wore orange and black. The chants of “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.”
Maybe you downed a few cold ones with “Wild” Bill Hagy in
Section 34. Or just sat on the porch eating crabs and drinking
Natty Bohs, allowing Chuck Thompson to be your eyes for the
evening.
The World Series of 1979 or 1983? Watching Tito Landrum’s blast
at Comiskey Park on television. The night Tippy Martinez picked
off three Blue Jays. Staying up late every night during the “Why
Not?” Season of 1989.
Cal Ripken’s first game – or his last? Do the numbers 2131 mean
anything to you?
The All-Star Game of 1958 or the one in 1993?
Maybe the last, tearful goodbyes to Memorial Stadium on a chilly
October day in 1991. Did you shed a tear or two as well?
Have we hit a nerve here anywhere?
Perhaps everywhere?
Are we the only ones who remember ALL of this and want this
again for ourselves, in some selfish way, or for our children?
We are not foolish enough to believe that baseball is the same
in 2006 as it was in 1966. We know about the New York Yankees
and $200-million payrolls and the gross inequities of the
business side of the sport as a whole.
We also know that you, like many other Baltimoreans, probably
have taken much of your former love for the Orioles and have
dedicated your time, money, attention, affection and support
across the street for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. Or perhaps,
you are from “south of the border” and have turned your baseball
attention toward RFK Stadium and the Nationals.
Either way, you have these clear-yet-distant memories and you
have a “soft spot” for the Orioles but it’s been buried for some
time.
But do you remember when your love for the Orioles felt that
same way that you now feel about the Ravens? When you knew the
players’ names, numbers and stats? When every pitch had you on
the edge of your seat? When you couldn’t wait for the game to
come on the radio or television? Or when you had a rare ticket
to go to the ballpark? When the water cooler was full of Orioles
conversation every day of every year? When Opening Day was
special and full of hope and positive energy? When wearing a
piece of orange and black clothing with the crazy bird made you
feel good and proud and empowered?
To the point: do you remember how much FUN it was for all of us?
The memories? The laughs? The sheer joy?
We believe the ONLY way that we will ever get back to “that old
feeling” is if this ownership group sells the Orioles.
Despite the MANY ills of Major League Baseball, there is still a
team in Baltimore, a team with incredible suppressed passion and
a history that is wonderful.
It has just been polluted with poor decision after poor decision
and insult after insult to the fans and customers.
And that needs to change.
Now!
It has become apparent to anyone who has witnessed this fall
from grace, that it keeps coming back to one man: Peter G.
Angelos.
We will not disparage Mr. Angelos or his family here any more
than is necessary to prove our point and achieve a result. We
know the legend of his many charitable endeavors, his unwavering
support of Baltimore, his commitment to financing more than just
baseball in our community. This site is not an intent to be a
personal assault on his character. It is simply to say that he
has failed miserably as a baseball owner in Baltimore.
And that is not an easy thing to do.
Time and time again, the fans have been betrayed, lied to,
ignored and abused. Turning more than three million people into
an empty ballpark seemed impossible 10 years ago!
It is time for things to change. But we need your help!
What the fans have witnessed during the past decade has brought
us to a final and irreversible decision: things will not improve
during the current regime.
There is no quick fix, no change of manager, no general manager,
no PR overhaul that will turn the tide. This is just poor
ownership and poor ownership can kill any business, even
something as storied and successful as the Baltimore Orioles.
When Peter G. Angelos and this ownership group purchased the
Baltimore Orioles in 1993, they inherited a team with a rabid
fan base in two major American cities and five states. They had
the greatest baseball star of this generation and hometown boy
in Cal Ripken and his star shines brighter every day another
steroid poster boy emerges from his era. They had fan support
that was strong enough and rich enough to underwrite the
signings of literally any baseball player in the marketplace.
And the best players in the world wanted to play in Baltimore.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards was a one-of-a-kind sports
entertainment experience that drew fans from literally around
the world. This group purchased a team with a rich tradition of
stars, support, unconditional love and civic loyalty that was so
ingrained and natural that at the time it was thought to be
infallible. There was no way to kill this golden goose.
Even the ugliest work stoppage in the history of professional
sports in 1994 – a strike that saw a cancellation of the World
Series and devastation to many franchises -- couldn’t stop
baseball fans from coming to Oriole Park and showering their
love and money onto the Orioles.
Now the fans have been the victims of their own support. It’s
been a chicken vs. the egg debate.
The bad baseball, rising ticket prices and the poor treatment of
the fans – and the arrival of the Baltimore Ravens and their
subsequent success and civic goodwill, not to mention the
Nationals over the past 18 months -- has led us to stay away. By
staying away, it has created a depressed market for advertising
and revenue streams. Season ticket holders have become scarce
and even those hearty folks have trouble giving away their
tickets for free because there is little interest in the team
outside of many of the “hardcores” who still appear at the
ballpark but are clearly longing for yesteryear. The empty seats
have affected the bottom line so much that the team’s payroll,
which approached $90 million in 1997, has been slashed to as low
as $50 million in recent years. All while payrolls balloon in
some other cities.
So far -- as a financial decision -- the purchase of the team
has been a disaster for Angelos and his investment group. None
of the investors in the original $172 million (thought to be
inflated then) purchase price, including Angelos, have ever had
a profit share from their seed money. The hope was that upon the
sale of the team, a profit would substantial, and that the team
would provide an annual revenue stream. With the emergence of
the Washington Nationals and the subsequent sweetheart deal Bud
Selig and MLB gave the group with the MASN TV deal, that
profit-upon-sale still appears possible, but what assets would
the “next” ownership group inherit?
At this point – unless it’s a civic hero like Cal Ripken – it’s
almost a “scorched-Earth” buy for someone.
Any new owner would inherit a pathetic team, a bad farm system,
a fragmented marketplace, an empty stadium and a shell of a
franchise.
But on Sept. 21 we can show that the “love” for baseball still
exists in the land of pleasant living. We could show on one day
– much like that night in the spring of 1988 after an 0-21 start
on “Fan Appreciation Night” – that Baltimore STILL loves the
Orioles.
It’s just the ownership that we don’t love and that’s why we
stay away in droves.
Some of the problems here over the past decade certainly could
be attributed to the poor state of the game itself. The problems
between labor and management have created a horrible,
disproportionate imbalance on the field. The New York Yankees
will spend well in excess of $200 million on players this
season. Even on the sandlot as kids, the two teams always chose
players one at a time to pick up fair sides. The game of
baseball, at the Major League level, is patently unfair and the
powers that be need to realize that this is their greatest sin.
As long as the Orioles play in the AL East with Boston and New
York printing money from every direction – signage, TV, radio,
ticket sales, merchandise – the Orioles are never going to have
the money to compete in the free agency market.
Mr. Angelos needs to take his fair share of personal
responsibility for that problem as well. He was the lead
negotiator for baseball’s management team during the summer of
2002 when an 11th-hour settlement averted yet another work
stoppage. He was also the loudest voice against his own
management partners who tried to bust the Major League Baseball
Players Association during the spring of 1995 by boycotting
their implementation of “replacement” (scab) players.
We would get no argument from any educated sports fan that the
National Football League is the most successful sports entity in
the world. Many experts would say the reason is the aftermath of
an ugly 1982 strike when “replacement” players were used.
Angelos was the sole voice of opposition, citing his union work
as an attorney. At the time, it was thought that because he
sided with the MLBPA, Baltimore would be a preferred destination
for many of the game’s top stars.
Since the ALCS 1996 and 1997 seasons – in light of the amazing
series of transgressions, decisions and shoddy treatment of his
own employees even in the face of that success -- that has
hardly been the case.
The people who built and celebrated that ALCS success like Pat
Gillick, Kevin Malone, Davey Johnson, Jon Miller and Mike
Mussina were all unceremoniously mistreated and then given no
choice but to leave. Angelos spearheaded a very public snit with
Brooks Robinson. Even Cal Ripken hasn’t come back to be a part
of the organization and currently has no role within the
framework of the Orioles family. And his company is printing
money in Harford County with the Ironbirds and Ripken Baseball!
It’s been almost seven years since former O’s general manager
Syd Thrift called Mr Angelos’ free-agency offerings “Confederate
money.” At the time, it was laughed at and thought to mean that
people wouldn’t take it and come to play for the Orioles under
any circumstance.
Among agents, scouts, baseball insiders and lifers, the
Baltimore Orioles organization is and has been since 1997, a
virtual Siberia for quality players.
Even the most recent off-season acquisitions of significance –
the signings of Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez almost three years
ago – have backfired as both players have begged to be traded
during their tenure. And they only came to Baltimore because the
Orioles overpaid in ridiculous sums just to get their attention.
The list of available free agents over the past decade who have
snubbed Baltimore or used it as a bargaining chip to get a
better deal is so large that we can’t even list all of the
players who the Orioles have chased with “Confederate money.”
Good people and good players just don’t want to play here for
this ownership. Agents will steer their clients ANYWHERE but
Baltimore. That’s just a fact!
Bad decisions made ten years ago – most notably the overturning
of two trades involving Bobby Bonilla and David Wells by then-GM
Pat Gillick during the summer of 1996 -- still haunt this
organization every day. The team made the playoffs that year,
Gillick was undercut and disgruntled, and most importantly,
Angelos deemed himself a baseball genius. Since then, every bad
decision that has been made has begat another bad decision to
cover the tracks of previous mistakes. It has been an amazing
list of ineptitude that we believe is unprecedented in modern
sports. (VIEW
IT HERE)
All of this has caused incredible apathy within the community.
We can’t candy-coat the Orioles’ history. There were years when
the team was not competitive or just plain bad prior to the
Angelos era. Heck, there was BAD OWNERSHIP before the Angelos
era.
Edward Bennett Williams was constantly working under the threat
to move the team to Washington, D.C. He also had a meddling
reputation, angering Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken, Sr. among
others.
Eli Jacobs was bordering on bankruptcy during his tenure and the
cash-strapped team routinely cut corners with payroll, annually
signing such washed-up luminaries as Keith Moreland, Bob Horner,
Craig Lefferts and Lonnie Smith to “bolster” failed pennant runs
in August and September.
When times were good, this is one problem Angelos never had and
the one spark that initially caused fans to rejoice his purchase
of the team in 1993. For Angelos, the pockets seemed deep. But
it was who he was signing, what they were being paid and,
ultimately, who was making those decisions that was paramount.
But bad and expensive signings are not something new to the
Orioles.
There were bad signings in 1985 like Don Aase, Fred Lynn and Lee
Lacy. They even brought in disgruntled and disturbed Alan
Wiggins. Earl Weaver was summoned from his Florida golf game to
save the team in a miserable encore to a wonderful career during
the mid-1980s. The 1988 team was among the worst in the history
of the game, starting the season 0-21.
But we, the fans, cared and felt appreciated at least in a small
way. We even made history as a community, coming to the ballpark
52,000-strong when the team didn’t win a game in April of 1988
for Fan Appreciation Night. We watched the team. We died a
little every night and every season the team didn’t win.
But even that has changed under the Angelos regime.
For many it’s not the losing that hurts the most, it’s the way
WE, the CUSTOMER, have been abused, neglected, insulted or
ignored.
This is an organization that has not produced an
All-Star-caliber position player since 1982 – and the pipeline
is STILL bare. It is an organization that has ruled behind an
iron curtain with an iron fist, issuing silly press releases
further documenting their lack of kinship with the community.
The team routinely signs players who have no interest in being
in Baltimore or identifying with the long-term fans here. The
community is an afterthought on every decision. The input of the
fans has fallen on deaf ears. Even the nightly embarrassment of
a stadium filled with empty seats and chants of “Let’s Go
Ravens!” doesn’t faze this single-minded disaster of a front
office. The endless nights when Red Sox and Yankees fans take
over Camden Yards continues.
It all seems to steel the Angelos group’s resolve to continue to
torture the customers, keep them away and bait them with
promises of better days ahead if you’ll just renew your season
tickets or come to the ballpark.
And we know that empty seats won’t finance a better baseball
team, so we’re stuck. And the D.C. baseball fans are NEVER
coming back!
We’ve seen enough to know that the Baltimore Orioles won’t
improve with this ownership group in charge.
A rich man, a philanthropic man with great pride, a successful
asbestos attorney, a community advocate, a man loyal to his
Greek heritage. We can say all of those kind things about Peter
G. Angelos with extreme accuracy.
We can also say with extreme confidence and with an army of
evidence to support our thesis, that he has been an incredible
failure as the owner of the Baltimore Orioles.
Please, Mr. Angelos, we beg of you…give us our team back! |
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