Owner Peter Angelos

Two days after the Orioles had played out their second straight losing season, six months of organizational rancor and intrigue reached a climax among first-year general manager Frank Wren, chief operating officer Joe Foss and Orioles general counsel Russell Smouse. A meeting Tuesday in a B&O warehouse third-floor conference room aired issues involving the team's revered third baseman, organizational control, Wren's leadership and his ability to deal with majority owner Peter Angelos.Finally, Wren left Camden Yards that afternoon knowing that he would soon be the Orioles' former general manager.

There are big political contributors, and then there are BIG contributors. Count Baltimore trial lawyer and Orioles owner Peter Angelos among the latter. Angelos has donated at least $1.22 million, mostly to super PACs backing Democrats, according to the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission. And he's not the only Marylander in this seven-figure club. J.W. Marriott Jr., executive chairman of Marriott International in Bethesda, gave $1 million to Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

In a recent article, it was reported that Orioles owner Peter Angelos did not attend the funeral of team announcer Rex Barney. Angelos did not attend because he was in Washington at a White House conference with administration officials regarding tobacco litigation.Pub Date: 8/26/97

Scott Evans remembers the soft glow of the small television set, and the way his stepfather tried to calm him and his sister for the benefit of the neighbors in the apartment below. But who, on this night, was not celebrating? It was 1983 and the Baltimore Orioles had won the World Series. Evans, now 34 and a plumber living in Essex, has "always been an Orioles fan. " "I cried the day Cal Ripken retired," he said. "I remember the smell of Memorial Stadium. " But two years ago, Evans grew so frustrated with his favorite team that he logged onto Facebook to start a group he called "O's fans Peter Angelos has to GO. " The Orioles will begin a new season Friday, taking the field at Camden Yards to inaugurate what would become - barring some diversion from a streak that has persisted throughout the 21st century - a 15th straight losing season.

So far, Orioles owner Peter Angelos has exercised his right to remain silent about the status of embattled manager Sam Perlozzo, but it isn't hard to imagine what's going on in his head. He has spent the past month waiting and hoping that the Orioles would right themselves and allow him to avoid a decision he does not want to make. For all the talk about his supposed volatility and vindictiveness, he has never had a quick hook. Inside Orioles place Baez on 15-day DL, release Williams.

In one of the oddest spectacles in the 14-year history of Camden Yards, about 1,000 fans took the afternoon off work or school yesterday not to see an Orioles game, but rather to walk out on one. The fans - many wearing black T-shirts with "FREE THE BIRDS" in white lettering - streamed into the stadium before the afternoon game chanting, "Sell the team!" and "Pete must go!" in a demonstration to voice their displeasure with club owner Peter Angelos. Before filing out in protest an hour into the game, the fans, led by WNST-AM owner Nestor Aparicio, voiced a myriad of demands ranging from asking Angelos to sell the team outright, to somehow restoring the Oriole "magic" that existed before nine straight losing seasons.

Orioles owner Peter Angelos originally had planned to spend yesterday afternoon in his law office, but he was elsewhere and unavailable for comment.Where was he? Meeting with Players Association chief Donald Fehr for a lengthy lunch at Velleggia's in Little Italy.Angelos, a longtime labor lawyer, has promised to take a more active role in stalled negotiations with the players."They were here from about 11:15 until about 3:15," said proprietor Naz Velleggia. "They were very quiet and congenial and never raised their voices."

Orioles owner Peter Angelos has been given a 1997 "Rodman Award" by Esquire magazine.The tongue-in-cheek award, named for outrageous Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman, has been given out annually for four years for "dominance in the field of sports obnoxiousness and annoyance."Angelos was identified by the magazine as the "windbag owner of the Baltimore Orioles." It took him to task for publicly suggesting last year that umpire John Hirschbeck should apologize to Roberto Alomar, the second baseman who spat at Hirschbeck last season, for comments the umpire made before the spitting incident.

Orioles owner Peter Angelos said yesterday that second baseman Roberto Alomar will be paid during the five-game suspension he will serve at the outset of the 1997 season. Alomar was given the suspension for spitting in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck last Sept. 27."We're going to continue to be supportive of [Alomar]," said Angelos.In the past, Angelos has said that while Alomar should be punished for his act, he felt that Hirschbeck also was responsible for escalating the incident. Alomar and the Orioles maintain that Hirschbeck swore at Alomar before the spitting took place, something that the umpire has denied.

The Orioles will at least temporarily wait to begin a search for a successor to recently ousted general manager Frank Wren, leaving the same five-man committee that advised majority owner Peter Angelos on the hiring of manager Mike Hargrove to direct baseball operations."

After more than a week of speculation since the end of the season, Andy MacPhail is indeed stepping down as the Orioles' president of baseball operations after four-plus years at the helm, according to a club source. MacPhail is leaving the Orioles to tend to family and personal obligations, the source said. UPDATE: The Orioles on Saturday announced MacPhail's departure in a news release. "On behalf of the Orioles organization, I thank Andy for his service to the club over the last four and a half seasons," Orioles owner Peter Angelos said in a statement.

The memories were vivid, the putdowns as good-natured as they were when first delivered more than four decades ago. They talked about Boog Powell's only inside-the-park home run, a spring training trip to Mexico that jump-started a championship season and the fact that all these years later, the five-game defeat to the New York Mets in the 1969 World Series still haunts them. The 20 surviving members of the 1970 Orioles who were in town Saturday to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the team's world championship shared their stories of the middle season of a dominant three-year run, but more than a few also shared their opinions on the sad state of the current franchise and a stretch of 13 straight losing seasons.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - - Jim Johnson has been so solid since assuming a setup role in the Orioles' bullpen that when he struggles, it becomes a topic of conversation around the club. That has been the case his past two outings. In Wednesday's gut-wrenching loss to the Boston Red Sox, Johnson walked and surrendered a home run to the only batters he faced, a major reason the Orioles coughed up a four-run ninth-inning lead. In the Orioles' 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday, Johnson allowed a run on a hit, a walk and two wild pitches over 1 1/3 innings.

Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who once fought to keep a team out of Washington, said yesterday that he hopes the Nationals are successful and doesn't mind if Orioles fans occasionally slip away to catch a game at the new stadium. "There's no law against visiting the other franchise," Angelos said in an interview with The Sun. "One's a National League city and one's an American League city." Angelos had once argued the region couldn't support two franchises. "Originally, I said [Washington and Baltimore]

There are plenty of reasons I love Opening Day, not the least of which is the opportunity to see Jim Hunter in a tuxedo. And that's no rental tux. My man Hunter will be the master of ceremonies today for the pre-game festivities at Camden Yards, which means the afternoon will go off without a hitch unless Jim suddenly decides to jump on Andy MacPhail's Brutal Honesty Bandwagon and starts tackling guys on the orange carpet. That's unlikely, but even Jimmy knows that this is going to be a rebuilding year and that he'll have to temper his expectations.

Orioles owner Peter Angelos didn't veto a proposed trade that would have sent ace pitcher Erik Bedard to the Seattle Mariners for a package headed by young outfielder Adam Jones, club president Andy MacPhail said yesterday. Asked whether Angelos were responsible for nixing a deal, MacPhail responded, "No." He wouldn't elaborate or provide details on why the talks appear to have hit a snag - though the deal could still happen. It's believed that the two sides agreed to the framework of a trade that would have sent Bedard to the Mariners for Jones, left-handed relief pitcher George Sherrill and 19-year-old starting pitcher Chris Tillman, along with at least one other player.

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Orioles owner Peter Angelos came to Major League Baseball's quarterly owners meeting prepared for a verbal onslaught from disgruntled fellow owners, but his resistance to replacement baseball went unchallenged during the three-day meeting."

Do you believe Orioles owner Peter Angelos when he says the team lost $15 million in 2005? With his bankroll, Angelos might have been referring to the money that fell between the sofa cushions in his skybox. Michael S. Herman Sr. Baldwin Last time I checked, Angelos was still a member of the bar in 2005. Bill Hopkins Baltimore Nope. If he keeps up with his current stranglehold on new player acquisitions, he'll lose a lot more than that. Orioles attendance is way down, and he has no one to blame but himself.

Give Brian Roberts credit for one thing. It took him only four days to process the revelations in the Mitchell Report and come out with a heartfelt apology for his fleeting experimentation with anabolic steroids. Even the Orioles moved quickly to e-mail an apology to season ticket-holders Monday after their renewal mailers failed to mention a modest hike in the price of some seats. It is the holiday season, which is a time for celebration and - now more than ever - the spirit of forgiveness, but you generally don't get forgiveness unless you ask for it. That's why Roberts made the right decision to throw himself on the mercy of Baltimore sports fans while so many others have tried to get by on lame excuses or tortured silence.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.-- --One year after the Great Brian Roberts Trade Veto of 2006, the Orioles' diminutive and popular second baseman is back at the center of wheeling and dealing at baseball's winter meetings. This time, the hot rumor is that he's going to the Chicago Cubs for a couple of young players, including a starting pitcher, possibly 21-year-old right-hander Sean Gallagher. This time, dealing Roberts would represent so much more than last year, when he almost was shipped to the Atlanta Braves - along with pitcher Hayden Penn for second baseman Marcus Giles and first baseman Adam LaRoche - before the deal was nixed by Orioles owner Peter Angelos.