Baltimore Orioles’ takeover completed

Image: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0

Major League Baseball (MLB) owners have unanimously approved the sale of the Baltimore Orioles to a group led by David Rubenstein.

Rubenstein takes over control of the Orioles from John Angelos, who became Orioles Chair, CEO, and Control Person in 2019.

During Angelos’ five-year tenure, he led the reorganisation of the Club’s front office management team, signed a long-term lease committing the Orioles to play in Baltimore for the next generation, made major reinvestments in the Baltimore community, and expanded and improved Orioles facilities in Baltimore, Sarasota, and the Dominican Republic.

Spectrum News said Rubenstein has taken over the Baltimore Orioles at a particularly optimistic moment for the franchise.

Rubenstein said at a news conference, “To own the Orioles is a great civic duty. On behalf of my fellow owners, I want the Baltimore community and Orioles fans everywhere to know that we will work our hardest to deliver for you with professionalism, integrity, excellence, and a fierce desire to win games.

“I thank John Angelos and his family for all they have done to bring us to this point. John led a dramatic overhaul of the team’s management, roster, recruitment strategy, and farm system in recent years. Our job is to build on these accomplishments to advance a world-class professional sports agenda – with eyes on returning a World Series trophy to Baltimore.

“I want the high-water mark to be in the fall, when we go to the World Series and we show that we are a city that supports a great team.”

The Orioles play at the 45,971-capacity Oriole Park at Camden Yards which is located in Baltimore, Maryland, US. It is the first of the ‘retro’ major league ballparks constructed during the 1990s and early 2000s. It was completed in 1992 to replace the Memorial Stadium.

The team culminated a historic organizational rebuild last season by winning an American League best (101 games), celebrating their 10th AL East title, becoming the first team in Major League Baseball history to be awarded the number one ranked farm system for three consecutive years, and having five of the top 32 prospects in all of baseball, including consensus top prospect Jackson Holliday.

Spectrum further stated that Rubenstein held a news conference hours before Baltimore routed the Los Angeles Angels 11-3 in its opener, and the Carlyle Group co-founder listed several of the reasons the Orioles are in an envious position.

After a 101-win season in 2023, they’re loaded with young talent and have an award-winning general manager and manager running things in the front office and dugout.

Rubenstein’ was joined by other members of the new ownership team, plus Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.

Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr., who is part of Rubenstein’s ownership group, was on hand for the news conference and caught a ceremonial first pitch before the game. Rubenstein was on the field for that, wearing a white Orioles jersey with his name on the back.

General Manager Mike Elias said, “This is a momentous occasion and I really appreciate the warmth that I’ve received from the incoming owners, management partners. This is a very bright day, a very bright inflection point for our franchise. We all feel wonderful about where the Orioles are right now, and where they’re going.”

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