The Orioles are calling it “The Next Chapter.” Their new owner’s vision paints a picture of a sequel better than the original.
The ballclub introduced its new ownership group headed by Baltimore native and billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein in a news conference Thursday morning, mere hours before the team’s opening day game against the Los Angeles Angels. With Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, and Hall of Famers Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr., the latter of whom is now a minority owner, in attendance, the Orioles ushered in a new era of baseball in Baltimore.
“What I hope to do is make sure this is not a high watermark,” Rubenstein said. “Today is an easy day to say everything is great. Hopefully, we’ll win opening day. … I want the high watermark 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 and we are a city that is represented by a great team and we unify the city in ways that only the Orioles can really do.”
On the field, the Orioles are on the cusp of a competitive window that could be open for the next half-decade. Off of it, they’re moving on from a messy ending to the Angelos family’s tenure as majority owners of the team. Under the late Peter Angelos and later his son John, the team suffered 21 losing seasons in 31 years, including 14 straight from 1998 to 2011.
Even as the club rebuilt its roster and farm system in recent years, it had one of baseball’s lowest payrolls. John Angelos, who will remain with the team in an advisory role, also engaged in lengthy and still somewhat unresolved negotiations over the team’s lease at Camden Yards.
In placing the team in Rubenstein’s hands, Angelos has handed responsibilities over to an owner who has already expressed his full support for executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and reinforced his commitment to working with both local and state government officials to strengthen the bonds that tie the Orioles and Baltimore together.
“Baltimore has a closer relationship with its team than I think any other city does in the country,” Rubenstein said. “The team really represents the character, the soul, the grid, the personality of this city in a way that is not really true of any other baseball team and its city. And that’s a good thing. Baltimore is a unique city. I grew up here. I know the pluses. I know the minuses. I know the challenges. I know the opportunities.
“We have now a political team in the city, in the state, that I think can really help make this city live up to all of its potential. I hope the Orioles can play a small part in that. I hope what can happen is that the Orioles can, by winning, by unifying this city, by recovering the kind of greatness that it had in 1966 or ’70 or ’73, they can win a World Series again.”
While his introduction was a highly anticipated moment for the franchise and its fans, it came with the city still reeling from Tuesday’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge that left two people dead and four others presumed dead. The Orioles began the news conference by holding a moment of silence for the victims and their families before Moore addressed the situation.
“Baltimore is being tested right now,” Moore said. “Baltimore has been tested before and, every time, we stand up on two feet. We dust ourselves off and we keep moving forward. Baltimore may get knocked down, but Baltimore doesn’t stay down. Baltimore gets backed up and the reason I came here today is because I’m calling on everybody to do their part. In this game, nobody gets to sit on the sidelines.”
When the city is ready to pick itself up and turn its attention forward, it will have an Orioles team reinvigorated by Rubenstein’s presence with a roster capable of bringing a World Series title back to Baltimore. The next chapter has already begun.
“I think he has the best interest of the team at heart,” Orioles outfielder Austin Hays said of the new owner in the clubhouse Thursday morning. “That’s why he purchased the team. He’s Baltimore through and through. So, having a man like that be in charge of all of us, looking forward to see how he runs his team because he’s got a really good track record and I think he’s going to do great things for us.”
