He was now entering his fourth year of ownership in 1997 and the changes in every facet of the team were clearly apparent and Angelos’ management style – or lack of really having one or any sorts of team policies that could be widely understood – was unorthodox if not only understood by him.
Angelos did anything he wanted to do throughout the franchise, and many times the last ones who found out were the executives and bosses whom most employees looked to as superiors in the corporate flow chart.
Just days after the season, Angelos instructed Davey Johnson to fire pitching coach Pat Dobson and install Ray Miller, who was a member of the 1979 staff of Earl Weaver and a mentor to Mike Flanagan and Jim Palmer, who frequently kept company with Angelos.
Johnson, as a manager who was promised he’d be able to pick his staff of coaches, was irate and considered walking away from a team he just led to the ALCS.
Angelos quickly refuted media reports that his manager was dissatisfied. On October 24, 1996, Buster Olney wrote in The Sun:
“[Davey] is so committed and pleased he has this position [with the Orioles], and to suggest he won’t come back is absolute lunacy,” Angelos said. “You couldn’t get him out of Baltimore if you chased him with a pitchfork.”
According to club sources, Angelos was unhappy about some of Johnson’s managerial practices, from decisions on pitching changes to Johnson’s arriving at the park two or three hours before some games, later than most managers.
8
Angelos wouldn’t comment specifically about what he and Johnson discussed, but called their discussion “excellent.”
“We went over the season and what we intend to do for 1997,” Angelos said. “It wasn’t a special meeting. It was a meeting that would have been a natural matter of course, to discuss future plans. Everything’s fine. It was a postseason review, and to suggest that Davey won’t return as manager of the Orioles is sheer fantasy. He’s delighted he’s here.”
Three days later, Davey Johnson confirmed that he’d return for 1997 and life went on for the offseason.
There was little doubt that Peter G. Angelos was obsessed with winning. In 1994, the season ended because of the MLB labor dispute with the team within striking distance of the postseason. The 1995 season was a massive disappointment but in 1996 the team was revived in August after Angelos struck down Gillick’s notion of dealing Bobby Bonilla and David Wells.
And in the aftermath, Bonilla, whom the owner personally fought to keep in the summer, would once again express his displeasure at the notion that he wasn’t a designated hitter. He told Angelos he wanted a guarantee that he’d be used exclusively as a third basemen to remain with the Orioles.
Ken Rosenthal of The Sun reported:
Angelos said the decision on Bonilla would be made by the Orioles’ front office, yet indicated that the final say might again be his. “It’s not my decision, but when that decision comes around, I’m sure I will have something to say about it,” Angelos said.
8He’d be willing to take the necessary steps to ensure Bonilla was content if the Orioles wanted him back — even if it meant giving him a no-trade clause.
“Oh yes, definitely,” Angelos said. “I believe all of this [trade] discussion didn’t help his performance, and as a consequence, didn’t help the team. If he stays in ’97, I’d be very much inclined to agree to that requirement.”
On November 23, 1996, Bobby Bonilla signed a 3-year, $17.5 million deal with the Florida Marlins. Bonilla guaranteed that he wouldn’t be a designated hitter because the Marlins played in the National League where there was no DH.
Angelos would spare no expense for general manager Pat Gillick in early December when the Orioles picked the cream of the crop on the free agent market and retooled the roster to compete in 1997. Once again, the checkbook was open and Gillick was doing anything but “standing pat.”
On December 10, former Toronto Blue Jays and then-New York Yankees pitcher Jimmy Key was signed a 2-year, $8 million deal.
On December 13, veteran Oakland A’s shortstop Mike Bordick was inked to a 3-year, $9 million deal meaning that Cal Ripken Jr. would be grudgingly moving to third base as a 36-year old in 1997.
On December 18, Gillick added speedy outfielder Jerome Walton to his fleet on a one-year deal. And on December 19, veteran five-tool outfielder Eric Davis signed a 2-year, $4.7 million deal.
8The Orioles would begin the 1997 season with a $60 million payroll and a completely sold out Camden Yards. The team had already sold 3.1 million tickets before spring training began.
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IN THE LONGEST AND MOST telling public conversation of his ownership, Peter G. Angelos appeared at The Barn in Carney for a two-hour debate on the Budweiser Sports Forum with Nestor Aparicio on WLG-AM 1360.
