BALTIMORE'S SPORTS OWNERS--TOP TO BOTTOM
by Rick Benson
Both Baltimore’s on-the-field successes with some of its sports teams and a tortured existence with yet others is due in part to the myriad of characters who at one time or another claimed the title of Baltimore Sports Team Owner. You had bankers, lawyers, successful businessmen and self-made millionaires; some of whom were born and raised here to others who were unwelcome carpetbaggers. You have a collective group whose personalities ranged from warm and gracious to snooty and standoffish to quiet and unassuming to ruthless and cutthroat. At times, the city has deserved better, but for the most part with a few exceptions, this is a group that has embodied civic pride and at their core have taken great joy in bringing championships to Baltimore.
I have taken the 10 most well-known of these owners and given them a composite ranking based on factors such as on field success, front office management, treatment of players and fans, civic contributions and overall likeability. And the winner is:
1) STEVE BISCIOTTI—RAVENS: The closest thing to a perfect team owner you could ever have. A Baltimore area native from Severna Park who is a lifelong Charm City sports fan. He founded a family of technical staffing companies known as Allegis Group, which owns Aerotek and TEKsystems. Wealthy without being an elitist, Bisciotti’s estimated net worth of $3.3 billion places him on the Forbes 400 of wealthiest Americans. He kept the already successful front-office organizational structure in place; although he eventually fired head coach Brian Billick and hired John Harbaugh as his replacement. Stays involved yet doesn’t meddle . Knows what it takes to win. Because of his wealth and his intimate first-hand knowledge of the Baltimore sports psyche, the Ravens will continue to be one of the NFL’s most successfully run franchises as long as Bisciotti is the owner.
2) JERRY HOFFBERGER—ORIOLES: A lifelong Baltimore resident who owned the team during their most successful years. Owner of the National Brewing Company; whose National Bohemian beer is still one of the city’s favorites. Ran an organization that was the model of baseball from top to bottom. Had great success with limited resources and was a tough negotiator. Spent most of his tenure before the madness of free agency and eventually had to sell the team in 1980 due to limited personal resources.
3) ED HALE Sr---BLAST: A local banker who tirelessly worked to keep indoor soccer alive in Baltimore. Born in Highlandtown and raised in Sparrows Point, he purchased the Blast in 1988 and owned them until 1992. He later purchased the Baltimore Spirit in 1998 and changed their name back to the Blast. Hale’s life story includes surviving plane crashes, a succession of astonishingly beautiful women, a costly high-profile divorce, being part of the redevelopment along the Canton waterfront, success and failure in the business world and even a stint with the CIA. His eight league championships is far and away the most of any Baltimore sports owner.
4) ART MODELL---RAVENS: Although vilified in Cleveland as the owner of the Browns, Modell will always be revered as the man who brought the NFL back to Baltimore. Claiming yearly losses in the millions, he announced in 1995 that he was moving his team to Baltimore; in spite of a soon to be passed referendum to make much needed improvements to the aging Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Ravens felt some of the backlash as Modell was lambasted by local and national sports media; which helped create a bad guys reputation for the team. In just their fourth season under Modell, the Ravens went on to win Super Bowl XXXV with a dominating defense that crushed the New York Giants 34-7. In 2003, Modell sold the Ravens to minority owner, Maryland businessman Steve Bisciotti. Under the deal, Modell retained a small interest (approximately 1% share) upon the team's sale.
5) CARROLL ROSENBLOOM---COLTS: He presided over the most adored team in Baltimore during their heyday. A native of west Baltimore whose family immigrated from Russia to start a denim manufacturing business, Rosenbloom was part of the NFL inner circle that negotiated the league's network TV contracts with NBC and CBS and the NFL/AFL merger, both of which contributed to professional football becoming both profitable and the most watched spectator sport in the United States. He took good care of his players and helped many of them, like Gino Marchetti, Alan Ameche and Artie Donovan get started in businesses after their playing days. He was the city's first real high profile sports owner and he successfully oversaw all of the team's operations without micromanaging. While he was close to the players, he never overstepped his bounds and told the coaches who to play or the general managers who to draft. Because he placed a high value on loyalty, players who criticized him in the press soon became ex-Colts. Rosenbloom owned the Colts from 1953 to 1972. He was as shrewd and strong-willed as any Baltimore owner and, in his own way, set standards of outrageousness and originality that none of the others has matched. A hard-driving businessman, Rosenbloom feuded with the Baltimore press, threatened to move the Colts long before Irsay and was reportedly an active gambler who, according to Bell, wagered on his own team -- strictly against NFL rules. He died mysteriously at age 72 while swimming in the surf by his Florida beach home in 1979. Some believe he was murdered due to gambling debts, however there’s no hard evidence supporting that theory. His ranking suffers due to the bizarre swapping of franchises that enabled Bob Irsay to enter into the league.
6) EDWARD BENNETT WILLIAMS---ORIOLES: Williams was a high-powered Washington trial attorney who purchased the Orioles from Hoffberger in 1980; causing much angst among the Baltimore sports faithful. He was also a minority owner of the Washington Redskins and the fact that the nation's capital did not have a baseball team coupled with Charm City's long established inferiority complex led many to believe that in spite of the resurgence of Orioles support, the team was heading out of town. The Colts departure in 1984 served to further fuel fan concerns. He kept his word that he would not move the team to DC if the fan support was strong. Without competition in the nation’s capital, he expanded marketing efforts to draw in fans from DC along with neighboring states like Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina and central Pennsylvania. Williams also signed a new long term lease with Baltimore that would pay for a new stadium, which would become Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He would not live to see the new ballpark as he passed away in 1988. Ultimately however, he did anger the locals by removing Baltimore from the road jersey to keep in line with his desire for more regional appeal. Williams legal clients included both famous and infamous people like Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Hoffa, Hugh Hefner, Robert Vesco, Senator Joseph McCarthy, John Hinckley Jr., Victor Posner and the Reverend Sun Myung Moon; along with the Teamsters union and The Washington Post.
7) PETER ANGELOS---ORIOLES: Angelos is a Highlandtown native who brought much-desired local ownership back to the Orioles in 1993 and remains the team’s principal owner. As an attorney he litigated tobacco and asbestos lawsuits that earned him his fortune and his estimated net worth in 2009 was $1.2 billion. Having a reputation as a tough negotiator, he secured ownership of a newly created sports network (MASN) in 2005 as compensation for losing some market share when Major League baseball approved the relocation of the Montreal Expos to Washington, DC the prior year. MASN broadcasts both the Orioles and Washington Nationals games with 90% of the revenues going to Angelos. Prior to this, he took a bold stand against most baseball owners as an outspoken critic of the labor impasse that wound up cancelling the 1994 World Series. Angelos’ tenure as the Orioles owner is marred by an extended period of failure between managers Davey Johnson and Buck Showalter. He very rarely speaks to the media, has been widely criticized by the fans and a 2009 Sports Illustrated article labeled him the worst owner in major league baseball. Local sports radio personality Nestor Aparicio has been his most vocal media critic and was eventually stripped of his press credentials. Those who know him well say he is very passionate about the Orioles and wants to add a World Series title to his legacy.
8) ABE POLLIN---BULLETS: Born in Philadelphia and moved to the Washington DC area when he was eight year old, Pollin was the longest tenured (46 years) owner in NBA history. A successful construction contractor in the Washington area, Pollin headed an investment group that bought the then Baltimore Bullets in 1964. He moved the team to the Washington area in 1973 after building the Capital Centre in Landover MD. His removal of the NBA from Charm City causes his low ranking, although he wanted to build the new arena between Baltimore and Washington but was forced to select DC in order to secure a needed NHL franchise to keep the new arena profitable. In fairness, Pollin’s tenure in Baltimore was prior to the city’s efforts to revitalize the downtown area. Lack of transportation access and rising crime in the area kept attendance low in spite of a very talented team that consistently won division titles and made strong playoff runs; which made staying at the Civic Center problematic.
9) ELI JACOBS---ORIOLES: A very unlikeable, aloof out-of-towner who bought the Orioles from the estate of Edward Bennett Williams. A native of Cambridge, MA, he became a venture capitalist in New York City and reaped the benefits of the cash cow known as Oriole Park at Camden Yards. His ownership group included Larry Luchhino, a holdover from Williams regime, who ran the day-to-day operations of the team and later became the President and CEO of the Boston Red sox. Jacobs' lack of connection to Baltimore, coupled with his somewhat awkwardness in the public eye made the fans yearn for a local owner who would take advantage of the new ballpark and use it to build a winning team. He was perceived to be more interested in impressing high rollers in government and business than fielding a championship product. Jacobs was forced to sell the team through a bankruptcy court due to personal financial difficulties in 1993; resulting in Orioles ownership transferring to a group led by Peter Angelos.
10) BOB IRSAY---COLTS: Saving the worst for last, I bring you Bob Irsay. To this day, Irsay is still the most reviled figure in Baltimore sports history and likely always will be. He was a boorish, often intoxicated lout whose biography is littered with falsehoods regarding his collegiate, athletic and military career. The Chicago native entered the NFL by agreeing to purchase the Los Angeles Rams and then trading the franchise to Carroll Rosenbloom for the Colts. Irsay was also famous for entering the locker room after losses and dressing down players and coaches in front of the media. He was particularly critical of his best player, quarterback and 1976 NFL MVP Bert Jones; whom he felt was being over-compensated due to his injury history. Irsay completely and totally ran the Colts--once the NFL’s model franchise—right into the ground before stealing the team out of town under the cover of darkness on March 28, 1984 to Indianapolis. His disgustingly shady move was a knife in the heart of Baltimore football fans and especially so to then Mayor William Donald Schaefer, who was the one civic leader who actually had spoken kindly of Irsay. Last place is too lofty of a position for a man whose own mother called him “a devil on earth” after he swindled his father in a business deal.