Law practice Angelos passed the bar in 1961 and opened an office specializing in handling product-liability cases for employees, almost always on a contingency basis. In one of his cases, he represented some 8,700 steelworkers, shipyard workers, and manufacturers' employees in a consolidated-action
asbestos poisoning suit that was partially settled in 1992. Angelos' take from that litigation alone has been estimated at $330 million. In March 1996,
Maryland hired Angelos to represent the state in its suit against tobacco companies with a 25% contingency fee. After Angelos filed suit on behalf of the state the trial court ruled that the state's recovery would be limited to
subrogation of losses through programs such as Medicaid; this would have effectively ended the state's case. Angelos successfully lobbied the state legislature to change the law to allow the state's suit to proceed. The
Maryland state legislature also cut Angelos' fee to 12.5%. Eventually he settled for $150 million paid over five years. Angelos also represented the state of Maryland in a suit against
Philip Morris and suing
Wyeth, the makers of part of the diet pill combination
fen-phen. As of 2019, Angelos' law firm had offices in
Baltimore,
Towson, and
Cumberland, Maryland;
Philadelphia,
Bethlehem, and
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and
Knoxville, Tennessee. The firm is headquartered in the historic
One Charles Center building in downtown Baltimore which was purchased by Angelos for $6 million in 1996.
Politics A lifelong Democrat, Angelos began his political career with an unsuccessful run for
Maryland Senate in 1958. He went on to hold a seat on the
Baltimore City Council from 1959 to 1963. He was the first
Greek-American to be elected to the council. Though Angelos became known for demanding governmental oversight and fiscal responsibility, few of his calls for investigations into city agencies and spending led to lasting change. Angelos ran for the Democratic nomination in the
1967 Baltimore mayoral election, on the city's first racially integrated ticket, with
Clarence Mitchell III was running for City Council President, and went on to beat Republican Arthur W. Sherwood in the general election. In the late 1990s, Angelos was investigated by the FBI on allegations that he had bribed a Maryland state senator. Angelos was not charged with any related crimes.
Baltimore Orioles Acquiring the team In 1993, Angelos assembled a group of investors to purchase the
Baltimore Orioles of
Major League Baseball (MLB) from New York venture capitalist
Eli Jacobs. While Angelos was the principal investor, contributing $40 million, his fellow Oriole group owners included novelist
Tom Clancy, filmmaker
Barry Levinson, and tennis player
Pam Shriver. On October 4, 1993, Jacobs sold the Orioles to Angelos' group for $173 million, the highest price paid for a
sports franchise at that time. Angelos took over as managing partner and principal owner of the team.
Attempt to acquire Tampa Bay Buccaneers On August 25, 1994,
Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner
Hugh Culverhouse died. Initially the trust Culverhouse previously established insisted the team was not for sale; however, another poor season meant this decision was reversed two months later at the heart of
the season, after widow Joy Culverhouse filed $25 million claim against the estate. Angelos offered $200 million for the team, which would have been the highest price paid at the time for a professional sports franchise, with a ready-made plan to move the Buccaneers to Baltimore, which had not had an NFL team since
the Colts were relocated to Indianapolis before
the 1984 season. In the latter part of December it was thought that Angelos was likely to buy the Bucs, but the fact that the team management was negotiating with Tampa as it sought an owner created problems because Angelos did not want to buy a team he could not relocate to Baltimore. By early January 1995, Angelos was preparing his bid for the Buccaneers, which was between $15 million and $25 million greater than that of a Florida
citrus company. The local citrus group's bid was rejected on January 10, but the possibility of
Washington Redskins owner
Jack Kent Cooke building a stadium for his own team near Baltimore meant there was always the danger Angelos' prerequisite relocation would not be approved. Ultimately, a second Florida bid in mid-January by
Palm Beach millionaire
Malcolm Glazer – who ironically had wanted to bring Baltimore an NFL expansion franchise as recently as one year previously – would buy the Bucs on January 17 and keep the team in Tampa Bay.
Later years as owner Angelos arranged for a
two-game exhibition series to be played between the Orioles and the
Cuban national baseball team in 1999. The Orioles won the first game, played in
Havana, while the Cuban team won the second game, held at
Oriole Park at Camden Yards. In 2000, the team's general manager,
Syd Thrift, told
The Washington Times that the team had a practice of not signing players who had defected from Cuba, which he attributed to Angelos' desire to avoid doing "anything that could be interpreted as being disrespectful" by the Cuban government. Angelos denied the existence of such a policy. Subsequent investigations by MLB and the
United States Department of Justice did not find evidence that the absence of Cuban players on the Orioles' roster or in its minor league system was due to discrimination. After becoming owner of the Orioles, Angelos became a controversial figure. In the early years of his ownership, Angelos was repeatedly criticized by
The Baltimore Sun for the team's performance, but was praised by his associates for his work ethic and dedication. His stance during the 1994 baseball strike was extremely popular with fans. However, Angelos' decision to hire
Andy MacPhail as the team's general manager and president of baseball operations in 2007 was met with general approval. In May 2009, a
Sports Illustrated article reviewing MLB owners rated Angelos as the worst owner in the major leagues. The article notes that the methodology "was not scientific" and "weighing heavily in the decision was the team's success or failure on the field." Two weeks later,
Brady Anderson, a member of the
Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame, responded in an op-ed to
The Baltimore Sun, writing that Angelos deserves to be on a list of the "best owners in baseball." As Angelos' health began to fail, his sons Louis and John took on more leadership roles in the Orioles as he focused more on his health. In February 2019, MLB instructed the Orioles that they had until June to inform the league on who was controlling the team. In November 2020, the league approved
John P. Angelos, vice president of the Orioles and Peter's son, as the team's new control person. In October 2019, John Angelos stated that neither he nor his father Peter had any plans to relocate the Orioles outside Baltimore, contrary to rumors. On January 30, 2024, Angelos agreed to sell the team to a group led by
David Rubenstein that includes New York investor Michael Arougheti and
Cal Ripken Jr. for $1.725 billion. If approved by the league's owners, the group would acquire 40% of the team and the remainder after Angelos' death. Angelos died on March 23, 2024, three days before the sale of the team had been expected to be finalized.
Horse racing Angelos bred and raced
Thoroughbred horses and in 1998 purchased the Ross Valley Farm in
Baltimore County. He named one of his horses Showalter in honor of Orioles manager
Buck Showalter. As a 2-year-old gelding, Showalter won his maiden race at
Laurel Park in 2015. ==Charity==