On Friday Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that Cal Ripken had inquired about a front office position with the Orioles, only to have owner Peter Angelos squash the idea. According to Rosenthal’s sources, Angelos, “did not want Ripken to receive credit once the team returned to prominence.”
Baltimore Owner Peter Angelos Reportedly Spurns Cal Ripken’s Front Office Advances
↵Angelos has responded to Rosenthal’s story directly, offering this possibly telling quote:
↵↵“Quite simply, Cal Ripken did not offer to become part of the Oriole organization in any secondary position, such as manager or as an assistant to [team president] Andy MacPhail, or in some kind of support role of MacPhail,” Angelos said. “If he wants to make such a proposal, I’d like to hear about it.”
↵↵Does that mean that Ripken did inquire about something above a “secondary” position? It depends on how much you want to read between the lines and what you want to believe from various unnamed sources.
↵Predictably, many Orioles fans were outraged by this story, given the reputations of both men involved. Ripken is one of the most beloved figures in Baltimore, and Peter Angelos is not. However, even if we assume that the worst of Rosenthal’s story is true, namely, that Ripken wanted some kind of non-trivial position and Angelos turned him down because he didn’t want him getting undue credit, does not Angelos have a point?
↵Nobody is quite sure what exactly Nolan Ryan does for the Rangers, yet nearly every story about their improvement mentions his presence, although GM Jon Daniels has almost certainly done the majority of the work. Isn’t there something honest about Angelos not wanting Ripken to jump onto the final stages of a rebuild and reap unearned credit?
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