As with every new spring, most of the 39,055 fans were optimistic on Opening Day, even for a team that has yet to post a winning record since it moved here in 2005.
"I'm still thrilled, no matter how low the quality of the team, that Washington has a baseball team," said David Dreyer, a longtime D.C. resident.
Opening Day at Nationals Park this year may not include a win for our beloved basement dwellers, but it will give fans more chances to drown their sorrows.
The Bullpen, the outdoor bar, music and food joint that has operated across the street from the center field gates on Half Street, has announced plans to open a beer garden on the same block, according to the blog JDLand.
By Liz Farmer
Daily Record Business Writer
Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos just purchased Boccaccio Restaurant in Little Italy, which has been the site of key meetings for him over the yearsOrioles owner Peter G. Angelos is the new owner of Boccaccio Restaurant in Little Italy, an establishment in which he once was a regular fixture.
A representative who bought the property at Wednesday’s auction for $1.45 million was there on behalf of Angelos, said Andrew L. Billig, of A.J. Billig & Co. Auctioneers. Billig had declined to name the buyer — at Angelos’ request — Wednesday.
Angelos was friends with the restaurant’s owner, Giovanni Rigato, who opened the upscale Italian restaurant known for its cuisine and extensive wine selection in 1992. Boccaccio closed shortly after Rigato’s death in August 2008.
“Although he frequented a number of places, I think it’s fair to say it was his favorite place,” said Gerald E. Evans, an Annapolis lobbyist and longtime friend of Angelos. “I know it’s a labor of love for him buying that place.”
Angelos, who is also known as a master litigator and a major player in downtown real estate, was not available for comment.
LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
July 2, 2009 4:06 PM
What the Peter G. Angelos name means in Baltimore depends on whom you ask.
Angelos, who turns 80 on Saturday, is a legal giant — a civic white knight who became the “king of asbestos” in the 1980s, securing $1 billion in settlements for tens of thousands of union workers he has represented for nearly 50 years and identified with his entire life.
He’s also the businessman who some say is suffocating the very baseball team he set out to restore as a source of pride for his adopted city.
A multimillionaire, Angelos could be living in the lap of luxury and enjoying retirement. Instead, the son of Greek immigrants spends six days a week in the office and is just as hands-on with his business ventures as he was decades ago.
LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
July 2, 2009 4:15 PM
Looking around Peter G. Angelos’ office on the 22nd floor of One Charles Center, you’d never guess he had anything to do with the Baltimore Orioles.
The tiny clues are practically drowned out by the brilliantly distracting view of the Inner Harbor, the artwork on the walls and the display shelves that house statues and honors from legal and horsemen’s associations.
If you’re looking for something to tell you he’s the owner of Baltimore’s oldest franchise, there’s a notepad with a Major League Baseball logo on his desk and a couple of baseball-related books stacked behind his desk. That’s it.
“I’d insist [people] refer to me as a competent lawyer first,” he said when asked how he wanted to be remembered. “The Orioles are strictly secondary. Or maybe third or fourth.”
But like it or not, that’s not how Baltimore’s baseball fans see it. Angelos says he and his ownership group bought the team to ensure it would remain controlled by Baltimoreans, but many say his micromanaging style has turned a perennial winner into a perennial disappointment.
Vendor Jay Smith, of Philadelphia, said he usually sells ‘a couple hundred’ soft pretzels at an event, ‘but Orioles [games] are usually below average for me.’“I’ll normally sell a couple hundred [pretzels] at an event, but Orioles [games] are usually below average for me,” said Jay Smith, a Philadelphia-based pretzel vendor who has been in the business for nearly a half century. 
Orioles spokesman Greg Bader: ‘Fans are less willing to commit those dollars upfront to specific games during the course of the year. They might be more willing to do that when the economy is strong.’year that the Orioles host the Yankees or the Boston Red Sox — which both draw sizable contingents of out-of-town fans. 
Bryan Krandle, in-game entertainment manager for the Orioles, works the high-definition scoreboard at Camden Yards from the stadium’s new control room.On Tuesday, after two off-seasons of work and an investment of approximately $9.1 million from the Maryland Stadium Authority, team officials unveiled the completed control room, which can now play high definition video and sound. If you’ve been to a University of Maryland football game in College Park, you’ve heard him. If you saw the school’s basketball team play Sunday at the BB&T Classic tournament in Washington, D.C., you know his voice.
In fact, Philip R. Hochberg has been announcing area ballgames over public address systems longer than he’s been practicing law. To many, the sports attorney’s voice, which called Washington Redskins games and the Senators from their first game to their last in D.C.’s RFK Stadium, has been synonymous with major sporting events in the area for almost a half century.
