 11/23/2004 3:47 PM ET
Arte gets an 'A' in this owner class
Shrewd Moreno should be able to resolve name issue
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Fred Claire
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| Arte Moreno took control of the Angels on May 21, 2003. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
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If you were handing out grades to current owners of Major League Baseball teams, you would have to give Arturo (Arte) Moreno an "A." As in Angels. As in Anaheim.
Few new owners have been as successful as Moreno, who took control of the Angels from the Walt Disney Company on May 21, 2003.
Moreno has been masterful in his direction of the Angels. He had made a fortune in the outdoor advertising business, and he quickly showed he knew a thing or two about marketing and customer relations when he began directing the Angels.
One of the first things Moreno did was mingle with the fans during games at Angel Stadium. He wanted to hear what the paying customers had to say.
Moreno also lowered the price of beer -- which you may view as debatable in view of today's current events in the sporting world, but it was a move that gained notice and proved popular.
But even though he lowered beer prices, Moreno raised the level of the Angel payroll. He has avoided the label of having his team called a "small-market" franchise in the ever-growing Orange County market.
Furthermore, Moreno and his baseball people have invested the additional payroll dollars in an intelligent fashion.
In January of this year, the Angels signed free agent outfielder Vladimir Guerrero to a five-year contract for $70 million. Guerrero, 28, rewarded the Angels with a banner year that earned him the Most Valuable Player Award in the American League.
The slugging outfielder led the Angels to the AL West title, hitting .337 with 39 homers and 126 runs batted in while posting league-leading totals in runs (124) and total bases (366).
The bottom line is that the Angels made one of the greatest free agent signings in history -- and it will look even better when the financial numbers are posted after this year's class of free agents has graduated to mammoth dollars.
Things couldn't have been going better for Moreno and the Angels. When the Angel fans held a rally prior to the opening of postseason play, the fans chanted "Arte" for the owner and "MVP" for Guerrero.
Most owners don't have their first name chanted by the team's fans. When there are chants, they often begin with B -- as in "boo" -- not A, as in Arte.
But just as Guerrero was being crowned with the MVP award earlier this month, Moreno was slipping in the popularity polls.
How does an owner see his image suffer when he has been bright enough to give the Disney people lessons in marketing? Easy. His organization decides to change the team name from the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The proposed name change has stirred emotions in both Orange County and Los Angeles County, and the city councils of Anaheim and Los Angeles have made their reaction clear: No way.
Moreno and the Angels have put forth a proposal of a name change that simply can't succeed for two basic reasons: One, The Angels are located in Anaheim, not Los Angeles; and two, the team and the city have a contract that states very clearly that the team will carry the name of Anaheim.
As part of this contract between Anaheim and the Angels, which was signed in 1996, the city made a payment of $30 million to aid in construction costs of Angel Stadium.
Orange County fans make up about two-thirds of the team's 22,000 season ticket holders, and they helped the Angels draw a franchise record total of 3,375,677 this past season.
The Angels have shown they know how to handle problems. Just a week ago, they sent disgruntled outfielder Jose Guillen to the Washington Nationals.
The Angels now must resolve a problem they can't ship off to Washington or anywhere else. They must resolve a problem at home and develop an exit strategy to the proposed name change.
Perhaps they could do it with a simple billboard that proclaims, "We love and thank the fans of the Anaheim Angels -- Arte Moreno."
With the baseball world ready to converge on Anaheim in early December for the annual Winter Meetings, I would suggest this billboard go up sooner rather than later. Like Thanksgiving time. Fred Claire was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1969-98. He served the team as Executive Vice-President and General Manager. His book, "Fred Claire: My 30 Years in Dodger Blue," was published earlier this year by SportsPublishingLLC. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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