Monday, May 19, 2003
The new Anaheim owner is the first minority to own a controlling stake.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Arturo Moreno made a fortune in billboards. He'd better hope the Anaheim Angels' first game after he gained approval to buy the team wasn't a sign.
Baseball owners voted unanimously Thursday to approve his purchase of the Angels from Disney, a deal that will make him the first minority with a controlling stake in a Major League Baseball team.
He hopes to complete the $184 million purchase of the World Series champions next week.
After the vote, he went to Yankee Stadium to see the Angels play. He sat beside the team's dugout and saw New York's Alfonso Soriano lead off the bottom of the first with a home run.
"Every guy's dream is to own a baseball team," he said earlier in the day. "It's an opportunity I've always dreamed about."
Moreno doesn't plan any immediate changes for the Angels, who started play in 1961 and finally won their first title last year.
"It's a learning process," he said. "I'm going to sit back and listen. I've been very successful by surrounding myself with good people and keeping those people in place."
Expos
There was no other major business at the owners meeting. Selig did not update them on the Expos, a day after the relocation committee gave the commissioner a report on efforts to find a new home.
Selig sent a letter to Puerto Rico's nonvoting representative in Congress, Anibal Acevedo Vila, saying baseball was open to moving the Expos to the Caribbean island.
"We would be delighted to consider a proposal from San Juan, which would need to include plans for a playing facility which meets all minimum Major League Baseball requirements," Selig said in the May 2 letter.
Northern Virginia; Portland, Ore.; and Washington, D.C., are trying to lure the Expos, but baseball wants financing in place for a ballpark before making a decision.