BALTIMORE, Md. — Joe Foss, the Baltimore Orioles executive who helped the late owner Peter Angelos win the bidding for the club in 1993 and then ran much of its daily business for 14 years, has died. He was 77. A team spokesperson confirmed his death on Wednesday.
Foss came to baseball from banking. He was chief executive of First American Bank when Angelos began working with that bank in 1990, and he later joined Angelos in lining up the financing for the purchase, which the sources put at $173 million. From late 1993 until he stepped down in May 2007 he held two titles at the club, vice chairman and chief operating officer.
His tenure covered some of the most eventful stretches in franchise history. He steered the club through the 1994-95 players’ strike, a dispute in which Angelos opposed a salary cap and refused to use replacement players. He was in the building when Cal Ripken Jr. broke the iron man record in 1995, and he watched crowds fill the new Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He also handled the fallout when the Expos moved to Washington, D.C., a move that ultimately produced a regional sports network for the Orioles and the Nationals.
Alan Rifkin, formerly the club’s counsel, said Foss supplied ownership with the financial projections, payroll figures and operating reviews that guided decisions, and that he worked well inside a front office where Angelos stayed closely involved. Mark Wasserman, who dealt with Foss when he led Maryland’s economic development department under Gov. William Donald Schaefer, said Foss put the club on firm business footing. John Moag, who once chaired the Maryland Stadium Authority, credited him with keeping the team afloat during a difficult period.
Janet Marie Smith, the club’s planning and development vice president until 1994, remembered a steady manager who avoided drama and tried to understand every side of an issue. Minnesota was Foss’s home state, yet he grew deeply tied to Baltimore. His civic work included board seats with the Y of Central Maryland and Kennedy Krieger Institute, as well as the Archdiocese of Baltimore and Goodwill. Away from the ballpark, his executive career also took him to Geppi Family Enterprises, Erickson Retirement Communities and the consulting firm SC&H Group.
Foss is survived by three children, three grandchildren and a sister. His wife, to whom he was married for 47 years, died nearly a year ago. His children recalled a father who worked long days, watched entire Orioles games and still made time for the bus stop every morning, and who greeted ushers and staff by name.