It started with such optimism.  It ends with such disdain.

The intentions seemed right.  The end result was awful.

Arte Moreno is selling the Angels to Rams owner Stan Kroenke at a record sales price.

Halos baseball has become known for last place finishes…100-season losses….fans doing ‘Tarps off’ (shirts) exhibitions in the upper deck…the forever chant ‘Sell the Team’…being ranked with the worst farm system in the game for years…the siege of injuries…failure after failure on big money free agent contracts…terrible alcohol and drug related tragedies…a lost TV contract…an all time ugly lawsuit….a land development scandal too.

And the lost opportunities to build something really special around Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.  Dispiriting is every corner of that Stadium and the flashing ‘Big A’ sign.

All that under the banner of the outgoing owner.

Arte Moreno bought the team in 2003, the year after they won the World Series under the Disney Regime, which at the end was also mocked for having the owners box always empty and dark at home games that final year at the Big A.

Moreno came in as the ‘Fan’s Man’..walking the concourse, lowering beer prices, talking to the media.  And then it all came crashing down.

Bad front office hires, managerial mistakes after the Mike Scosia run.  The turmoil over the hirings-firings of GMs and Managers is staggering, begging the question who advised Moreno on these critical leadership failures.

Bad contract after bad contracts stacked up on top of each other.  Those beset by drug problems.  Those devastated by injuries.  Those sidetracked with bad attitudes.

A top young pitcher dies, hit by a drunk driver.  Another top young pick dies from drug addiction to pain killers.  A PR-exec goes to prison, himself a user, who became a drug middleman too.

It was a God-Awful ending to a man who made his fortune in the billboard business, but saw every good intention go sideways on him.  His sad-sack franchise became his final billboard reminder to the community.

His final calling card, not even coming to games, or venturing out of the booth,  where he would be booed and abused by his once adoring fans.   He became a prisoner of his own wealth-fame-and baseball decisions.

Truly a sad end for someone who had such good intentions.

Moreno bought the team 23-years ago for (183M).  He spent loads of money renovating the fourth oldest stadium in baseball.  He never ever got out from the shadow of popularity the Cowboy-Gene Autrey had back in the day.  He never matched what Michael Eisner and Disney did the night they raised the World Series trophy.

He exits with a huge profit from this (4.1B) sales price.

The next savior of the Halos will be a man with an amazing entrepreneurial resume.  Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Rams..the NBA-Nuggets…the NHL-Avalanche…the guy who built So Fi Stadium…brought the NFL back to Los Angeles..owns an MLS team..an EPL soccer team..and a regional sports network in the Rockies.

His life includes a Super Bowl Trophy…the Larry O’Brien Trophy and the Stanley Cup.

His history is to be in the shadows.  His reputation is a man of solid-gold success, distant and private.

Right man, right reputation, right situation for an Orange County market that is waiting to explode in support of a good product and a leader they can embrace.

I feel bad for Arte Moreno, whose intentions were spectacular, but whose exit is ringed with anger, sadness and despair.

Sports, the marketplace, the fan base, and the media can be unforgiving.  Moreno did not deserve it to end this badly.  But in sports, the ‘Scoreboard does not lie’.

Time and patience ran out on Arte Moreno, a good man, for whom things ended badly.

==============