15 Facts About Arte Moreno

Arturo "Arte" Moreno was born on August 14,1946 and is an American businessman.

Arte Moreno's father ran a small print shop; his grandfather owned Tucson's first Spanish-language newspaper.

In 1965, Arte Moreno graduated from high school and in 1966, he was drafted into the United States Army and fought in the Vietnam War.

Arte Moreno traveled across the country for the next seven years, relocating several times and in 1984, he moved back to Arizona, settling in Phoenix, where he was hired by billboard company Outdoor Systems.

Arte Moreno attempted to buy controlling interest in his home state's Arizona Diamondbacks, but no deal could be reached.

Arte Moreno nonetheless remained determined to own a Major League team, and soon set his sights on the 2002 World Series champion Anaheim Angels.

On May 15,2003, MLB commissioner Bud Selig announced that the sale of the Angels to Arte Moreno had been approved.

Arte Moreno soon demonstrated a willingness to spend the money necessary to sign premium players, including star outfielder Vladimir Guerrero.

Arte Moreno took a hands-on approach, becoming a regular attendee of the team's home games and periodically leaving his owner's box during games to mingle with fans in the regular stadium seating areas and concourses.

However, Arte Moreno encountered a substantial backlash from fans of the team, and in particular, from the city leadership of Anaheim, California, over his decision in 2005 to change the name of the team from the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Arte Moreno saw the change as part of an overall strategy to increase the team's revenue by actively marketing it to, and associating it with, the entire Los Angeles metropolitan area, rather than restricting the team's identity to the city of Anaheim and to Orange County.

Just prior to the start of the 2006 Major League season, Arte Moreno scored another success in signing a lucrative contract with Fox Sports Net for the television broadcast rights for the Angels' regular season games.

Arte Moreno has been criticized for not paying enough attention to the infrastructure that helps organizations develop talent through minor league systems, part of the reason the Angels' farm system has ranked within the bottom eight in the industry by Baseball America seven out of the past 10 years.

On February 26,2006, Arte Moreno led a partnership of buyers to purchase Radio 830 KMXE, the nation's largest Spanish-language AM radio station.

Arte Moreno refuses most interview requests, and does not discuss his personal life publicly.