Charles G. Armstrong is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 attorney and former officer of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, who currently serves as the president of the Seattle Mariners

Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...

 Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 club.

Seattle Mariners

Armstrong was employed as general counsel for George Argyros

George Argyros

George Leon Argyros is the former United States Ambassador to Spain. He is also a successful real estate investor, and was the owner of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners from 1981 to 1989.-Early and personal life:...

' California real estate business when the latter purchased the Mariners from the team's original ownership group, led by entertainer Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...

, in . Argyros immediately brought Armstrong to Seattle to serve as the team's president. During 1987 and 1988, Argyros was attempting to purchase the San Diego Padres

San Diego Padres

The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times...

 and sell the Mariners to several possible out-of-state investors, one of whom intended to move the team to Miami. Armstrong attempted to organize a group of Seattle-based investors with the intention of keeping the team in Seattle; however, citing a conflict of interest, Argyros instructed him to "back away" from his efforts. The Mariners were eventually sold to Indiana businessman Jeff Smulyan

Jeff Smulyan

Jeffrey Smulyan born April 6, 1947, in Indianapolis, Indiana is the founder and CEO of Emmis Communications.He earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Southern California....

 in , and Armstrong was let go.

Armstrong worked for several Seattle companies as a consultant from 1989–1992, and served as interim

Interim

Interim is an album by British rock band The Fall, compiled from live and studio material and released in 2004. It features the first officially released versions of "Clasp Hands", "Blindness" and "What About Us?" — all of which were later included on the band's next studio album Fall Heads Roll —...

 athletic director

Athletic director

An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...

 for the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

 Huskies

Washington Huskies

Washington Huskies is the nickname of the University of Washington's athletic teams. The school is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference. The athletic program is made up of 9 men's sports and 10 women's sports Washington Huskies is the nickname of the University of Washington's athletic teams. The...

, during 1991. In 1991, after Smulyan had put the team up for sale and rumors persisted that they would relocate to the Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay Area

The Tampa Bay Area is the region of west central Florida adjacent to Tampa Bay. Definitions of the region vary. It is often considered equivalent to the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area defined by the United States Census Bureau. The Census Bureau currently...

 area, Armstrong was recruited by then-U.S. Senator

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 Slade Gorton

Slade Gorton

Thomas Slade Gorton III is an American politician. A Republican, he was a U.S. senator from Washington state from 1981 to 1987, and from 1989 to 2001. He held both of the state's Senate seats in his career and was narrowly defeated for reelection twice as an incumbent: in 1986 by Brock Adams, and...

 to aid in efforts keep the Mariners in Seattle. He served as a consultant to Seattle-area business leader John Ellis while The Baseball Club of Seattle (led by Nintendo

Nintendo

is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

 chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi

Hiroshi Yamauchi

is a Japanese businessman. He was the third president of Nintendo, joining the company in 1949 until stepping down on May 31, 2002, to be succeeded by Satoru Iwata. Yamauchi is credited with transforming Nintendo from a small hanafuda card-making company in Japan to today's multi-billion dollar...

) was negotiating to purchase the team. Major League Baseball stipulated that, as a condition of allowing the team's sale to a group with foreign majority investors, "North American interests" were to run the club's day-to-day operations. The sale was approved in June 1992. Armstrong was brought back to serve as the team's president in 1993, with Ellis serving as CEO

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 and representing the team's ownership group (a role filled by former Nintendo of America executive Howard Lincoln

Howard Lincoln

Howard Charles Lincoln is an American lawyer and businessman, known primarily for being the former chairman of Nintendo of America and the current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Seattle Mariners baseball team, representing absentee majority owner Hiroshi Yamauchi...

 since Ellis' retirement in 2000).

External links

• Seattle Mariners Official site