Charles G. Armstrong is an American attorney and former officer of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, best known for his 28-year tenure as president of the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

club, a position from which he stepped down on January 31, 2014.Mariners' Chuck Armstrong announces decision to retire on January 31, 2014
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Early life

Armstrong was born in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...

. In 1964, he earned an engineering degree from

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

, followed by a law degree from Stanford University in 1967. Shortly after graduation, Armstrong began his three-year career in the navy.

Seattle Mariners

Armstrong was employed as general counsel for

George Argyros George Leon Argyros (born February 4, 1937) is an American former diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Spain. He is also a real estate investor and philanthropist. Argyros was the owner of Major League Baseball's Seattle Marine ...

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

Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; yi, דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, an ...

, in 1981. Argyros immediately brought Armstrong to Seattle to serve as the team's president.Interview - Chuck Armstrong - President - Mariners
at The Biz of Baseball During 1987 and 1988, Argyros was attempting to purchase the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

and sell the Mariners to several possible out-of-state investors, one of whom intended to move the team to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

. 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 Jeffrey Howard Smulyan (born April 6, 1947 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is the founder and chief executive officer of Emmis Communications. Early life and education Smulyan is the son of Natalie and Sam Smulyan. He has one brother and one sister. H ...

in 1989, and Armstrong was let go. Armstrong worked for several Seattle companies as a consultant from 1989 to 1992, and served as interim

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and university, universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of c ...

for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

, 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 is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

area, Armstrong was recruited by then-

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Slade Gorton Thomas Slade Gorton III (January 8, 1928 – August 19, 2020) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Washington from 1981 to 1987 and again from 1989 until 2001. A member of the Republican Party, he he ...

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 chairman

Hiroshi Yamauchi was a Japanese businessman and the third president of Nintendo, joining the company in 1949 until stepping down on 24 May 2002, being subsequently succeeded by Satoru Iwata. During his 53-year tenure, Yamauchi transformed Nintendo from a han ...

) 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 A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

and representing the team's ownership group (a role filled by former

Nintendo of America is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards. ...

executive

Howard Lincoln Howard Charles Lincoln (born February 14, 1940) is an American lawyer and businessman, known primarily for being the former Chairman of Nintendo of America and the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Seattle Mariners baseball team ...

since Ellis' retirement in 2000). On November 25, 2013, Armstrong announced that he would retire from his position as President and COO of the Mariners. January 31, 2014 marked his last day as the Mariners' president.MyNorthwest.com Retrospective of Chuck Armstrong's career
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References

External links

Seattle Mariners
Official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Chuck Major League Baseball executives Major League Baseball team presidents Living people United States Navy officers Seattle Mariners executives Purdue University College of Engineering alumni Stanford Law School alumni Sportspeople from Louisville, Kentucky Year of birth missing (living people)