Going Their Separate Way

By Allan Simpson

While Major League Baseball distanced itself for more than a century from anything to do with Las Vegas and its ties to gambling, the most visible way that MLB has distanced itself from anyone or anything here this week was its decision—in all its wisdom—to use a separate hotel (the posh Bellagio on the strip) as its headquarters. The Winter Meeting’s official hotel is the Hilton, where most minor league people attending the convention are being housed.

Normally, the Winter Meetings are one big, happy, get-together of all people associated with the game, but that theme and sense of camaraderie has been decidedly missing as the two hotels are located about three miles apart. In particular, it has also kept a large number of major league personnel from attending the Trade Show, a staple of the meetings. Some 250 exhibitors, including Perfect Game, have filled the Las Vegas Convention Center, adjacent to the Hilton.

With big league clubs staying at a more remote location and less inclined to make the trek to the Hilton, traffic has been significantly slower than normal in the first two days of the Trade Show.