Winter Meetings

The Winter Meetings are an annual event, held each December, in which representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 160 minor league baseball affiliates convene for four days to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees include league executives, team owners, general managers, team scouts, visitors from baseball-playing countries, trade show exhibitors, and people seeking employment with minor league organizations.[1][2][3] The Rule 5 draft, in which minor league players who are not on a team's 40-man roster can be drafted by a major league team, is held on the last day of the meetings.[4]

In 2015, the 114th annual Winter Meetings were held from December 7 to 10 in Nashville, Tennessee.[5] The 2016 Winter Meetings are scheduled for December 4 to 8 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.[6]

History

The tradition of baseball holding off-season meetings during December dates back to 1876, the first offseason of the National League. At the 1876 meetings, William Hulbert was selected to be the league's president, and two teams (the New York Mutuals and Philadelphia Athletics) were expelled from the league for failing to play all their scheduled games. The Winter Meetings became an annual event in 1901.

Locations

Attendees

The Winter Meetings attract several thousand participants; in 2014 organizers anticipated 3,000 attendees. These include team owners, field managers, team scouts, players' agents, lawyers and accountants specializing in baseball, and visitors from baseball-playing countries.[1][7][8] Baseball players generally do not attend, although free agents come to introduce themselves to many teams.[7] At the 2014 Winter Meetings in San Diego, an estimated 750 media personnel received press passes.[9]

Receptions are held nightly by each of the 30 major league teams for their minor league affiliates.[10] A luncheon is also held for major league managers and baseball reporters.[11]

Player trades and signings

Barry Bonds playing for the San Francisco Giants in 1993

With all the principals in one place, the Winter Meetings are typically the site of player trades and free-agent signings.[12] However, the informal meetings that used to take place in hotel lobbies up until the end of the 20th century have been replaced by texting and emailing; most interactions take place in the privacy of suites due to the preponderance of media personnel and fans converging on the site.[9][11]

Among the notable trades and signings that have been made at the Winter Meetings are:

Other events

Pants Rowland, winner of the first "King of Baseball" award in 1951.

Concurrent with the Winter Meetings, a trade show featuring close to 300 vendors of baseball equipment, services, and promotions takes place.[7] Another annual event is the Professional Baseball Employment Opportunities Job Fair, during which recent college graduates seeking internships and employment with minor league organizations schedule on-site interviews.[17] The month of December is considered "the height of baseball hiring season", as 400 to 500 workers are hired each year.[18]

Since 1951, the "King of Baseball" title has been awarded to a minor league veteran at the Winter Meetings banquet.[19]

Several events associated with the Hall of Fame also take place at the Winter Meetings:

Notes

References

  1. 1 2 Peden 2011, p. 195.
  2. ↑ "2014 Baseball Winter Meetings returns to San Diego after three decades". Minor League Baseball. 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  3. ↑ Horn, Jonathan (December 9, 2014). "Baseball Jobs: Will work for peanuts". U-T San Diego. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  4. ↑ Links, Zach (11 December 2014). "2014 Rule 5 Draft Results". MLB Trade Rumors. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  5. 1 2 Elliott, Bob (10 December 2015). "Blue Jays snag Giants pitcher in Rule V draft". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  6. ↑ Svriuga, Barry (23 November 2015). "Baseball's winter meetings coming to — Washington?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 Solomon & Freeman 2012, p. 185.
  8. ↑ Gorman 2007, pp. 7-8.
  9. 1 2 Costa, Brian (9 December 2014). "Baseball's Winter Meetings—Minus the Meetings". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  10. ↑ Solomon & Freeman 2012, p. 182.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Waldstein, David (7 December 2014). "Baseball's Annual Winter Meetings Have It All, Except Quietude". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  12. ↑ Carroll 2007, p. 78.
  13. ↑ Sypher 1990, p. 100.
  14. ↑ Stark, Jayson (9 December 2011). "Angels Shock the Baseball World". ESPN. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  15. ↑ Nightengale, Bob (12 December 2014). "'Aggressive' winter meetings end with many winners". USA Today. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  16. ↑ Plunkett, Bill (11 December 2014). "Kemp trade is latest piece of Dodgers' reconstruction". Orange County Register. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  17. ↑ Barr, Chad; Curtis, Ted (12 May 2012). "Class is in Session at the Baseball Winter Meetings". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  18. ↑ Brown, Dwane (8 December 2014). "Baseball Executives, Jobseekers In San Diego For Winter Meetings". KPBS.
  19. ↑ "King of Baseball Award by Minor League Baseball". Baseball Almanac. 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  20. ↑ "Ford C. Frick Award". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  21. ↑ Geltner 2012, p. 203.
  22. ↑ Sandoval & Nowlin 2011, p. 165.

Sources

Further reading

External links

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