Police Preventing Reporters From Talking to Owners at MLB Owners Meetings
By Liam McKeone
Major League Baseball is hosting their yearly owners meeting in Arlington, Texas this year. The meetings come in the midst of quite a controversy in baseball right now as the investigation into the Houston Astros' cheating scandal continues.
Things are a bit different at the meetings this year. Multiple reporters have said that there is a police presence at the hotel where the owners are staying, and seem to be tasked with keeping these owners away from reporters.
Just to be clear: There are police officers stationed in the lobby of the hotel working as security, and when they got the sense Jim Crane did not want to talk, they cut in to the media scrum and escorted Crane to a staircase leading to the level where meetings are taking place.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 20, 2019
Hello from the owners meetings in Arlington, Texas, where hotel management and a group of policemen attempted to throw a small group of reporters out of the hotel. Order has since been restored. Perhaps Jim Crane will speak today.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) November 20, 2019
Full exchange with Jim Crane:
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) November 20, 2019
"Do you have a few minutes to talk?"
"If you want to talk about baseball, I'll talk about baseball. What else do you want to talk about?
"So, you have no comment on ..."
"Any other issues," Crane said, before two police officers intervened
So... Yeah, this is weird. If the owners don't want to talk to reporters, I am quite certain they would have no issue ignoring their questions, and fear of a physical confrontation that would require a police presence would appear completely unfounded from an outside perspective.
As noted by NBC Sports, this is not exactly how past owners meetings have gone:
"Reporters — who are credentialed specifically for these meetings at this location, they’re not just showing up — approach the GMs or the owners or whoever as they walk in the public parts of the hotel in which they’re held or in the areas designated for press conferences. It’s not contentious. Usually the figures of interest will stop and talk a bit then move on. If they don’t want to talk they just keep walking, often offering apologies or an excuse about being late for something and say they’ll be available later."
A very odd decision by either MLB or the owners to involve the police in this matter.