A SITE FOR SORE EYES
Meeting of baseball’s bigwigs at Mandalay Bay evokes sorrowful memories of mass shooting
LAS VEGAS — Minor-league infielder Mikey Duarte wiped away tears as he talked last February about the death of his twin sister, Christiana.
“Every day we wake up it’s a living nightmare,” he said that day in Arizona as he prepared to start spring training with the White Sox.
Christiana Duarte was one of 58 people killed at a country-music concert in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017. Hundreds more were wounded by the gunman, who fired from a suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Duarte lasted all of six games for Class A Winston-Salem last season and has since retired — “still grieving” with his family, said Chris Getz, the Sox’ director of player development.
Cubs star Kris Bryant’s sisterin-law and friends were among those who escaped injury during the shooting. Five days later, as the Cubs opened the playoffs, he spoke about the terror and relief he felt over those next 24 and 48 hours.
“It broke my heart, man. I was up all night,” he said.
It’s against this backdrop that professional baseball stages its largest off-the-field event of the year, its industrywide convention and trade show, at the site of a mass-murder scene that touched many in baseball personally just 14 months ago.
“I really don’t know what to expect,” Getz said. “It obviously affected so many people, and it will kind of bring us back there.
“Eerie is probably the word that describes the feeling I’ll have.”
Except for a more visible security presence near elevators, the hotel lobby and casino looked much like others on the Vegas strip Sunday, a business-as-usual look and buzz that belies the recent history. The hotel did renumber several floors, including no longer identifying a 32nd floor.
“We definitely noticed the location of the meetings,” Cubs president Theo Epstein said. “For those who weren’t directly affected or had family members or friends involved, being in that close proximity, it’ll be an important time for self-reflection and to consider the magnitude of what happened there and the grave issues that we face as a society.”
The sites for the Winter Meetings are chosen years in advance. In the aftermath of the shooting, MLB sent a delegation to meet with
“FOR THOSE WHO WEREN’T DIRECTLY AFFECTED OR HAD FAMILY MEMBERS OR FRIENDS INVOLVED, BEING IN THAT CLOSE PROXIMITY, IT’LL BE AN IMPORTANT TIME FOR SELF-REFLECTION AND TO CONSIDER THE MAGNITUDE OF WHAT HAPPENED THERE
AND THE GRAVE ISSUES THAT WE FACE AS A SOCIETY.”
THEO EPSTEIN, Cubs president
hotel executives to discuss concerns, receiving assurances about such things as security.
Security in general has been increased at the property, including a change in programming electronic room keys that now allow elevator access only to a guest’s specific floor.
The floor where the shooting took place has reopened, but the wing that includes room No. 32-135 remains closed.
And the once-bustling lot across Las Vegas Boulevard where the concert was held hasn’t been used since and is enclosed by a high fence with “no trespassing” signs.
From a purely business standpoint, it’s hard to overstate the value for the MGM-owned hotel of retaining such a high-profile event involving thousands of participants in a $10 billion industry barely a year after being at the center of a horrifying event.
“It means the world to us that partners like Major League Baseball look to Mandalay Bay to host such iconic and highly anticipated events like the 2018 Baseball Winter Meetings,” Mandalay Bay President and COO Chuck Bowling said through a spokesman, adding the resort is “grateful for all the support and loyalty.”
He declined to say what, if any, financial inducements were offered to encourage MLB to keep its commitment to the venue.
“Maybe [we’re] a little bit closer to the tragedy because it affected part of our baseball family,” Getz said. “It was such a tragedy. You just hope going there doesn’t bring back some of those feelings, but it’s kind of inevitable.”