Baseball winter meetings thrill MGM Mirage boss

For a baseball fan like Jim Murren, this past week at the Bellagio doesn’t get any better.

Major League Baseball’s winter meetings were held at the Bellagio, where Murren, the new chairman and CEO of MGM Mirage, has his office.

Murren was a baseball standout at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., and played briefly in the Philadelphia Phillies farm system.

At a charity event for the Nevada Cancer Institute, he had a chance to visit with some of the game’s top managers, including Tony LaRussa of the St. Louis Cardinals, Joe Girardi of the New York Yankees and Lou Pinella of the Chicago Cubs.

Murren also crossed paths with some of the game’s biggest names during his morning workouts in the Bellagio gym. Murren is a diehard Yankees fan and he introduced himself to Girardi at the gym.

The Yankees manager broke away from conversation for a moment to take a phone call. A few minutes later, ESPN was broadcasting that the Yankees had signed prized free agent pitcher CC Sabathia to a multimillion-dollar contract.

“I think he was learning the deal was finalized when he and I were talking,” Murren said.