Dennis Gilbert, the legendary baseball agent and current White Sox executive, founded the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation 17 years ago to support and honor members of the scouting profession.

As scouts have lost jobs amid industry cutbacks in 2020, the organization’s mission is more crucial than ever -- even as it takes on a new form due to economic difficulties.

The Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T.) announced Tuesday that it will absorb the PBSF’s operations and carry forward the foundation’s purpose of assisting current and former scouts. B.A.T. is initiating a Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation Grant for “scouts that are in need of financial, medical and psychological assistance,” according to a news release.

B.A.T. and the PBSF are natural partners, having shared a commitment to aiding those in the baseball family. B.A.T., which is affiliated with Major League Baseball and also supported by the MLB Players Association, provides grants to individuals and families who have worked in diverse areas of the sport, whereas the PBSF has focused on scouts.

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Gilbert said the merger resulted from difficulties in operating the PBSF as a standalone entity during a time of diminished donations. The organization’s popular gala dinner, hosted annually at The Century Plaza Hotel or Beverly Hilton and broadcast on MLB Network in recent years, was a costly and labor-intensive undertaking all on its own.

“It got tougher and tougher every single year to compete with the big charities to sell tickets,” Gilbert told MLB.com Tuesday morning. “That was really our only way of raising money.”

Gilbert, an insurance advisor by profession, had anticipated for several years that the foundation would need to change dramatically. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the timetable.

Gilbert credited B.A.T.’s leadership -- specifically executive director Erik Nilsen and advisor Laurel Prieb -- for recognizing the need to maintain special awareness for scouts experiencing hardships.

“They were really kind,” Gilbert said. “B.A.T.’s a great program, and I know they’ll take good care of the scouts.”

Gilbert, 72, said his proudest moments at the PBSF involved providing assistance to those in need and also witnessing the friendship and stories shared among gala attendees every year.

“After the foundation dinners, we’d get together, sit by the lounge, and just talk baseball,” Gilbert said. “The next morning, we’d have a breakfast. Everybody was there, crowded around each other. Then we started having roasts. We had the great Kevin Towers, Pat Gillick, Bob Nightengale, Tracy Ringolsby all part of the roasts. Funny people. Bob Uecker.

“Can you believe we had 29 Hall of Famers partake? Everybody from [Sandy] Koufax to Willie Mays to Vin Scully to Hank Aaron. Robin Roberts. Bob Feller. Brooks Robinson. Tommy Lasorda, who is on the board.”

Gilbert said during a Tuesday morning interview with MLB Network’s Hot Stove that he still remembers the year actress Bo Derek presented an award to former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.

“Larry King never missed an event,” Gilbert said. “One year we decided to honor Larry King, and Regis Philbin flew across the country to give him his award.”

B.A.T. was founded in 1986 to offer confidential support to members of the baseball community. In 2020 alone, the organization has awarded $5 million in grants to nearly 2,000 people; scouts received nearly $100,000 of that aid.

The need among current and former scouts is expected to increase in the months and years ahead, as economic uncertainty and lost revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted staffing cutbacks by many MLB clubs. Industrywide trends with analytics and video scouting had resulted in layoffs even before the pandemic.

“When a scout gets let go, he has to think about health insurance,” Gilbert said. “COBRA’s not cheap, especially if he’s been scouting for a long time and he’s 55 or older. You’re talking about $600 or $700 per month and somebody who’s unemployed. It’s tough.

“Baseball to scouts is like baseball to a lot of people watching MLB Network. It’s not a game or a sport. It’s a way of life for all of us. Scouting is like being a king. It doesn’t really train you for anything else. It’s very tough to get another job.”

For more information on the Baseball Assistance Team, a 501(c)3 charitable organization, please visit BaseballAssistanceTeam.com.