LOS ANGELES -- The intersection of Hollywood and baseball is where Dennis Gilbert built his careers, establishing a life insurance agency catering to the rich and famous, then moonlighting as one of baseball’s most successful and influential agents before taking on a front-office role with the Chicago White Sox.

Through it all, as a former Minor League ballplayer who once scuffled to make ends meet, he’s always looked out for the most overlooked segment of the game, the scouts.

It’s why he co-founded the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation and why, in these challenging times, he merged the Foundation with the Baseball Assistance Team, which does the same for retired ballplayers. 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.

It's a welcome development, said Gilbert, who for the past 17 years around this time would have just returned from the Winter Meetings and pivoted his attention to planning the next Scouts Foundation Dinner, the primary fundraiser to support scouts in need.

Instead, there were no Winter Meetings to attend. As for the Dinner, that’s history, so he’s left to recall highlights from banquets past and take solace in the great run it had.

“The Winter Meetings, the Scouts Dinner, these used to be part of the offseason rhythm,” said Gilbert, 72. “Everything is so different right now.”

But back in the day, Gilbert said, the Scouts Dinner “was the best baseball event there was away from the field.” Held first at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, then the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, it drew 29 Hall of Famers. Players like Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Tom Seaver and Hank Aaron. Executives such as Commissioner Emeritus Bud Selig, Pat Gillick and Roland Hemond. Legendary broadcasters including Vin Scully, Bob Uecker, Jaime Jarrin and Peter Gammons.

"People came out from all over the country,” Gilbert said. “One year we were giving an award to Larry King, who had been our master of ceremonies for so many years. Larry wanted Regis Philbin to present it and Regis got on a plane and flew out to do it. It was like the Academy Awards of baseball.”

There was a distinct Hollywood flavor to the event, and not just because the dinner was held in the same ballroom as the Golden Globes Awards. If it wasn’t Academy Award winner Harrison Ford presenting an award, it was Grammy Award winner Michael McDonald delivering a mini-concert.

Gilbert recalled Selig calling Aaron “the most dignified and greatest human being I’ve ever met” while presenting him the Executive Leadership Award, and Aaron acknowledging his signing scout, Dewey Griggs, for finding Aaron on the dirt fields of Mobile, Ala., “when I was pretending I was Jackie Robinson.”

In 2014, Johnny Bench presented Joe Morgan with the Lifetime Achievement Award, calling him "the best damn player I’ve ever been with.”

In his acceptance, Morgan said of signing scout Bill Wight: “Frank Robinson and Willie Stargell came out of Oakland -- guys six feet tall who could run like the wind and hit the ball a country mile. Not one was looking for a guy 5-foot-5, 140 [pounds]. They talk about five tools, but the sixth tool is up here [tapping his head]. Bill Wight must have thought I was smart enough to overcome my ability.”

It was at the Scouts Dinner that White Sox vice chairman Eddie Einhorn called on the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown to “recognize and acknowledge” the work of scouts with a permanent honor similar to those accorded broadcasters and journalists.

Presenting an award to Yankees scout Damon Oppenheimer, Brian Cashman said: “The reason I’ve held this position for 22 years,” said Cashman, “is because I’ve got great scouts, the God’s honest truth. Damon’s been our scouting director since 2005. He survived George Steinbrenner. And he learned from one of the all-time greats, his mom, Priscilla, who worked for 30 years with the San Diego Padres.”

At the 2017 dinner, George Brett said Bo Jackson would have been a baseball Hall of Famer if he hadn’t switched to football and suffered a devastating hip injury.

“No doubt in my mind,” Brett said. “God, was he talented.”

One of the funnier moments was provided by Dodgers Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda, who painstakingly presented the Managerial Award named for him to Bruce Bochy of the arch-rival Giants.

“For me, to give him this award, something is wrong with this dinner tonight,” Lasorda joked.

“Thank you, Tommy,” said Bochy. “You were my great, great, great grandmother’s favorite manager.”

Last year, White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito presented an award for Don Sutton that was accepted by Tommy John.

“I had his surgery,” Giolito said of John, “and I highly recommend it."

Funds generated by the dinner went to assist scouts, many of whom had lost jobs in recent years through downsizing. Most of the money went to purchase COBRA health insurance, but sometimes for food and rent.

“Most scouts were players who have little or no college and a skill set that doesn’t make it easy to pivot to a new career,” Gilbert said. “We became the safety net. I was passionate about it. I am passionate about it. But I’ve got to say that in the last few years, it wasn’t easy selling tickets. It’s just the way things are these days.”