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Keeping Little League Righteous
By JON HOORNSTRA
Somehow, a major deception over a boy's age went undetected for at least two years in a Bronx Little League baseball team. But it finally unraveled before a nationwide audience during Little League's televised world championship playoff games last month.
Not that Little League is immune to unsavory characters, but this sport is played by nearly 3 million kids who line up before every game to recite the Little League pledge in unison. They promise to obey the rules, play fair and "win or lose, strive to do my best." These are core values in Little League, taught from the time the youngest 5-year-olds begin t-ball.
Knowing this, one can better understand why everyone involved with Little League was very upset last month when a Sports Illustrated reporter showed Little League officials a document signed by a Dominican Republic authority saying that Danny Almonte, a star pitcher for the Bronx team, had been born north of Santo Domingo in 1987. If true, Almonte would be two years too old to play, and his team's remarkable record would be voided.
The Bronx league countered with a document supplied by the boy's father, Felipe Almonte, indicating the boy had been born in 1989, not 1987. Felipe himself indignantly insisted his son was 12 and his paperwork proved it.
The reason for the age rule is simple. A typical 12-year-old simply can't hit a ball pitched at blazing speed by a muscular, pubescent 14-year-old from a pitcher's mound 46 feet away.
The deception collapsed when government officials in the Dominican Republic said birth records showed that Danny is 14. Little League then voided all of the Bronx team's wins from official records, including its third-place standing in the World Series. The senior Almonte was banned from Little League programs and, according to the New York Times, an arrest warrant was issued Sept. 5 in the Dominican Republic for his arrest, charged with "falsifying public documents."
Cupertino has three leagues in the Little League program, part of a larger district that includes several South Bay cities, from Los Altos Hills to Saratoga. Felix Balga of Sunnyvale, the district administrator, supervises their programs.
"We have 6,000 boys and girls and 2,500 volunteer adults in our district," Balga said. "In 13 years as district administrator and 33 years in Little League, I've never seen an altered birth certificate or had one reported to me."
Balga's experience dates to 1954 when he was an original member of Sunnyvale's first chartered Little League team.
Yet, Balga concedes, there are times when parents try to beat the system.
"Over the years, we have seen parents lie about their place of residence in order to get their kids on a certain team," Balga said. "So we require proof of where a player lives in addition to an original birth certificate."
Dana Drysdale, president of Cupertino National Little League, said "Many adults had to turn their backs on the principles of Little League for this to happen."
Rob Realini, who served on Cupertino National's governing board for several years, called the Bronx deception a "travesty" and sees a larger context.
"What they did is no different than parents here who lie about where they live to get their kids into Monta Vista or Lynbrook high school," he said.
Ed Kurns, a coach and manager for several years in Cupertino's Tri-Cities league, echoed comments made around the country.
"There are a lot of victims in this," Kurns said. "Danny Almonte himself, plus all the teams who played by the rules, kids who might have won had the Bronx team been an honest team."
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
