Sports
Jackie Robinson West Little League Stripped of U.S. Title for Cheating
The kids "were just pawns," says suburban league VP who objected to the cheating. Las Vegas team named new national champ.
posted 8:30 a.m., Feb. 11; updated
Jackie Robinson West Little League has been stripped of its U.S. championship by Little League International for cheating by recruiting suburban ballplayers. The title now goes to the Mountain Ridge Little League of Las Vegas, the team Jackie Robinson beat in the Little League World Series last summer.
Jackie Robinson West’s tactics were exposed by DNAinfo Chicago’s Mark Konkol in a series of reports that began in December. Konkol’s stories detailed how the South Side league secretly altered its boundaries without the consent of neighboring leagues and how the adults managing the team found star players from various suburban communities.
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“The Jackie Robinson West Little League and Illinois District 4 Administrator knowingly violated Little League International Rules and Regulations by placing players on their team who did not qualify to play because they lived outside the team’s boundaries,” Little League International said in a statement Wednesday morning.
League officials met in Williamsport, PA, on Tuesday to discuss the issue. In December, Little League International said it was satisfied that no rules were broken. After new information was received regarding the secret boundary changes, the league reconsidered.
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» RELATED: Death Threats for Suburban Little League Official Who Reported Jackie Robinson West
Jackie Robinson West manager Darold Butler was suspended from Little League. Michael Kelly, the Illinois District 4 Administrator, was removed from his post. All of its victories in the 2014 Little League World Series have been vacated.
JR West president Ann Haley, widow of the league’s late founder, and her son, treasurer Bill Haley, also must vacate their positions and be replaced. Until new league leadership is found, the team is on probation and all tournament privileges are suspended. JR West also forfeits its Great Lakes Regional Championship.
“For more than 75 years, Little League has been an organization where fair play is valued over the importance of wins and losses,” Little League International CEO Stephen D. Keener said in a statement. “This is a heartbreaking decision. What these players accomplished on the field and the memories and lessons they have learned during the Little League World Series tournament is something the kids can be proud of, but it is unfortunate that the actions of adults have led to this outcome.
“As our Little League operations staff learned of the many issues and actions that occurred over the course of 2014 and prior, as painful as this is, we feel it a necessary decision to maintain the integrity of the Little League program. No team can be allowed to attempt to strengthen its team by putting players on their roster that live outside their boundaries.”
The complaints first came to Little League International’s attention after the Evergreen Park Little League lodged a formal complaint that several of JR West’s best players lived outside of the league’s established boundaries. Those allegations were reported in detail by DNAinfo Chicago.
Evergreen Park Little League vice president Chris Janes said JR West’s leaders “used the kid“ as “pawns.”
“It’s a sad ending,” Janes told CBS Chicago on Wednesday. “And it stinks that the kids get caught in the middle of this, and it stinks that their names are associated with it, but again there were rules, and Jackie Robinson broke them. ...
“At the end of the day, they were just pawns in a much bigger game, and it’s unfortunate. I became a closet fan just watching those guys play. They seemed super charismatic, really bright; very likeable kids. People took advantage of them.
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The Chicago Tribune spoke with a parent of a player after Wednesday morning’s announcement.
“I know what they did and what they came from,” Nedra Jones said. “Actually, I’m upset and disappointed because now my son has the mad face because he feels like he did something wrong and he didn’t.”
One of the Jackie Robinson West players, Brandon Green, appeared at a press conference Wednesday with the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
“We went down there to play baseball, and we weren’t involved in anything that could’ve caused us to be stripped of our championship. We know that we’re champions, our parents know that we’re champions, and the team’s parents know we’re champions, and Chicago knows we’re champions,” Green said.
The ultimate decision to strip the team of its title hinged on these key points, as reported by Konkol and DNAinfo Chicago:
In October 2013, all District 4 league presidents had agreed on “clearly defined” boundaries in 2013 — the season before Jackie Robinson West leaders allegedly secretly expanded their territory to overlap existing leagues.
South Side, Rosemoor and Roseland league presidents confirmed they did not approve any changes made to Jackie Robinson West’s 2014 boundaries that infringed on their territory, protected under charter agreements with Little League International.
The South Side team, the first all-African-American team to win a national title, captured national attention and admiration for its remarkable play and compelling storyline. The city of Chicago embraced the team, too, staging a victory parade after the World Series concluded. After winning the U.S. championship, JR West lost in the world championship to a team from Seoul, South Korea.
Joseph Haley founded Jackie Robinson West Little League in 1971. “An educator by profession, (he) used the baseball diamond as an open air classroom to teach leadership skills, team work and self discipline to his players,” reads the league website. He died in 2005.
In August, his widow was “overjoyed” at seeing the boys win the national title in Williamsport.
Now the family must give up leadership in the league he started.
In addition to losing the national title, Jackie Robinson West will lose all of the championships it won in 2014:
- New Albany (IN) Little League will be handed the 2014 Great Lakes Regional Little League Baseball Championship
- Tri-Cities Little League (West Dundee, IL) will be the 2014 Illinois State Little League Baseball Champion
- Lansing (IL) Little League will be handed the 2014 Illinois Section 3 Little League Baseball Championship
- Rosemoor Little League (Chicago) will be the 2014 Illinois District 4 Little League Baseball Champion
This is the third time in Little League’s 68-year history that a team has been punished for cheating and its wins vacated. In 1992, a team from the Philippines used ineligible players. And in 2001, a team from the Bronx, N.Y., fielded a player who falsified his birth certificate.
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