Jackie Robinson West should be stripped of title, says Little League rival
The feel-good story about Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West Little League team is a sham, says a rival Little League coach, who is alleging the team recruited ringers from outside its boundaries to advance to the Little League World Series and win the U.S. championship. But so far, Little League International doesn’t agree.
The Jackie Robinson West team — which was made up of black players supposedly from inner city Chicago — was the toast of the pre-teen baseball world this summer along with Mo’Ne Davis. The Chicago kids won the U.S. championship before losing in the international title game. But they were still celebrated near and far, from hanging out with the Cubs, to showing up at the actual MLB World Series. They even traveled to the White House to meet President Obama.
Four months after the Little League World Series ended, officials in Evergreen Park, a suburb that’s right next to Chicago, are still upset. Chris Janes, who is the vice president of the Evergreen Park Athletic Association, says many of the Jackie Robinson West players were recruited from the suburbs, thus violating Little League rules. He told CBS Chicago that the team should be stripped of its title:
“If the team’s comprised of players that shouldn’t have been on there in the first place, then absolutely,” he said. “Little League has very specific rules. Those rules need to be followed. If they’re not, there’s consequences, and Little League outlines those in their rules. If Jackie Robinson broke these rules, they need to be held accountable.”
Janes thinks he has a pretty good case, and he’s spelled it all out for officials at Little League’s national office, using a variety of media reports and social media posts that tie the Jackie Robinson West players to neighborhoods and schools outside of Chicago. Little League International, however, has said it doesn’t find merit in Janes’ complaint.
Mark Konkol of Chicago’s DNA Info wrote a 5,000-word deep dive into Janes’ allegations against Jackie Robinson West, and found that many players do have roots in the suburbs. Coaches and parents from the team explained it away, saying they’d done nothing wrong. One parent reached by DNA Info said he has homes in both the city and the suburbs. Another parent said her family used to live in the suburbs, but now lives in the city.
Little League International issued a statement Tuesday saying the Jackie Robinson West team met its eligibility requirements. From the Chicago Tribune:
“Little League International confirmed documentation at the beginning of the tournament play in June. In October, a neighboring league contacted Little League International with information with questions about players’ residency on the Jackie Robinson West team that participated in the 2014 Little League Baseball World Series. Little League again reviewed the Jackie Robinson West documents and required the league to provide further information on each player to confirm residency eligibility. Following this additional review, our initial determination that the Jackie Robinson West players meet eligibility requirements still stands. Little League considers the issue closed at this time.”
Just because Little League won’t act on the Janes’ claims doesn’t mean the Jackie Robinson West coaches and parents didn’t keenly maneuver around the rules to build a winning team. That happens every year in cities all across the country, those teams just don’t get the media attention of Jackie Robinson West.
DNA Chicago’s story describes a number of the Jackie Robinson West players being on the same traveling team before joining the Jackie Robinson West team that surged to national attention. Janes calls Jackie Robinson West, “a travel ball team masquerading as a Little League team.”
Little League International saying the complaint is “closed at this time” doesn’t mean Janes will give up. In a letter he wrote to Little League officials that was shown to DNA Chicago, Janes said:
“In the event we do not receive a detailed response explaining how these players were eligible to play for JRW we are strongly considering obtaining outside representation to see this matter through to the end.”
He sounds like he means business. But Evergreen Park has lost to Jackie Robinson West before. In its Little League World Series run, Jackie Robinson West played Evergreen Park in the sectional playoffs and won 43-2.
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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
