Little League Official Alleges Cheating By Jackie Robinson West All Stars

By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 16, 2014 5:40PM

The Jackie Robinson West Little League team captured the hearts and minds of Chicago and the nation during its Little League World Series run (and provided some much-needed relief from the subpar professional baseball played eight miles apart last summer). But was this team of scrappers from struggling South Side neighborhoods built on the up-and-up?

The head of one suburban Little League organization argues no and charges the folks in charge of the JRW team of putting players on its team who lived outside its recruitment boundaries. DNAInfo Chicago’s Mark Konkol has the deets.

In an email to Little League International obtained by DNAinfo.com Chicago, a neighboring south suburban league called on Little League officials to investigate whether Jackie Robinson West engaged in “manipulating, bending and blatantly breaking the rules for the sole purpose of winning at all costs.”

“We have very good reason to believe that [there] were several members of this team that did not live within JRW's boundaries and, per Little League residency requirements, should not have been allowed on this team,” Evergreen Park Athletic Association vice president Chris Janes wrote.

Evergreen Park league officials say they decided to speak out despite the risk of being criticized in hopes of protecting the integrity of Little League baseball — a once small-town organization that’s now worth more than $80 million — and keep their league, as well as others, alive.

Janes told Konkol he grew suspicious when he did web searches of various JRW players and alleged they live outside of Chicago’s city limits, a charge refuted by JRW president Bill Haley and coach Darold Butler. The neighborhoods JRW recruits its players include Auburn Gresham, Morgan Park, Washington Heights, Englewood and New City, neighborhoods that more often find themselves in the news due to the rampant violence occurring there.

“Due to their success this year — and getting on TV — all of the information [about the players] became so readily available,” Janes said. “All you had to do was Google any one of the players' names and their hometowns outside of Chicago pop up. … It was all just there.”

Just as Wikipedia Brown takes someone’s word for it, searches of Google, Yahoo, Bing and the like should not be taken as gospel. Little League International officials have sided with JRW but did allow they would be open to returning to Janes’ charges if he can provide more concrete proof JRW violated eligibility rules. Janes said he did that but Little League International “never addressed any of our specific questions.”

Is it sour grapes by Janes and the Evergreen Park Little League group or did JRW officials bend some rules in order to help some talented kids? One thing is certain: adults will always muck up a kid's game.