The Biggest Little League Cheating Scandal Ever

in 2014 jackie robinson west became the first entirely black team to go to the little league world series and win the united states championship and unlike the stereotypical white picket fence suburban little league team this team was based in some of the most violent neighborhoods in chicago and not only did they become the votes watch team in little league history they were the most loved team in the league history and probably the most famous this fame brought them parades hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations a trip to disney world a trip to the world series and even a trip to the white house but less than a year after their championship little league announced that due to cheating violations jackie robinson west would be entirely stripped of their title what has followed has been years of accusations death threats several lawsuits against little league rival coaches their own presidents and even stephen a smith but what did jackie robinson west actually do to cheat how did little league find out why didn't lilly do anything about it sooner who was the man behind these cheating allegations what were his motives and why many people today still believe that the accusations and punishments against jackie robinson west were racially motivated 13 kids won our hearts last summer as they battled their way to the national championship of little league baseball but today their title was taken away suspended from little league activity this is cheating it is it's blame cheating investigate every team in the league if you're going to investigate these young children but i believe that and i believe that race is in the midst of this thing every year in williamsport pennsylvania 16 of the world's best little league teams meet for the most watched youth sporting event in the world there were about 6 500 little league teams on the planet each year each little league creates one to three all-star teams composed of their league's best players these 10 000 plus teams compete in a tournament to see which little league team is the best in the world statistically speaking getting to the little league world series is one of the hardest achievements in sports if you want to win the lilly world series and you're from a state like illinois you must first win a district tournament then a sectional tournament then a state tournament then a regional tournament go to the little league world series and then win that tournament for most people getting to the world series is basically impossible but for the kids from the 2014 jackie robinson west little league it was actually pretty easy but even though their run to the williamsport was basically pure domination it surprisingly held jackie robinson west's biggest obstacle because they stomped dozens of teams on the way to the world series but one of these teams had a coach that would eventually lead to their downfall and at the time they had absolutely no idea their path to williamsport began at the illinois district 4 tournament this is a district made up of six leagues all located in the city of chicago jackie robinson west little league was located in the heart of the city that is known for being one of the most dangerous in the country according to the esta jackie robinson west little league's boundaries included three of the 10 most dangerous neighborhoods in chicago 2014 district 4 tournament began that summer jackie robinson west won that year but if you look up the winner of the tournament online it will tell you rosemore little league was the winner nobody knew it at the time but this would be the last illinois district 4 tournament ever played but even without the controversy that led little league to disband the district altogether the tournament was kind of pointless because throughout the district's 40-year history jackie robinson west little league wanted 34 years and for the kids of jackie robinson west that domination did not stop at the district level when they moved on to the sectional tournament they easily won the tournament outscoring their opponents 70-6 in only three games yes that means they averaged 23 runs a game they then traveled to the state tournament to face even tougher competition this time they outscored their opponents 53-3 in three games they were now moving on to the regional tournament to face the state champions from across the midwest these games were nationally televised on espn and the winner of this tournament would go onto the little league world series jackie robinson west went 6-0 ending three of these games by mercy rule they faced indiana in the championship and beat them 12-7 winning the tournament with a run differential of 63-19 from the sectional tournament on jackie robinson west went 12-0 winning eight of them by mercy rule so despite eight of their games ending after only four innings they outscored their opponents 186 to 28 including the state championship game which ended 29-2 in a district tournament game which ended 43-2 yes jackie robinson west scored 43 runs in a four inning game the coach who lost this game would go on to say quote unquote the game was so lopsided it was almost comical and you should remember this coach because he will go on to say a lot more about jackie robinson west and would eventually be the spark in what is likely the single biggest scandal in little league history and caused jackie robinson west to disband as a little league altogether but at the time jackie robinson west had other things going on they were on their way to the little league world series and this wasn't just any little league world series this was the most watched little league world series of all time and this is due to multiple stories that spread across the world most notably was monet davis she was the first girl to ever pitch shut out in the little league world series could throw a 71 mile per hour fastball and was on the cover of sports illustrated she basically became a national phenomenon overnight and her stardom only brought more attention to jackie robinson west jackie robinson west stood out in many ways they were the first all-black team to compete in the lilly world series in decades they were from an area widely known for street violence they were funny they had style they were polite they were sports and like they basically disproved every negative stereotype black kids from the inner city endure and best of all they probably were the best team in the tournament so when they started winning people started paying attention the mayor of chicago and basically everyone else in public office instantly adopted the team as the heroes of chicago and the whole city fell in love with them automatically they were soon national celebrities as well they were getting shout outs from spike lee lil wayne chance the rapper carl crawford even volunteered to pay the entire team's family's travel expenses at a local dick's sporting goods stores there were lines outside of the store to buy a jackie robinson west t-shirt and they ended up selling over 17 000 shirts news broke that a player on the team's family became homeless and supporters helped donate their family enough for a new home in total jackie robinson west ended up receiving over 300 000 dollars in donations a combination between jackie robinson west and monet davis made the 2014 tournament the most watched in little league history getting 90 percent more viewers than 2012 and when they beat monet davis's team in the u.s semi-final they instantly became the number one story of the tournament up to that point jackie robinson west had rolled through every team that came into their path except for one a team from las vegas who mercy ruled them in their second game at williamsport jackie robinson west was set to rematch this team but this time it was for the u.s championship and there were 27 000 people in the crowd in a very close game jackie robinson west upset the number one ranked team winning the united states little league championship and they instantly became america's team even though they eventually lost the little league world series final against south korea they were already national heroes and the celebrations that followed the tournament may have made them more famous than the tournament itself [Music] [Music] [Applause] chicago's beloved boys of summer finally made it to the white house to meet another hometown hero president barack [Music] tremendous obama just the end of the world jackie robinson west returned home to a celebration that seemed to never end they had their own parade in chicago in front of 10 000 plus people were honored at a cubs game and a white sox game were on the cover of a frosted flakes box honored at the world series went to disney world or named the chicagoans of the year and even met barack obama in the white house and despite all this media attention the kids still stayed humbled and kept their spotless reputations they even did their own charity work by donating toys to local kids in need but beneath all this positive attention there was a looming threat waiting to take jackie robinson little league down in december four months after the little league world series ended mark conclude of dnainfo.com published an article saying that a local little league coach was accusing jackie robinson west of cheating their way to the little league world series this coach was chris jaynes of evergreen little league a nearby little league located in a suburb right outside of chicago the same little league team that was beaten by jackie robinson west in the sectional tournament 43-2 he claimed that jackie robinson west like every other little league team was only supposed to field players who lived in a certain designated district instead jackie robinson west recruited players from nearby chicago suburbs to basically create a travel team disguised as a little league team to easily defeat every other team this report caused a stir in chicago but literally publicly stated that jackie robinson west just like every other team was checked multiple times throughout the tournament to make sure that their players were eligible and that the case was closed but chris james did not stop there because when jackie robinson west won the united states championship pretty much everyone in the state of illinois congratulated them and they did not know it at the time but a lot of those congratulations were extremely suspicious us representative robin kelly publicly congratulated two players on the team who she said lived in her district a sports illustrated feature article briefly mentioned the school outside of chicago that another player attended a website dedicated to lansing michigan publicly congratulated another player who they said lived in the area a reverend at a church on the west side of chicago publicly congratulated another player calling him a lifelong west sider an elementary school teacher posted a congratulatory message to a player that she said she taught at a school in buckwood illinois the mayor of linwood chicago told reporters that they planned on having their own celebration for a player who she said lived in linwood telling reporters quote unquote chicago can't take all the credit but only a few weeks later little league made a statement saying that the matter was still closed because before the 2014 season jackie robinson west expanded their boundaries with approval of the surrounding leagues in their district making their players eligible however this statement that was meant to clear jack robinson west of any wrongdoing actually hurt them because as soon as it was released several other leagues in the district responded by saying that they never signed anything and little league said well then maybe the case isn't closed about a month later literally came to chicago to have a meeting with the surrounding leagues about the issue a meeting that reportedly was extremely intense because what was discovered during this meeting didn't necessarily make jackie robinson west or the district as a whole look very good during this meeting little league international found out that the league presidents had agreed on a clear set of boundaries in 2013. new boundaries were submitted by jackie robinson west before the 2014 season but they were not approved by several other leagues in the district and following the 2014 little league world series jackie robinson had attempted but failed to get other leagues in district 4 to approve new boundaries that they had already submitted to little league without approval in 2014. according to dnainfo.com this was all possible because the district administrator michael kelly sent the new boundaries which expanded jackie robinson west's boundaries well into neighboring little leagues without getting proper approval kelly had just been assigned the position and had very close ties to jackie robinson west he had coached in the league for 25 years and served as the vice president of the league for 20 years prior to becoming in charge of the entire district and when all this news became public little league finally announced on february 11th that jackie robinson west would be entirely stripped of their title they also banned michael kelly from serving as the head of district 4 suspended the coach of jackie robinson west and banned jackie robinson west from little league competition until league president bill haley stepped down from his position for most this serves as a tragic story of how adults cheated their way to a championship and the kids of jackie robinson west who had done nothing wrong would have to pay the consequences but many people in jackie robinson west little league saw it a lot differently but they chose the most severe and in my opinion the most unacceptable to go after the children reaction was to come out in the snow and shovel the snow and clear the plates and get ready for next year these are the champions young little babies they played by the rules had three separate investigations it was unfounded twice they need to hold them to the same litmus test the same standard investigate every team in the league if you're gonna investigate these young children jackie robinson west had many questions they felt little league still had the answer to if jackie robinson west had submitted their boundaries to little league before the summer why did it take until after the world series for them to discover it and what new information the little league obtained since saying the case was closed and stripping jackie robinson west they also heavily questioned the motives and credibility of whistleblower chris james why didn't he publicly call out jackie robinson west until the world series if the two teams played in july apparent on jackie robinson west also claimed that the little league james coached for attempted to illegally recruit her son to play for their little league and more questions arose about his credibility when he was arrested for assault after going into his neighbor's house trying to fight her husband news of this arrest got local news coverage in chicago and james told reporter that he accidentally entered the wrong house during the jackie robinson west investigation jane says he received multiple death threats and feared for his life he would even go on to suit little league for publicly stating that the case was closed after he went public saying that this made him a target and this would not be the last lawsuit james would be involved with concerning little league and jackie robinson west jackie robinson west launched their own lawsuit against the league to find out the answers they were looking for and even set up their own public funding page seeking 100 000 to help pay for legal fees they received four donations for a total of ninety dollars and through court documents they later did find out this information according to little league jackie robinson west sent multiple doctored maps and made it seem like players were within boundaries throughout the tournament but that only 5 out of 13 players on jackie robinson west were eligible jackie robinson west soon dropped that lawsuit all together and six months later the parents and coach of jackie robinson west filed a new lawsuit and this one named three specific targets little league stephen a smith and bill jaynes the lawsuit says that jackie robinson west coach gerald butler submitted all appropriate documents to little league and that little league ignored boundary issues for publicity higher ratings and money the lawsuit also names jackie robinson west's own president bill haley saying that he withheld information from the team that they were being investigated and that even during the investigation little league used jackie robinson west for public appearances by sending them to the white house and the world series the lawsuit also named stephen a smith for comments he made about the team and coach the lawsuit argues for defamation because he accused jackie robinson west of using fabricated boundaries but stephen a smith and espn were soon taken off the lawsuit by a judge who asserted these comments were protected by the first amendment the lawsuit lastly names chris james for hiding the investigation from jackie robinson west's parents and waiting until after the little league world series to file a complaint chris james ended up filing a lawsuit against little league himself saying that he had originally filed a complaint to little league in august and by them publicly announcing that the case was closed they caused death threats and emotional damage to the coach and that's basically where we stand today all sides of the conflict suing each other nearly seven years after jackie robinson west won the u.s championship we don't know how these lawsuits are going to end but what we do know is in 2014 jackie robinson west were the united states champions and the next year they weren't the kids on the team played well enough to go to the white house and they never did anything wrong but because of the way coaches parents and league officials acted they will probably have to endure being labeled as cheaters for years to come kid

Channel: Baseball Doesn't Exist

Views: 4,310,909

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Id: EqauFgkYUtU

Length: 17min 39sec (1059 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 22 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/kellyincharlotte]

Amazing how many adults knew this team was illegal due to the resident status of the kids and they STILL allowed it to go that far.

Sad lesson for the kids but two wrongs don't make it right.

[u/EyeHaveNoBanana]

Cheating in youth sports is rampant.

[u/kickrox]

I love that it sets up the racial narrative just to be like "oh, but then they found that it was actually corrupt bullshit and not racism".

[u/[deleted]]

[removed]

[u/the_curious_surfer]

Being black has nothing to do with this. Cheating exists in many juvenile sports organizations due to shitty adults living their lives vicariously through their kids.

[u/Darryl_Lict]

Strange tales. They beat one team 43-2. I was thinking, isn't there a mercy rule? Typically this occurs when one team goes up by 10 runs, which is considered an insurmountable lead. Indeed, this team actually got beat by Las Vegas in a mercy rule game. Don't know why they didn't have it in the first round.

And in the end, they got beat by South Korea.

[u/Fun-Safe-8926]

Does anyone know if any of these kids went in to play in high school/college?