February 15, 2024 • 32 mins
Danny Almonte was a Little League phenom destined for greatness, boasting incredible stats in the Little League World Series. However, a secret harbored by Danny's father threatened to unravel everything. When the truth emerged, it sparked the most significant scandal in Little League history, capturing the nation's attention. Join ESPN sportscaster and journalist Jay Harris as he delves into the surprisingly juicy underbelly of America's pastime, revealing the impact of deception on dreams and the game itself.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome back to Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. I'm
your host, Jay Harris. I've had over twenty years of
experience as a journalist and sportscaster, hosting a variety of
ESPN shows from Sports Center to Outside the Lines. On
this show, though, I am all about the juice. H
(00:42):
so good, guys, consider me your juice barista, stirring up
the sports that are supposed to be all about fun,
talent and clean competition to reveal their oftentimes dirty underbelly.
What can I say? It seems that for every true
sports hero tale, there's an another one about a player
straying way off base. It's human nature. I guess Jacko
(01:05):
and hide Yin and Yang and so on and so
forth in this crazy game of life. Today, I'm playing dirty.
I've got a serious curveball on tap for you, So
grab your drink of choice, whether it's a smoothie, a
classic juice with yours truly, or heck it's five o'clock somewhere,
maybe even something a bit stronger. And let's quench our
(01:26):
thirst for scandal with a cheat that shook the very
core of Little league baseball. Oh yeah, you heard me right,
Just because the players a little doesn't mean there isn't
some big scandal. Let's tee this tail off with the
Biggest little Player, Danny Almante. Danny was an unreal talent
(01:46):
in the world of Little League baseball. In fact, he
pitched the first ever perfect game at the Little League
World Series. So what was the problem? Well, the reason
I called him the biggest little player is because he
actually wasn't as little as he was supposed to be.
Despite being registered as twelve years old, Danny was fourteen.
(02:06):
Little League Baseball rules require players to be no older
than twelve. Who in the world was behind this attempt
to sub a fourteen year old kid into a game
where everyone else was twelve? Who would want to cheat
other kids for goodness sake? Or maybe the better question
is who would be motivated to settle in and drink up?
(02:28):
Because this scandal goes right to the core of America's pastime.
When most people think about baseball, little leaguer otherwise, there's
an immediate association with the United States of America. President
Theodore Roosevelt deemed it the national game all the way
(02:51):
back in the early nineteen hundreds, and ever since it's
been seen as a representation of the American dream, where
hard work, determination and perseverance can lead to success. But
in another country, just a little over two thousand miles
away from the US, baseball isn't just a national pastime.
It's a way of life. I'm talking about the Dominican Republic.
(03:18):
In the dusty streets and makeshift ball parts of the
Dominican Republic, dreams are foraged from the cracks in the concrete.
In the barrios and neighborhoods, baseball diamonds emerge amidst the
vibrant chaos of daily life. Kids armed with homemade bats
and worn out gloves play the game with a passion
that transcends the boundaries of poverty. The crack of the
(03:41):
bat is the sound most associated with childhood and with
hope in the Dominican Republic. Some of you have probably
been to the Dominican Republic's gorgeous resorts on the white
sand beaches by the Caribbean Sea. Maybe you've read about
the late designer Oscar Della Rena's mansion there being nothing
short of spectacular, or Michael Jordan celebrating his bachelor party
(04:04):
at Villa Vogue, or the constant stream of celebrities from
the Cardassians to Beyonce, staying at the all inclusive Dominican
resort Casa de Campo, where every villa comes with a
personal maid, butler, and garden crew. No one can deny
the natural beauty of the Dominican Republic, and it's obvious
allure for tourists, But for the people born and raised
(04:25):
in the Dominican Republic, there is no vacation. Like many
Caribbean paradise destinations, poverty is the harsh reality for natives,
making this small island just about the same size as
South Carolina, a place starkly divided between the haves and
have nots. According to the CIA World Factbook, thirty point
(04:50):
five percent of Dominicans fall below the poverty line. For many,
baseball is the only ticket out of the cycle of
poverty that leads many children there to be malnourished, a
situation so dire that most American kids who play organized
sports can't even imagine. Desperation is so severe that veteran
scouts tell of older brothers using the identities of little
(05:13):
brothers or even of dead people to get ahead. Youth
holds allure for pro scouts, so Dominican parents are under
real pressure to get creative, to ensure there is a
path to a better life for their kids and for
themselves through baseball identity. Theft isn't so difficult to pull
off because UNISEF, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund,
(05:37):
estimates that nearly twenty five percent of Dominican children over
five lack proper birth certificates. In the words of Alan Klein,
an anthropology professor at Northeastern University in Boston, people used
to refer to the Dominican Republic baseball scene as a
cesspool of people who were doing corrupt, bad things, breaking laws.
(05:58):
They ignored the fact that there's a reason players are
claiming to be younger than they are, and the reason
is created and fostered by Major League Baseball. If MLB
is willing to pay much greater signing bonuses for a
seventeen year old than they are for an eighteen year
old one year older, then any Dominican will be foolish
not to try to be younger. Makes sense, right, So
(06:20):
kids with baseball aspirations in the Dominican Republic actually do
have a real incentive to falsify their ages as early
in their training as possible. I would never condone cheating,
but I can certainly understand their motivation for playing dirty.
I empathize with these young aspiring athletes. They know that
their families are counting on them, and they know that
(06:40):
their family members aren't the only ones expecting them to
deliver a signing bonus. Independent scouts called busconis find and
train young players in the Dominican Republic as a matter
of course, taking part of the player's signing bonus as pay.
There's a great range of behaviors among busconis, said doctor
Rob ruck, a sports history professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
(07:04):
Some bosconas are housing, feeding, and giving medical care to
the kids. Others basically have a facility and the kid
lives at home, so there's various levels of investment. Players
who don't sign with the team as soon as they
are able to are dropped by these busconas, and with
an estimated two percent success rate, many young men are
left without a job or education in the Dominican Republic
(07:26):
since they usually drop out of school to pursue baseball
full time. Most of these kids are not going to
be past eighth grade or ninth grade when they're working
with the buscone, and a lot of them are not
going to continue going to school at that point. Doctor
Ruck said. Their goal is getting a signing bonus, which
is going to be more money than the families ever
seen at one point in its entire history. It's not
(07:49):
just a kid whose futures on the line, it's the
family's future. So much pressure is on the shoulders of
these young kids. For the majority of aspiring players in
the Dominican Republic who don't successfully secure their future through
baseball well with no education means or specialized skills, their
prospects are poor. Most men and women, for that matter,
(08:13):
face a lifetime of scraping together the equivalent of around
three hundred and fifty dollars a month just to survive
in the Dominican Republic with the most basic of necessities.
So while baseball is called America's pastime, it is serious
business in the Dominican Republic, where for many it's the
only possible way out of crushing poverty. The boys there
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dream of making it to the major leagues, and the
first stop to the majors is you guessed it, the
Little League World Series. The Little League World Series is
an annual baseball tournament for children aged ten to twelve
years old that has been held every August in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania,
since the first one took place in nineteen forty seven.
(08:56):
The competition consists of twenty teams, ten from the United
States and ten from other countries. The US and international
teams play in separate brackets in a double elimination format.
The winner of each bracket play each other for the
championship title. More than just a tradition, the Little League
World Series is often a precursor for the young participants
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to a professional and lucrative career as an adult athlete.
All stars like Cody Bellinger, Michael Conforto, lance Lynn, Todd Fraser,
and many more all made their debuts at the Little
League World Series. Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where Little League World Series
is held, is the mecca for a ten to twelve
year old. That's what Todd Fraser, who played in Major
(09:40):
League Baseball for the Cincinnati Red Chicago White Sox, New
York Yankees, Texas Rangers, New York Mets, and Pittsburgh Pirates, remembers,
It's the coolest place ever. Nothing was cooler than playing
against kids that couldn't speak English. The differences in culture
is what makes it so great. The friendships you make
there last a lifetime. Todd Fraser's experience is shared by
(10:03):
most of the Americans who participate in the Little League
World Series. They get to meet new, interesting kids, compete
in the spotlight, and then return to the relative security
of their lives in a first World country, a country
where citizenship and all of its associated benefits are their birthright.
But for Dominican kids, the stakes are often much higher.
(10:24):
If they've already managed to immigrate from the Dominican Republic
to America, then they are outsiders with challenges that US
citizens don't bear. According to Migration Policy dot org, Dominican
immigrants are more likely than the overall foreign born population
in the United States to live in poverty and be
(10:44):
limited English proficient, and are less likely to have a
college degree and to be uninsured. It's to be expected
that dire finances, language barriers, limited education, sub paramedical access,
and oftentimes split families make for a tumultuous childhood. So
while the kid who makes it to the Little League
(11:05):
World Series would almost certainly share Todd Frasier's enthusiasm for
the overall experience, chances are that their pressure to succeed
is exponentially greater. With extreme cultural and economic disparity as
a background, The two thousand and one Little League World
Series instantly knocked it out of the park with pitching sensation.
(11:27):
Danny Almonte, the kid I told you, was at the
heart of this whole scandal. Remember. But the thing is
that Danny Almonte is not a heartless fourteen year old
lying about his age to steal glory from a bunch
of twelve year olds. Far from it. Danny was a
malnourished kid from the Dominican Republic who was born into
abject poverty, and the only thing that ever gave him
(11:48):
any relief from his life of hardship was a love
for the game of baseball. When he was a little boy,
he always walked around our town of Moco with a
little stick, hitting things, batting, said Danny's mother, Sonya Margarita
Rojas Breton. Mocha, where Danny was born, is a relatively
small town in the Dominican Republic, with only about one
(12:10):
hundred seventy thousand residents. Its economy is based on growing
and harvesting plantains and yucca. Opportunity there is extremely limited.
Sonya says that Danny's love of baseball came from his
thirty six year old father, who started a youth league
in Mocha in nineteen ninety two that still bears his name,
Liga Filipe de Jezus Almonte. Felipe wanted something aspirational and
(12:34):
productive for the kids of Mocha, and especially for his
kids to do. That's because Felipe saw the big picture.
He wanted a better life for himself, and he wasn't
afraid to take advantage of other people, including his own
son and a bunch of other kids, who trained incredibly
hard to realize his American dream. Tired of the lack
of opportunity in the Dominican Republican, burned out on family
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life there, Felipe Almonte divorced Danny, his mother, Sonya, and
immigrated on his own to the United States in nineteen
ninety four. The tenuous relationship to Danny had with his father,
forged mostly on dusty baseball diamonds in Mocha, was all
but put on hold for six years as Danny and
his mother remained behind in the Dominican Republic. But Felipe
(13:20):
knew that the son he'd left behind had talent, and
he definitely knew that his family had to do something
daring if they wanted to escape their debilitating, hand to
mouth existence. So when an opportunity came up for Danny
to travel with his youth baseball team from the Dominican
Republic to a game in New York, Felipe convinced Danny's mother, Sonya,
to let her son stay behind in the Bronx to
(13:42):
live with him and his childhood best friend, baseball coach
Rolando Paulino. Put yourself in Danny's cleats. Your parents have separated,
Your dad moved thousands of miles away from you to
build a new life in a first world country, while
you were left in a small town on a small island,
in hoverished and with little opportunity. How would you feel?
(14:04):
Danny was just a kid. Everything he knew was in
the Dominican Republic, his mom's cooking and care, his friends,
his baseball teammates. Trading in tropical Caribbean weather for freezing
New York winters was almost certainly a shock, and while
life in the Dominican Republic was extremely hard. Moving to
(14:25):
the mean streets of the Bronx and into a fourteenth
floor tenement apartment without his mother couldn't have been easy.
Whatever his exact age, Danny was a kid grappling with
a lot, but he still knew that leaving everything he'd
ever known behind was his and his family's best shot
at a brighter future. The Bronx is known for the Yankees,
(14:50):
hip hop and gritty gangster crime. The South Bronx, where
Danny suddenly found himself living, is one of the most
dangerous areas in the borough, and the year two thousand,
when Dan and he immigrated, was a particularly scary time.
There was a fifty percent rise in violent crime that year,
including innocent bystander Caprice Jones being shot from a crack
(15:10):
deal gone wrong and hitman Joe Fernandez taking forty thousand
dollars to commit double homicide. There are just two of
many examples. Crime was gruesome and frequent in the South Bronx.
In spite of, or maybe because of, this community's roughness,
a lot of baseball dreams have started in the Bronx tenements,
(15:30):
and happily, many of these dreams have come true for
athletes like Alex Rodriguaez, Derek Jeter, Mickey Mantle, and Babe Ruth.
Even among the Bronx's great baseball legends, Danny's young talent
shone very brightly, very quickly, and Felipe's best friend, Ronaldo Paulino,
took notice. Living alongside Danny and watching his baseball skills progress,
(15:53):
he brought Danny on to the team. He coached the
Rowando Poulino All Stars as a pitcher and wasted no
time toughening up his new wished recruit. Living with Paulino
was hell. Danny told us eight today, he never let
me do nothing like go outside. It was baseball twenty
four to seven. Danny found himself isolated in the United States.
Other than his father, his new coach, Rolando Paulino, and
(16:16):
his teammates, Danny had no one to talk to. Literally,
Danny didn't speak English and his education wasn't a priority
for his dad, Felipe. So Felipe bucked New York law,
which required all kids to go to school, and didn't
register Danny. In fact, Felipe went one step further and
lied about Danny's education on sports competition forms, claiming that
(16:39):
he sent his son to public school seventy in the Bronx,
so Danny didn't spend a single day in school between
moving to the US and the two thousand and one
Little League World Series, racking up more than a year
of truancy and very little English. When asked about denying
his child in education after the Little League scandal broke
in late two thousand and one, Felipe Can continued to
(17:00):
defend his decision. He has been eating, Felipe spat and
playing baseball. And while stripping your child of educational opportunities
is for most parents unconscionable, no one can deny that
Danny was an exceptional baseball talent. As the Little League
season unfolded, coach Paulina molded a team around Danny's formidable arm.
(17:22):
The camaraderie among the players, a mix of diverse backgrounds,
echoed the spirit of the Burrow itself, a melting pot
of dreams and aspirations. Danny, though he couldn't speak English,
certainly spoke baseball. Baseball, like so many sports, is a
universal language for players and fans. When Danny separated from
his mother, pushed by his father and relentlessly trained by
(17:45):
his coach for Orlando, Paulino stepped up to the pitcher's
mound in August two thousand and one in Williamsport, Pennsylvania
for the Little League World Series. It didn't matter what
language he spoke, everyone watching heard him loud and clear.
Was a winner for a kid bearing the weight of
generational poverty, discrimination, and assimilation challenges in a foreign country.
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Danny's poise under the spotlight was remarkable. He carried on
to the pitcher's mouth not just his own dreams, but
the hopes of the Bronx and his Dominican friends and family.
Sports history is full of stories about athletes, especially young
athletes with promising futures, who failed to come through in
the clutch moment. Just think about American gymnast Jade Carey,
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who fell off the balance beam in the Olympic All
Around Final, or Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who fumbled
the ball to twenty twenty three Super Bowl, giving the
Kansas City Chiefs an opportunity to tie up and then
win the game. It would have been understandable if Danny
had gone the same way and faltered in his big
moment winding up to pitch for the Rolando Paulina All
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Stars at the two thousand and one Little League World Series.
But that's not what happened. Danny's team was in the
first game of round raw play against a team from Apopka, Florida,
when he achieved something unheard of in the history of
the Little League World Series. Danny Almonte, the overworked, underprivileged
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kid from the Dominican Republic, through the tournament's first perfect game,
leaving fans and pundits alike in awe of his extraordinary talent.
This perfect game was an historic moment, marking the first
perfect game in forty four years for the Little League
World Series. To really understand the magnitude of Danny's accomplishment,
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let's crush some ice together, take a big sip of
brain juice, and break it down. What exactly is a
perfect game? Well, Danny struck out sixteen in a round
robin perfect game against the Popka Florida. His pitching was untouchable.
From the Apopka team, only two batters, Ryan Markel and
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Andrew Cobb, managed not to strike out attempting bunts, but
both were thrown out to start the sixth inning. That's
a perfect game. No hits and nobody gets on base.
It's pretty unusual even with the best pitchers in the majors,
but for the Little league. Wow, this was a moment.
Just about every baseball fan heard about. It made sports news, highlights, reels. Heck,
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Danny was suddenly headlined news in the New York Times.
Pitcher throws perfect game for the Bronx Little League World Series.
It's been more than twenty years now, but I still
remember hearing about this incredible kid's performance at Williamsport. Danny's
humility and backstory endeared him not just to the sports community,
(20:57):
but to the world at large. To all of us,
I didn't even know what perfect game means. I just
throw my pitches, Danny said in broken English. His incredible
Little League World Series progressed, with Danny allowing just one
hit and striking out sixteen more in the quarter finals
against Oceanside, California, before whipping fourteen against Cirasau in the
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third place game. After the perfect game, all eyes were
on Danny Almonte and his Rolando Paulino All Stars teammates,
often called the Baby Bombers. As a nod to the
Bronx Bombers aka their beloved New York Yankees. The Bronx,
often synonymous with struggle and violence, emerged as a source
of inspiration. Each pitch, each swing, and each play by
(21:41):
the Baby Bombers was a testament to the resilience of
the players. As the scrappy team from the Bronx advanced,
their story became our story, a quintessentially American story about
hard work, team work, winning, and the purity of youth
sports itself. Amidst this fervor, major league players took notice
(22:04):
of the young pitching prodigy Danny Almonte. Too Arizona Diamondbacks
pitcher Randy Johnson, known as the Big Unit, learned that
teammates had nicknamed Danny the Little Unit. In a gesture
of encouragement, Johnson sent an autograph, ball and a note
to the aspiring pitcher. What a moment that must have
been for young Danny. He'd come a long way from
(22:26):
the impoverished Dominican republic to being recognized by his idol
and featured on every major news outlet in America. As
The Guardian reported, in a matter of days, Almonte rose
from obscurity to stardom. The Rolando Paulino All Stars, or
the Bronx Bombers, as they are known locally, were the
first team of their kind from the tenement slums of
(22:47):
the South. Bronx detect the usually squeaky clean and white
Little League by storm Almonte pitched a so called perfect
game and had schoolgirls from the lush Green Valley around Williamsport, Pennsylvania,
with a series as been played since nineteen thirty nine,
hanging around his compound blowing kisses. For just a moment,
Danny was on top of the world. It was so
(23:08):
much fun and happiness, Danny remembered years later. So what happened, well,
Danny's remarkable pitches had been so remarkable that two of
the other Little League teams started poking around. Beyond the
fact that Danny looked pretty big at five foot eight inches,
the physical ability he had exhibited seemed improbable for a
twelve year old. I think he's the hardest Little leaguer
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I've seen throw, said Oral Hirsheiser, a cy young winner
who was a broadcaster for the Little League World Series
for ABC Sports. In ESPN, pitching is location first and foremost,
then movement in velocity, and he's got all three. Hirsheiser
was right. Danny did have all three, and that was
a lot for a twelve year old to have. Realistically,
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the thing is pitching is really really hard. I mean,
have you ever studied the way a pitcher throws the ball.
It's like poetry in motion. Well, if poetry stood on
an elevated mound of dirt and throw a ball in
a way that bends its arm at unnatural angles and
sense of five ounce hard ball sizzling sixty feet away
straight at a batter, then it's like poetry, amazing and
(24:15):
extremely cool. The average adult Major leaguer lobs at hardball
at speeds approaching ninety three miles per hour. So how
did Danny stack up and why were some eyebrows raised? Well,
Danny's pitch is approached seventy six miles per hour. If
you translate the pitching distance to the home plate in
Little League, in that seventy five miles per hour speed,
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it was as if Danny was throwing the equivalent of
a one hundred three mile per hour fastball in the majors.
No twelve year old physically can throw seventy five miles
an hour in Opposing Little League coach Bob Letesa said
in an interview with the New York Daily News, we
had former Big leaguer Jason Marquee in our little league
when he was twelve years old, and his tops be
(25:00):
he was sixty five miles per hour, maybe sixty seven.
So what Danny Elmonte was doing was physically impossible. But
nobody wanted to hear that. Everybody wanted the superhero. The
city fell in love with the whole thing, and that's
why they let it go. But not everyone did let
it go. And this is where this scandal starts to
get juicy, but I guarantee you won't like the taste.
(25:29):
Two teams that lost along the way at the two
thousand and one Little League World Series raised questions about Danny.
At first, the Little League and Dominican officials insisted that
they were certain Dannielmonte was born in nineteen eighty nine,
which would have kept him eligible, but the losing teams
would not back down. Even as the Little League World
Series came to a close, with Mayor Rudy Giuliani and
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New York City Sports Commissioner Kenneth J. Potzeba congratulating the
Baby Bombers, stating above all else, the team conducted themselves
as a good sportsman, which for athletes is about the
highest praise that they could ever receive. And our beloved
Baby Bombers ignited our city with tremendous enthusiasm and excitement
during the Little League World Series. They played with passion
(26:12):
and dignity and showed us the true meeting of sportsmanship.
Even as those words were being spoken, the storm cloud
of scandal was looming large. If they'd known the torrential
deluge would fall just three days after their public congratulatory speeches,
Giuliani and Podzeba would have been harder to find for
(26:32):
comment than toilet paper in a pandemic. The losing teams
had created a fuss, and you know who loves a
good fuss. Reporters Sports Illustrated sent a reporter to Danny
Almonte's hometown of Mocha and found a document showing that
Danny's father, Felipe, had entered his year birth as April seventh,
nineteen eighty seven. Once this was uncovered, the Dominican officials
(26:57):
had to investigate further and ultimately agreed that Sports Illustrated
had discovered the truth Danny Almonte was fourteen years old,
not twelve. Retribution came swiftly. The Rolando Paulino All Stars
aka the Baby Bombers, were stripped of their Little League
World Series victories and their records were purged from tournament books.
(27:20):
Felipe Almonte was charged by Dominican prosecutors with falsifying his
son's birth certificate. Almonte's coach, Rolando Paulino, received a lifetime
ban from Little League International. None of this is the
bad taste I'm talking about in this juicy scandal. However,
the adults undeniably deserved what they had coming next, and
(27:41):
will dive into that in next week's episode of Playing Dirty. No,
what doesn't sit well on my palette is the fact
that Danny Almonte got caught up in a scandal that
was not of his own making. In fact, because Danny
hardly understood or spoke any English, he wasn't even aware
that there had been a scandal until over a year
after everything went down. In two thousand and two, ESPN
(28:05):
reporter Dan LeBatard wrote, when the reporters trailed Danny to
school in early September, asking in English, why did you cheat?
And are you embarrassed? It sounded like good noise to him,
not unlike applause and when the talking heads called him
a liar and bully and cheat, as Bill Maher did
on politically and correct. All the accompanying footage revealed to
Danny was that his strikeout throw on TV again. Danny's father, Felipe,
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also continued to keep the truth at arm's length. He
still doesn't know there is anything bad about this, Felipe
told Lebratard sixteen months after Danny's tainted Little League World
Series win. Danny has no wounds, no scars, no nothing,
Felipe said. When the controversy comes on Spanish TV, someone
changes the channeler turns it off. If Danny knew how
(28:51):
bad the press was, he'd be wrecked. He'd need a
team of psychologists, but he never felt any suffering. A
family friend, seated on the couch beside Felipe, murmurs, none
of the crap ever touched Danny. God doesn't let the
crap touch the children. If only that were true. The
full force of what happened at and after the two
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thousand and one Little League World Series would not just
touch Danny Almonte, but shape the rest of his life.
He was personally cleared of all wrongdoing and widely viewed
as a victim of his father's and coaches underhanded scheming.
But it was his name, Danny Almonte that was now
on the lips of the sports world regularly whenever cheating
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was the topic of conversation. Howard being ensnared in the
two thousand and one Little League World Series scandal mar
his career prospects, his life prospects. One thing was for sure.
While the world recoiled at the unethical behavior exhibited by
Felipe Almonte and Rolando Paulino, there were still plenty of
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people who did support the young baseball prodigy who had
risen from destitution and in the Dominican Republic to take
sports fans breath away. President George Bush even stood up
to defend Dannie al Monte. I'm sorely disappointed that adults
would fudge the boy's age, but I'm not disappointed by
his fastball and slider at the President with a smile.
(30:17):
The guy is awesome. He's a great pitcher. Even the
venerable New York Times couldn't help but stand up for
Danniye al Monte in the face of what he'd unwittingly
been a part of how hard he'd worked, regardless how
much he'd overcome in his young life, and how much
he had achieved. Their paper declared Almonte is viewed as
a hero and when he was born is mere nitpicking
(30:39):
about statistics. Ah, but there is a fine line between
nitpicking and cheating. Someone's advantage is someone else's disadvantage. In sports,
after all, something dirty happened at the two thousand and
one Little League World Championships, but the kid at the
center of the scandal, Danny Almonte, is clean. Some stories
(30:59):
are hard to say. What happened to Felipe Almonte, who
used his own son to achieve recognition? N Rolando Paulino,
who housed the Almontes and certainly knew about the cheating.
Most importantly, did Danny Almante find his way through this
scandal and realize his dreams? Join me in swelling up
this scandal's conclusion and next week's episode of Playing Dirty
(31:23):
Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports Scandals is a production of
Dan Patrick Productions. Never Ever Productions and Workhouse Media from
executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson, Nick Panella, Maya Glickman,
(31:46):
and Jennifer Clary. Hosted by Jay Harris, Written and produced
by Jen Brown, Francie Haiks, Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Claire
Hello, and welcome back to Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. I'm
your host, Jay Harris. I've had over twenty years of
experience as a journalist and sportscaster, hosting a variety of
ESPN shows from Sports Center to Outside the Lines. On
this show, though, I am all about the juice. H
(00:42):
so good, guys, consider me your juice barista, stirring up
the sports that are supposed to be all about fun,
talent and clean competition to reveal their oftentimes dirty underbelly.
What can I say? It seems that for every true
sports hero tale, there's an another one about a player
straying way off base. It's human nature. I guess Jacko
(01:05):
and hide Yin and Yang and so on and so
forth in this crazy game of life. Today, I'm playing dirty.
I've got a serious curveball on tap for you, So
grab your drink of choice, whether it's a smoothie, a
classic juice with yours truly, or heck it's five o'clock somewhere,
maybe even something a bit stronger. And let's quench our
(01:26):
thirst for scandal with a cheat that shook the very
core of Little league baseball. Oh yeah, you heard me right,
Just because the players a little doesn't mean there isn't
some big scandal. Let's tee this tail off with the
Biggest little Player, Danny Almante. Danny was an unreal talent
(01:46):
in the world of Little League baseball. In fact, he
pitched the first ever perfect game at the Little League
World Series. So what was the problem? Well, the reason
I called him the biggest little player is because he
actually wasn't as little as he was supposed to be.
Despite being registered as twelve years old, Danny was fourteen.
(02:06):
Little League Baseball rules require players to be no older
than twelve. Who in the world was behind this attempt
to sub a fourteen year old kid into a game
where everyone else was twelve? Who would want to cheat
other kids for goodness sake? Or maybe the better question
is who would be motivated to settle in and drink up?
(02:28):
Because this scandal goes right to the core of America's pastime.
When most people think about baseball, little leaguer otherwise, there's
an immediate association with the United States of America. President
Theodore Roosevelt deemed it the national game all the way
(02:51):
back in the early nineteen hundreds, and ever since it's
been seen as a representation of the American dream, where
hard work, determination and perseverance can lead to success. But
in another country, just a little over two thousand miles
away from the US, baseball isn't just a national pastime.
It's a way of life. I'm talking about the Dominican Republic.
(03:18):
In the dusty streets and makeshift ball parts of the
Dominican Republic, dreams are foraged from the cracks in the concrete.
In the barrios and neighborhoods, baseball diamonds emerge amidst the
vibrant chaos of daily life. Kids armed with homemade bats
and worn out gloves play the game with a passion
that transcends the boundaries of poverty. The crack of the
(03:41):
bat is the sound most associated with childhood and with
hope in the Dominican Republic. Some of you have probably
been to the Dominican Republic's gorgeous resorts on the white
sand beaches by the Caribbean Sea. Maybe you've read about
the late designer Oscar Della Rena's mansion there being nothing
short of spectacular, or Michael Jordan celebrating his bachelor party
(04:04):
at Villa Vogue, or the constant stream of celebrities from
the Cardassians to Beyonce, staying at the all inclusive Dominican
resort Casa de Campo, where every villa comes with a
personal maid, butler, and garden crew. No one can deny
the natural beauty of the Dominican Republic, and it's obvious
allure for tourists, But for the people born and raised
(04:25):
in the Dominican Republic, there is no vacation. Like many
Caribbean paradise destinations, poverty is the harsh reality for natives,
making this small island just about the same size as
South Carolina, a place starkly divided between the haves and
have nots. According to the CIA World Factbook, thirty point
(04:50):
five percent of Dominicans fall below the poverty line. For many,
baseball is the only ticket out of the cycle of
poverty that leads many children there to be malnourished, a
situation so dire that most American kids who play organized
sports can't even imagine. Desperation is so severe that veteran
scouts tell of older brothers using the identities of little
(05:13):
brothers or even of dead people to get ahead. Youth
holds allure for pro scouts, so Dominican parents are under
real pressure to get creative, to ensure there is a
path to a better life for their kids and for
themselves through baseball identity. Theft isn't so difficult to pull
off because UNISEF, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund,
(05:37):
estimates that nearly twenty five percent of Dominican children over
five lack proper birth certificates. In the words of Alan Klein,
an anthropology professor at Northeastern University in Boston, people used
to refer to the Dominican Republic baseball scene as a
cesspool of people who were doing corrupt, bad things, breaking laws.
(05:58):
They ignored the fact that there's a reason players are
claiming to be younger than they are, and the reason
is created and fostered by Major League Baseball. If MLB
is willing to pay much greater signing bonuses for a
seventeen year old than they are for an eighteen year
old one year older, then any Dominican will be foolish
not to try to be younger. Makes sense, right, So
(06:20):
kids with baseball aspirations in the Dominican Republic actually do
have a real incentive to falsify their ages as early
in their training as possible. I would never condone cheating,
but I can certainly understand their motivation for playing dirty.
I empathize with these young aspiring athletes. They know that
their families are counting on them, and they know that
(06:40):
their family members aren't the only ones expecting them to
deliver a signing bonus. Independent scouts called busconis find and
train young players in the Dominican Republic as a matter
of course, taking part of the player's signing bonus as pay.
There's a great range of behaviors among busconis, said doctor
Rob ruck, a sports history professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
(07:04):
Some bosconas are housing, feeding, and giving medical care to
the kids. Others basically have a facility and the kid
lives at home, so there's various levels of investment. Players
who don't sign with the team as soon as they
are able to are dropped by these busconas, and with
an estimated two percent success rate, many young men are
left without a job or education in the Dominican Republic
(07:26):
since they usually drop out of school to pursue baseball
full time. Most of these kids are not going to
be past eighth grade or ninth grade when they're working
with the buscone, and a lot of them are not
going to continue going to school at that point. Doctor
Ruck said. Their goal is getting a signing bonus, which
is going to be more money than the families ever
seen at one point in its entire history. It's not
(07:49):
just a kid whose futures on the line, it's the
family's future. So much pressure is on the shoulders of
these young kids. For the majority of aspiring players in
the Dominican Republic who don't successfully secure their future through
baseball well with no education means or specialized skills, their
prospects are poor. Most men and women, for that matter,
(08:13):
face a lifetime of scraping together the equivalent of around
three hundred and fifty dollars a month just to survive
in the Dominican Republic with the most basic of necessities.
So while baseball is called America's pastime, it is serious
business in the Dominican Republic, where for many it's the
only possible way out of crushing poverty. The boys there
(08:35):
dream of making it to the major leagues, and the
first stop to the majors is you guessed it, the
Little League World Series. The Little League World Series is
an annual baseball tournament for children aged ten to twelve
years old that has been held every August in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania,
since the first one took place in nineteen forty seven.
(08:56):
The competition consists of twenty teams, ten from the United
States and ten from other countries. The US and international
teams play in separate brackets in a double elimination format.
The winner of each bracket play each other for the
championship title. More than just a tradition, the Little League
World Series is often a precursor for the young participants
(09:18):
to a professional and lucrative career as an adult athlete.
All stars like Cody Bellinger, Michael Conforto, lance Lynn, Todd Fraser,
and many more all made their debuts at the Little
League World Series. Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where Little League World Series
is held, is the mecca for a ten to twelve
year old. That's what Todd Fraser, who played in Major
(09:40):
League Baseball for the Cincinnati Red Chicago White Sox, New
York Yankees, Texas Rangers, New York Mets, and Pittsburgh Pirates, remembers,
It's the coolest place ever. Nothing was cooler than playing
against kids that couldn't speak English. The differences in culture
is what makes it so great. The friendships you make
there last a lifetime. Todd Fraser's experience is shared by
(10:03):
most of the Americans who participate in the Little League
World Series. They get to meet new, interesting kids, compete
in the spotlight, and then return to the relative security
of their lives in a first World country, a country
where citizenship and all of its associated benefits are their birthright.
But for Dominican kids, the stakes are often much higher.
(10:24):
If they've already managed to immigrate from the Dominican Republic
to America, then they are outsiders with challenges that US
citizens don't bear. According to Migration Policy dot org, Dominican
immigrants are more likely than the overall foreign born population
in the United States to live in poverty and be
(10:44):
limited English proficient, and are less likely to have a
college degree and to be uninsured. It's to be expected
that dire finances, language barriers, limited education, sub paramedical access,
and oftentimes split families make for a tumultuous childhood. So
while the kid who makes it to the Little League
(11:05):
World Series would almost certainly share Todd Frasier's enthusiasm for
the overall experience, chances are that their pressure to succeed
is exponentially greater. With extreme cultural and economic disparity as
a background, The two thousand and one Little League World
Series instantly knocked it out of the park with pitching sensation.
(11:27):
Danny Almonte, the kid I told you, was at the
heart of this whole scandal. Remember. But the thing is
that Danny Almonte is not a heartless fourteen year old
lying about his age to steal glory from a bunch
of twelve year olds. Far from it. Danny was a
malnourished kid from the Dominican Republic who was born into
abject poverty, and the only thing that ever gave him
(11:48):
any relief from his life of hardship was a love
for the game of baseball. When he was a little boy,
he always walked around our town of Moco with a
little stick, hitting things, batting, said Danny's mother, Sonya Margarita
Rojas Breton. Mocha, where Danny was born, is a relatively
small town in the Dominican Republic, with only about one
(12:10):
hundred seventy thousand residents. Its economy is based on growing
and harvesting plantains and yucca. Opportunity there is extremely limited.
Sonya says that Danny's love of baseball came from his
thirty six year old father, who started a youth league
in Mocha in nineteen ninety two that still bears his name,
Liga Filipe de Jezus Almonte. Felipe wanted something aspirational and
(12:34):
productive for the kids of Mocha, and especially for his
kids to do. That's because Felipe saw the big picture.
He wanted a better life for himself, and he wasn't
afraid to take advantage of other people, including his own
son and a bunch of other kids, who trained incredibly
hard to realize his American dream. Tired of the lack
of opportunity in the Dominican Republican, burned out on family
(12:57):
life there, Felipe Almonte divorced Danny, his mother, Sonya, and
immigrated on his own to the United States in nineteen
ninety four. The tenuous relationship to Danny had with his father,
forged mostly on dusty baseball diamonds in Mocha, was all
but put on hold for six years as Danny and
his mother remained behind in the Dominican Republic. But Felipe
(13:20):
knew that the son he'd left behind had talent, and
he definitely knew that his family had to do something
daring if they wanted to escape their debilitating, hand to
mouth existence. So when an opportunity came up for Danny
to travel with his youth baseball team from the Dominican
Republic to a game in New York, Felipe convinced Danny's mother, Sonya,
to let her son stay behind in the Bronx to
(13:42):
live with him and his childhood best friend, baseball coach
Rolando Paulino. Put yourself in Danny's cleats. Your parents have separated,
Your dad moved thousands of miles away from you to
build a new life in a first world country, while
you were left in a small town on a small island,
in hoverished and with little opportunity. How would you feel?
(14:04):
Danny was just a kid. Everything he knew was in
the Dominican Republic, his mom's cooking and care, his friends,
his baseball teammates. Trading in tropical Caribbean weather for freezing
New York winters was almost certainly a shock, and while
life in the Dominican Republic was extremely hard. Moving to
(14:25):
the mean streets of the Bronx and into a fourteenth
floor tenement apartment without his mother couldn't have been easy.
Whatever his exact age, Danny was a kid grappling with
a lot, but he still knew that leaving everything he'd
ever known behind was his and his family's best shot
at a brighter future. The Bronx is known for the Yankees,
(14:50):
hip hop and gritty gangster crime. The South Bronx, where
Danny suddenly found himself living, is one of the most
dangerous areas in the borough, and the year two thousand,
when Dan and he immigrated, was a particularly scary time.
There was a fifty percent rise in violent crime that year,
including innocent bystander Caprice Jones being shot from a crack
(15:10):
deal gone wrong and hitman Joe Fernandez taking forty thousand
dollars to commit double homicide. There are just two of
many examples. Crime was gruesome and frequent in the South Bronx.
In spite of, or maybe because of, this community's roughness,
a lot of baseball dreams have started in the Bronx tenements,
(15:30):
and happily, many of these dreams have come true for
athletes like Alex Rodriguaez, Derek Jeter, Mickey Mantle, and Babe Ruth.
Even among the Bronx's great baseball legends, Danny's young talent
shone very brightly, very quickly, and Felipe's best friend, Ronaldo Paulino,
took notice. Living alongside Danny and watching his baseball skills progress,
(15:53):
he brought Danny on to the team. He coached the
Rowando Poulino All Stars as a pitcher and wasted no
time toughening up his new wished recruit. Living with Paulino
was hell. Danny told us eight today, he never let
me do nothing like go outside. It was baseball twenty
four to seven. Danny found himself isolated in the United States.
Other than his father, his new coach, Rolando Paulino, and
(16:16):
his teammates, Danny had no one to talk to. Literally,
Danny didn't speak English and his education wasn't a priority
for his dad, Felipe. So Felipe bucked New York law,
which required all kids to go to school, and didn't
register Danny. In fact, Felipe went one step further and
lied about Danny's education on sports competition forms, claiming that
(16:39):
he sent his son to public school seventy in the Bronx,
so Danny didn't spend a single day in school between
moving to the US and the two thousand and one
Little League World Series, racking up more than a year
of truancy and very little English. When asked about denying
his child in education after the Little League scandal broke
in late two thousand and one, Felipe Can continued to
(17:00):
defend his decision. He has been eating, Felipe spat and
playing baseball. And while stripping your child of educational opportunities
is for most parents unconscionable, no one can deny that
Danny was an exceptional baseball talent. As the Little League
season unfolded, coach Paulina molded a team around Danny's formidable arm.
(17:22):
The camaraderie among the players, a mix of diverse backgrounds,
echoed the spirit of the Burrow itself, a melting pot
of dreams and aspirations. Danny, though he couldn't speak English,
certainly spoke baseball. Baseball, like so many sports, is a
universal language for players and fans. When Danny separated from
his mother, pushed by his father and relentlessly trained by
(17:45):
his coach for Orlando, Paulino stepped up to the pitcher's
mound in August two thousand and one in Williamsport, Pennsylvania
for the Little League World Series. It didn't matter what
language he spoke, everyone watching heard him loud and clear.
Was a winner for a kid bearing the weight of
generational poverty, discrimination, and assimilation challenges in a foreign country.
(18:08):
Danny's poise under the spotlight was remarkable. He carried on
to the pitcher's mouth not just his own dreams, but
the hopes of the Bronx and his Dominican friends and family.
Sports history is full of stories about athletes, especially young
athletes with promising futures, who failed to come through in
the clutch moment. Just think about American gymnast Jade Carey,
(18:30):
who fell off the balance beam in the Olympic All
Around Final, or Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who fumbled
the ball to twenty twenty three Super Bowl, giving the
Kansas City Chiefs an opportunity to tie up and then
win the game. It would have been understandable if Danny
had gone the same way and faltered in his big
moment winding up to pitch for the Rolando Paulina All
(18:51):
Stars at the two thousand and one Little League World Series.
But that's not what happened. Danny's team was in the
first game of round raw play against a team from Apopka, Florida,
when he achieved something unheard of in the history of
the Little League World Series. Danny Almonte, the overworked, underprivileged
(19:12):
kid from the Dominican Republic, through the tournament's first perfect game,
leaving fans and pundits alike in awe of his extraordinary talent.
This perfect game was an historic moment, marking the first
perfect game in forty four years for the Little League
World Series. To really understand the magnitude of Danny's accomplishment,
(19:51):
let's crush some ice together, take a big sip of
brain juice, and break it down. What exactly is a
perfect game? Well, Danny struck out sixteen in a round
robin perfect game against the Popka Florida. His pitching was untouchable.
From the Apopka team, only two batters, Ryan Markel and
(20:12):
Andrew Cobb, managed not to strike out attempting bunts, but
both were thrown out to start the sixth inning. That's
a perfect game. No hits and nobody gets on base.
It's pretty unusual even with the best pitchers in the majors,
but for the Little league. Wow, this was a moment.
Just about every baseball fan heard about. It made sports news, highlights, reels. Heck,
(20:36):
Danny was suddenly headlined news in the New York Times.
Pitcher throws perfect game for the Bronx Little League World Series.
It's been more than twenty years now, but I still
remember hearing about this incredible kid's performance at Williamsport. Danny's
humility and backstory endeared him not just to the sports community,
(20:57):
but to the world at large. To all of us,
I didn't even know what perfect game means. I just
throw my pitches, Danny said in broken English. His incredible
Little League World Series progressed, with Danny allowing just one
hit and striking out sixteen more in the quarter finals
against Oceanside, California, before whipping fourteen against Cirasau in the
(21:18):
third place game. After the perfect game, all eyes were
on Danny Almonte and his Rolando Paulino All Stars teammates,
often called the Baby Bombers. As a nod to the
Bronx Bombers aka their beloved New York Yankees. The Bronx,
often synonymous with struggle and violence, emerged as a source
of inspiration. Each pitch, each swing, and each play by
(21:41):
the Baby Bombers was a testament to the resilience of
the players. As the scrappy team from the Bronx advanced,
their story became our story, a quintessentially American story about
hard work, team work, winning, and the purity of youth
sports itself. Amidst this fervor, major league players took notice
(22:04):
of the young pitching prodigy Danny Almonte. Too Arizona Diamondbacks
pitcher Randy Johnson, known as the Big Unit, learned that
teammates had nicknamed Danny the Little Unit. In a gesture
of encouragement, Johnson sent an autograph, ball and a note
to the aspiring pitcher. What a moment that must have
been for young Danny. He'd come a long way from
(22:26):
the impoverished Dominican republic to being recognized by his idol
and featured on every major news outlet in America. As
The Guardian reported, in a matter of days, Almonte rose
from obscurity to stardom. The Rolando Paulino All Stars, or
the Bronx Bombers, as they are known locally, were the
first team of their kind from the tenement slums of
(22:47):
the South. Bronx detect the usually squeaky clean and white
Little League by storm Almonte pitched a so called perfect
game and had schoolgirls from the lush Green Valley around Williamsport, Pennsylvania,
with a series as been played since nineteen thirty nine,
hanging around his compound blowing kisses. For just a moment,
Danny was on top of the world. It was so
(23:08):
much fun and happiness, Danny remembered years later. So what happened, well,
Danny's remarkable pitches had been so remarkable that two of
the other Little League teams started poking around. Beyond the
fact that Danny looked pretty big at five foot eight inches,
the physical ability he had exhibited seemed improbable for a
twelve year old. I think he's the hardest Little leaguer
(23:32):
I've seen throw, said Oral Hirsheiser, a cy young winner
who was a broadcaster for the Little League World Series
for ABC Sports. In ESPN, pitching is location first and foremost,
then movement in velocity, and he's got all three. Hirsheiser
was right. Danny did have all three, and that was
a lot for a twelve year old to have. Realistically,
(23:52):
the thing is pitching is really really hard. I mean,
have you ever studied the way a pitcher throws the ball.
It's like poetry in motion. Well, if poetry stood on
an elevated mound of dirt and throw a ball in
a way that bends its arm at unnatural angles and
sense of five ounce hard ball sizzling sixty feet away
straight at a batter, then it's like poetry, amazing and
(24:15):
extremely cool. The average adult Major leaguer lobs at hardball
at speeds approaching ninety three miles per hour. So how
did Danny stack up and why were some eyebrows raised? Well,
Danny's pitch is approached seventy six miles per hour. If
you translate the pitching distance to the home plate in
Little League, in that seventy five miles per hour speed,
(24:38):
it was as if Danny was throwing the equivalent of
a one hundred three mile per hour fastball in the majors.
No twelve year old physically can throw seventy five miles
an hour in Opposing Little League coach Bob Letesa said
in an interview with the New York Daily News, we
had former Big leaguer Jason Marquee in our little league
when he was twelve years old, and his tops be
(25:00):
he was sixty five miles per hour, maybe sixty seven.
So what Danny Elmonte was doing was physically impossible. But
nobody wanted to hear that. Everybody wanted the superhero. The
city fell in love with the whole thing, and that's
why they let it go. But not everyone did let
it go. And this is where this scandal starts to
get juicy, but I guarantee you won't like the taste.
(25:29):
Two teams that lost along the way at the two
thousand and one Little League World Series raised questions about Danny.
At first, the Little League and Dominican officials insisted that
they were certain Dannielmonte was born in nineteen eighty nine,
which would have kept him eligible, but the losing teams
would not back down. Even as the Little League World
Series came to a close, with Mayor Rudy Giuliani and
(25:51):
New York City Sports Commissioner Kenneth J. Potzeba congratulating the
Baby Bombers, stating above all else, the team conducted themselves
as a good sportsman, which for athletes is about the
highest praise that they could ever receive. And our beloved
Baby Bombers ignited our city with tremendous enthusiasm and excitement
during the Little League World Series. They played with passion
(26:12):
and dignity and showed us the true meeting of sportsmanship.
Even as those words were being spoken, the storm cloud
of scandal was looming large. If they'd known the torrential
deluge would fall just three days after their public congratulatory speeches,
Giuliani and Podzeba would have been harder to find for
(26:32):
comment than toilet paper in a pandemic. The losing teams
had created a fuss, and you know who loves a
good fuss. Reporters Sports Illustrated sent a reporter to Danny
Almonte's hometown of Mocha and found a document showing that
Danny's father, Felipe, had entered his year birth as April seventh,
nineteen eighty seven. Once this was uncovered, the Dominican officials
(26:57):
had to investigate further and ultimately agreed that Sports Illustrated
had discovered the truth Danny Almonte was fourteen years old,
not twelve. Retribution came swiftly. The Rolando Paulino All Stars
aka the Baby Bombers, were stripped of their Little League
World Series victories and their records were purged from tournament books.
(27:20):
Felipe Almonte was charged by Dominican prosecutors with falsifying his
son's birth certificate. Almonte's coach, Rolando Paulino, received a lifetime
ban from Little League International. None of this is the
bad taste I'm talking about in this juicy scandal. However,
the adults undeniably deserved what they had coming next, and
(27:41):
will dive into that in next week's episode of Playing Dirty. No,
what doesn't sit well on my palette is the fact
that Danny Almonte got caught up in a scandal that
was not of his own making. In fact, because Danny
hardly understood or spoke any English, he wasn't even aware
that there had been a scandal until over a year
after everything went down. In two thousand and two, ESPN
(28:05):
reporter Dan LeBatard wrote, when the reporters trailed Danny to
school in early September, asking in English, why did you cheat?
And are you embarrassed? It sounded like good noise to him,
not unlike applause and when the talking heads called him
a liar and bully and cheat, as Bill Maher did
on politically and correct. All the accompanying footage revealed to
Danny was that his strikeout throw on TV again. Danny's father, Felipe,
(28:29):
also continued to keep the truth at arm's length. He
still doesn't know there is anything bad about this, Felipe
told Lebratard sixteen months after Danny's tainted Little League World
Series win. Danny has no wounds, no scars, no nothing,
Felipe said. When the controversy comes on Spanish TV, someone
changes the channeler turns it off. If Danny knew how
(28:51):
bad the press was, he'd be wrecked. He'd need a
team of psychologists, but he never felt any suffering. A
family friend, seated on the couch beside Felipe, murmurs, none
of the crap ever touched Danny. God doesn't let the
crap touch the children. If only that were true. The
full force of what happened at and after the two
(29:14):
thousand and one Little League World Series would not just
touch Danny Almonte, but shape the rest of his life.
He was personally cleared of all wrongdoing and widely viewed
as a victim of his father's and coaches underhanded scheming.
But it was his name, Danny Almonte that was now
on the lips of the sports world regularly whenever cheating
(29:34):
was the topic of conversation. Howard being ensnared in the
two thousand and one Little League World Series scandal mar
his career prospects, his life prospects. One thing was for sure.
While the world recoiled at the unethical behavior exhibited by
Felipe Almonte and Rolando Paulino, there were still plenty of
(29:55):
people who did support the young baseball prodigy who had
risen from destitution and in the Dominican Republic to take
sports fans breath away. President George Bush even stood up
to defend Dannie al Monte. I'm sorely disappointed that adults
would fudge the boy's age, but I'm not disappointed by
his fastball and slider at the President with a smile.
(30:17):
The guy is awesome. He's a great pitcher. Even the
venerable New York Times couldn't help but stand up for
Danniye al Monte in the face of what he'd unwittingly
been a part of how hard he'd worked, regardless how
much he'd overcome in his young life, and how much
he had achieved. Their paper declared Almonte is viewed as
a hero and when he was born is mere nitpicking
(30:39):
about statistics. Ah, but there is a fine line between
nitpicking and cheating. Someone's advantage is someone else's disadvantage. In sports,
after all, something dirty happened at the two thousand and
one Little League World Championships, but the kid at the
center of the scandal, Danny Almonte, is clean. Some stories
(30:59):
are hard to say. What happened to Felipe Almonte, who
used his own son to achieve recognition? N Rolando Paulino,
who housed the Almontes and certainly knew about the cheating.
Most importantly, did Danny Almante find his way through this
scandal and realize his dreams? Join me in swelling up
this scandal's conclusion and next week's episode of Playing Dirty
(31:23):
Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports Scandals is a production of
Dan Patrick Productions. Never Ever Productions and Workhouse Media from
executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson, Nick Panella, Maya Glickman,
(31:46):
and Jennifer Clary. Hosted by Jay Harris, Written and produced
by Jen Brown, Francie Haiks, Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Claire
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