The Almonte Soap Opera

Mark's View: The Almonte Soap Opera

The eyes of the youth baseball world were fixed on a municipal building in Santo Domingo where a government official announced that birth documents proved that Danny Almonte, the star player for the Rolando Paulino Little League Baseball team was ineligible to play for this Little League team from the Bronx, New York. The conclusion that pitcher Danny was 14, rather than the maximum age of 12, was based on the conclusion that documents provided by Danny's father were fraudulent and conflicted with the true birth certificate.

This announcement marks the latest chapter on the ongoing controversy over his eligibility to play in the recent Little League World Series. Due in large part to his stellar pitching, the team managed a third place showing.

Those involved in this scheme should be ashamed of themselves and bear the responsibility for the tarnishing of the players and of the community they represented.

The tragedy of this whole episode rests in the hands of adults -- and because of their actions, Danny is tainted and his team's achievements (including a third place showing) are nullified. Also, Danny is in some legal hot water. Not because of the age issue -- the focus of the media coverage, but due to other transgressions.

While watching the coverage of the series, I was struck by how a young man in this country for about two years could not speak enough English to utter a phrase or answer a simple question. Even if he was a bilingual educational program, I have to assume that some knowledge of English would be absorbed by that time (if I am wrong, that would serve as a major indictment to such programs).

Then, the answer became clear. The New York Daily News reported that Danny was a truant from school to the extent that his local school had no record of him attending. The excuse was that he had trouble learning English and instead spent his days playing baseball and eating. For his father, this is not only morally unconscionable, but illegal as New York law mandates compulsory education for any child up to age 17 (the only exception is home schooling, which Danny evidently did not get). The City's department of child welfare is investigating. Once word of this become public knowledge, Danny and other went into hiding.

Immigration problems popped up as well. Reports circulated that Danny had an expired tourist visa. If this is so, a violation of federal immigration law exists. Such a transgression would affect his ability to work in this country in the future.

Fortunately, Danny and his father were interviewed by a social workers and Danny will start school. It has been reported that some other players on the team also skipped school. Hopefully they will be in the classroom as well.

Little League Baseball does not come clean either. Apparently, they did not investigate the "owner" of the team, Rolando Paulino who apparently used overage players one his teams in the Dominican Republic during the 1980s.

So what do you have here? A child violated the rules by playing Little League baseball, who failed to go to school and who may be in this country illegally.

It's a damn shame.