Little League To Harlem Team: Play Ball!
Little League Will Let Team Compete In World Series
-
-
Photo
Harlem Little League coach Bill McGee walks with Joshua Diaz, center, and Fernando Frias after leaving Howard J. Lamade Stadium shortly after they arrived for the Little League World Series. (AP)
-
Photo
Lance Van Auken, spokesman for Little League Baseball Inc., looks through a rule book while discussing alleged use of illegal players by the Harlem Little League. (AP)
-
-
Interactive
Baseball Strike 2002
Safe! Owners and players have cut a deal, breaking a 30-year streak of labor talks that ended in strikes. See what was at stake this time and what was accomplished in previous walkouts.
-
Photo Essay
Baseball: World Series 2001
The New York Yankees couldn't stretch their world championship streak to four straight and succumbed to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the bottom of the ninth inning in game seven. See the images of the 2001 World Series here.
-
Interactive
Baseball: All-Star Game 2000
It's a new millennium, a new stadium and a new look in Atlanta's Turner Stadium, where 25 Major League Baseball players show their stuff as All-Stars.
Little League officials said that while the leadership of the New York City team did not submit proper documents before the start of the regular season, it has since provided paperwork refuting allegations that the team was ineligible because some players didn't live within the league's boundaries.
"These kids weren't recruited from anywhere. They weren't brought in from another district or league. They're homegrown," said Stephen Keener, Little League's president and chief executive officer.
Last summer's Little League World Series was dogged by scandal when Bronx, N.Y., pitcher Danny Almonte was discovered to be too old to play. Almonte's team was forced to forfeit its third-place finish after officials determined he was 14 instead of 12.
Keener discounted any comparison between Harlem Little League and Almonte's Rolando Paulino team.
"Harlem did not attempt to cheat to get here. Rolando Paulino did," he said.
This year's World Series is set to open Friday, with Harlem playing its first game Saturday. Harlem advanced by winning the Mid-Atlantic Regional.
A protest lodged earlier Thursday by the Lehigh Little League of Bethlehem, Pa., which lost to Harlem team in Tuesday's regional championship, has been denied, the league said.
Morris McWilliams, manager of Harlem Little League, said he had "no feeling of bitterness at all" about the investigation.
"Little League did what they had to do," he said. "We provided them with the documentation, and they made their decision. We're ready to play ball."
Jack Lule of Bethlehem, whose son, John, plays second base on Lehigh Little League, said players would accept the decision, but criticized the league for failing to resolve the issue earlier in the season.
The Little League World Series opens Friday. The Harlem team, which won the Mid-Atlantic Regional, plays its first series game Saturday against a team from Clemmons, N.C.
İMMII, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
