Jackie Robinson West Little League founders visited Gary's Glen Park Academy in September
Little League in turmoil
Contributed By:The 411 News
Jackie Robinson's top leaders will have to go
Announcing Wednesday the decision to strip Jackie Robinson West’s U.S. Championship title, Little League officials said all the team’s 2014 victories were vacated and the team’s coach Darold Butler was suspended. The team was placed on probation and won’t be able to compete in the tournament until its top leaders are replaced.
Michael Kelley, the administrator for Illinois Little League District 4, which oversees Jackie Robinson West and several other Chicago leagues, was removed from his job.
A day after getting stripped of their national crown, officials from Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West Little League team appeared Thursday with a newly hired lawyer who pledged to review Little League International’s investigation to make sure it was done fairly.
“I want to make sure that whatever rules and regulations applied to Jackie Robinson West were applied to every other team,” the lawyer, Victor Henderson, said at a news conference.
Henderson said he’s also told the players, and team officials, that they should not give up their claim to the title just yet.
Little League International, which holds the Little League World Series and awarded the title, has already vacated all of the team’s tournament wins and handed the championship to the runner-up, Mountain Ridge Little League of Las Vegas.
Last month, Little League International found evidence that Jackie Robinson West had expanded its boundaries to include territory that belonged to other districts, and falsified a boundary map submitted for the 2014 tournament.
But Henderson complained that the league learned of the disqualification from the media, and has yet to receive a formal written explanation.
“We don’t know enough information yet to know why the league made its decision,” he said as to whether the team would file a lawsuit.
Little League International officials said Thursday they would have no further comment because of Jackie Robinson West’s decision to enlist attorneys.
Story Posted:02/13/2015
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