President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama meet the Jackie Robinson West All Stars. |
Bit of sad news in Chicago. The miracle little league baseball team The Jackie Robinson West All Stars were stripped of their U.S. Little League title. The controversy ensued after it was revealed that some of their players came from other areas of Chicago.
The Jackie Robinson West All Stars went to the World Series and lost to South Korea. But their story was going to be a movie. It seems like it may be on hold.
The coach, the manager and promotional staffers were suspended indefinitely.
Their movie inspired rise came to a crushing end. The team was even recognized by their hometown resident, the president Barack Obama.
Wow, this is heartbreaking.
CBS reports that officials from the Illinois and Nevada teams spoke to CBS News before the league announced its decision.
"Little League has very specific rules in terms of where somebody should live in order to play for a particular little league," Evergreen Park Little League Vice President Chris Janes of Illinois said. "JRW's boundaries are very specific and do not extend into any suburbs."
Nevada's Mountain Ridge made it all the way to the U.S. final, eventually losing to Jackie Robinson West.
"They tricked people, and they blindsided others, and they did those things that were strategic but illegal," Mountain Ridge coach Ashton Cave said.
The legacy is tarnished. |
An inquiry by Little League International last year exonerated the Jackie Robinson squad, but new information reopened the residency wrangle, much to the consternation of the Chicago team's boosters.
"We had to provide birth certificates, proof of schools, light bills, so we had to prove our residency in order to join the team," Jackie Robinson West parent Venisa Green said before Wednesday's decision.
At Wednesday's press conference, Green said she was "blindsided" by the league's decision and that she heard about it on the radio as she was driving her son Brandon to school.
"It is amazing to me that whenever African-Americans exceed the expectations that there is always going to be fault," Green said.
Jackson called on the Las Vegas team to not accept its newly awarded championship, saying the team "did not earn" it