Biography Of Danny Almonte Little League Scandal

Danny Almonte Little league Scandal

Walker

GHS

Danny Almonte age 28 is an assistant baseball coach at Cardinal Hayes High School in New York City. Danny was born in Moca, Dominican Republic. He used to be a phenomenal Little League pitcher but, he became the victim of media attention for the wrong reasons. He led his Bronx team from New York to third-place in the 2001 Little League World Series, Danny was found to have actually been two years too old to play Little League baseball. Although there was much speculation during the 2001 Series, his age was not revealed until weeks later.

Danny moved to the Bronx where he started his Little league career. He was 5 foot 8 and had a 76 miles per hour fastball which

The Little league president and the Dominican officials even backed up the team saying they were all of age. At that time the rules were strict due to a team in 1992 had overage players and they had their titles taken. Sports Illustrated reporters however, went to the record building in Moca and had found a birth ledger showing the actual age of Danny. They reported it on Sports Illustrated website before it was published which in turn caused the Little League to start a huge investigation. Even with the proof of his age, Danny's parents both said he was of age to play and that the documents were false. His mother had a handwritten certificate saying he was born at home with help of a midwife in 1989 making Dannys age 12. His father was also on Good Morning America saying his son was of age. They soon found out Dannys real age when they interviewed all the witnesses who had signed the certificate, they all denied signing of even knowing the

Felipe Almonte, Dannys dad, was banned from the Little League competition for life. Rolando Paulino, league president, was also banned because the Little League president is responsible. Felipe had criminal charges for falsifying a birth certificate and his visa also expired. Danny however, could not speak English and did not know what was going on was not charged with anything.

After all of this Danny still pursued his dreams of being a Major League Player. He played for many different teams and had some pretty good success but was never selected for the draft. After a few years he came back to the Bronx and had said he had given up his dream to go to the Majors. Danny today is still called a cheater and looked down upon. He said that it was hard not knowing what was happening he was just being told what to do by his coach and