Free Republic

If you care at all about the players on the Jackie Robinson West Little League team, don’t call them champions. They aren’t. Wednesday’s announcement by Little League International that the team has been stripped of its U.S. title and all its wins from the 2014 Little League World Series tournament is all the proof you need. These are not champions. To say otherwise is a disservice to these kids, and they’ve already been handed a disservice big enough to last a lifetime. So don’t say, “It’s OK, kids, you’re still champions in our eyes.” Don’t say, “We don’t care, you...

Rev. Jesse Jackson, the polarizing civil rights activist, is calling for Little League International to return the U.S. championship to the 12-year-olds from Jackie Robinson West, mere hours after Little League stripped the team of its title. And if that doesn't happen, Jackson said Wednesday afternoon, he may take legal action. Jackie Robinson West — consumed in a vortex of allegations involving ineligible players and illegally redrawing its league boundaries — became a feel-good story in Chicago and across the country on its run to the Little League World Series. An all-black team that was supported by MLB players, Jackie...

Little League officials announced Wednesday morning that Jackie Robinson West, the 2014 U.S. Little League World Series champions, have vacated their wins and been stripped of their title thanks to the use of ineligible players. In essence, they attempted to build a Little League all-star team by bringing aboard players from Chicago districts outside of their own, and a neighboring league caught on and reported as much to Little League officials.According to Evergreen Park officials -- the neighboring league which caught on to the illegal roster -- Jackie Robinson West spent their 2014 "manipulating, bending and blatantly breaking the rules for...