JRW Players Deserve Better, But Not a Title

Stop. Please stop. Please stop casting the Jackie Robinson West baseball players as worthy of being hailed as Little League champions. Yes, they won the U.S. championship. And did so with players who lived outside the boundaries for the team.

Video below of Gigi Marie. In case you’re interested (even if you’re not).

Consequently, Little League stripped JRW of its title. It’s unfortunate that youngsters have to pay the price for the misdeeds of adults, but that’s how things generally go in the world of “amateur” athletics. A coach or school cheats, and a team becomes ineligible for such behavior. Is it far to punish the players?

No, but guess what: Life is not fair. And the JRW story provides a painful but useful lesson to learn.

But Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel sought to have the title restored. Why? A skeptic may say he did so for purely political purposes. Or possibly merely partially political purposes. For the sake of the players? For the sake of Chicago, which supported the team’s quest? For the sake of Emanuel’s re-election campaign?

Little League said no to Emanuel’s request. And rightfully. You don’t reward people who cheat. And that’s precisely what the adults in charge of JRW did. They cheated.

Emanuel reportedly plans to award championship rings (financed by contributions) to the youngsters. By all accounts, Emanuel is not a dumb guy. But the reality is — despite what a wonderful story of a bunch of African-American 11- and 12-year-olds winning was last summer — the team used some players who should not have been eligible to be on the team. Meaning the team night have lost without those players.

The JRW team cheated. Pure and simple. OK, maybe not so pure and not so simple, but you should get the picture.

Would JRW have won the U.S. title without the players who did not live within the borders of eligibility? Who knows? But you cannot assume JRW would have won without them.

Rather than rings, what Emanuel should be giving the youngsters is a safe neighborhood to grow up in, schools that will provide an education that will enable the youngsters to go to college or find work. But that’s too complicated and doesn’t work as a photo op.

At some point (one that we apparently have not yet reached), the adults involved in all this need to behave like mature, responsible citizens. Is that too much to ask? It seems that way.

No one can take the memories of their summer success away from the kids. But there is a price for using ineligible players. To think it’s OK to break the rules may work in politics. but it has no place in sports. Actually it should have no place in areas other than sports, too.

Maybe someday enough adults will comprehend that concept and stop using kids — whether it’s to win a baseball championship, a mayoral election or anything else.

Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the enamored efforts of the editorial and video departments at ElliottHarris.com):