The Jackie Robinson West Little League team was notified today that they were going to be stripped of their wins from the 2014 Little League World series after findings of them recruiting kids outside their region. Evergreen Park Athletic Association VP, Chris Janes, called for the investigation back in October after sending emails to the LL offices stating that Jackie Robinson was “building a super team to win at all costs”. Janes has since been persistent in his efforts for fairness and it seems today, he was justified.
Janes spoke with DNAinfo and said while he was happy that the right team won the championship, he has been receiving death threats in the wake of the decision.
“We got about 50 messages,” he told DNAinfo Chicago. “I only listened to a few. Some were gibberish … saying things like ‘You’re an a——.’ A couple said, ‘You deserve to die.'”
“I’m not really concerned. People have been leaving s—– emails and voicemails.”
Janes says that while the emails are unfortunate, he has the support of local police and has no concerns. Janes also goes on to say that he hopes going forward the Little League offices can prevent cheating.
“Going forward, if anything comes out of this, Jackie Robinson West showed us all that it’s not very difficult to manipulate the most important rules in Little League,” Janes said. “There’s got to be a way, and it won’t be easy, to put safeguards in place to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“Because if it weren’t for one or two or three people coming forward, Jackie Robinson West would not have been held accountable for this. Cheating shouldn’t be so hard to prove.”
What do you guys think of this scandal? One should ever condone cheating, but its awful for the children who work hard to accomplish what they did. The silver lining in this unfortunate story, Ford has remained faithful and will still give JRW college scholarships. While a trophy can prove you won, a college scholarship is more important and the fans will never forget the amazing run by those kids.