SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Little League officials might have to travel to the Dominican Republic to resolve an apparent conflict over the age of Bronx pitcher Danny Almonte.
Investigating rumors that Almonte was too old to play Little League baseball — players can't be older than 12 during the summer they're playing — a Sports Illustrated reporter found two official documents recording Almonte's birth in the Dominican Republic.
The first record, in a local office in the town of Moca, was filed by Almonte's father, Felipe de Jesus Almonte, in 1994 and listed Almonte's date of birth as April 7, 1987.
A second record, found in the nation's capital and also filed by Almonte's father, shows a Danny Almonte born in the same town to the same parents two years later. The magazine checked the parents' personal identification numbers — rough equivalents of a Social Security number — to eliminate the possibility of a coincidence and found they matched.
The magazine wrote of the second document: "The record, which was in the central office in Santo Domingo, stated that on March 21, 2000 — just weeks before Danny moved to the U.S. and launched his spectacular career in the Rolando Paulino Little League — Felipe registered the boy's birth again. This time, according to the birth record, Felipe claimed that Danny had been born on April 7, 1989, thus shaving two years off his son's previously registered age."
Little League officials were shown a copy of the second document Monday and have asked the Rolando Paulino Little League to provide further proof of Almonte's age.
"If this is the same Danny Almonte who played for Rolando Paulino Little League, then we have been deceived, and a fraud has been perpetrated on Little League and the millions of youngsters for whom Little League is so important," said Little League Inc. President Stephen Keener.
An official with the Rolando Paulino league questioned the magazine's document.
"Rolando, before he lets the kids into the league, he gets the original birth certificate and a passport, because he doesn't want these kinds of problems. This is a surprise to us," said Joann Dalmau, a spokeswoman for Paulino.
"What more can we provide, if we have provided an original birth certificate and a passport? Anything else is irrelevant. I don't know what document they have, but they're wrong," she said.
If Almonte was found to be ineligible, Little League could revoke the Rolando Paulino league's charter and could force the team to forfeit its last win, the consolation game against Curacao, Netherlands Antilles.
Because of rumors about Almonte's age, Little League had been shown records that indicated he was 12 years old. Monday afternoon, the Rolando Paulino league faxed a document to Little League that appeared to verify Almonte's eligibility.
Asked about the parallel birth records, Little League spokesman Van Auken said the organization might have to send someone to the Dominican Republic to investigate. Little League was not given copies of the documents uncovered by Sports Illustrated, and Van Auken said without proof no action would be taken.
Almonte was the most dominating pitcher at the World Series this year, throwing a perfect game in the opener against Apopka, Fla. Almonte struck out the first 15 batters.