WEDNESDAY,SEPT.5,2001
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5B
Pitcher's father to be arrested for falsifying son's birth certificate
The Associated Press
SANTO DOMINGO
Dominican Republic — Danny
Almonte's father was charged
yesterday with falsifying a birth
certificate to make his son appear
to be 12 when he actually was 14
—and thus too old for Little
League.
Felipe de Jesus Almonte "will be arrested as soon as he sets foot in this country," said Victor Romero, a public-records official in the Dominican Republic who determined the young pitcher's real age.
De Jesus, who is still in New York, faces three to five years in jail if convicted.
The New York team was stripped of its third-place finish in the World Series after Almonte's real age was revealed Friday. Little League also voided all of Almonte's records, including a perfect game.
Yesterday, school officials said Almonte was finishing seventh
grade in the Dominican Republic until June — another reason he should not have qualified for Little League championships. That would have prevented the boy from playing the required six Little League games to qualify.
"We can't lie. He was here and the records show this," said Bolívar de Luna Gomez, vice principal of Andres Bello Primary School in Moca, a small farming town 90 miles north of Santo Domingo. "It is the truth, and if authorities ask us to turn the documents in, we are ready to do so."
Joann Dalmau, spokeswoman for Almonte's Bronx, N.Y.-based Rolando Paulino All-Stars team, denied the boy had lived in the Dominican Republic until June.
"I saw him in May here, playing in a regular-season game," she said. "So there was no way he was in the Dominican Republic in June."
in at least half of his team's games by June 15.
To be on a league's all-star team and participate in the tournament, a player must have played
Paulino, founder and president of the league that bears his name, was banned for life from any affiliation with Little League because of the age controversy, as was Almonte's father.
"If he wasn't in the country until after June 15, then it seems impossible that he would have been eligible under those conditions as well," said Lance Van Auken, Little League spokesman. "It adds to the weight of evidence against Rolando Paulino and anyone else who might have known Danny was ineligible."
van Auken said the president of each league — in Almonte's case, Paulino — signed an affidavit verifying the eligibility of each player in the tournament.
Chicago Cubs, baffled by rookie pitcher, get slammed by the Florida Marlins
MIAMI — Josh Beckett's major league debut was memorable.
The 21-year-old right-hander allowed one hit in six shutout innings as the Florida Marlins beat the Chicago Cubs 8-1 last night.
The Associated Press
Preston Wilson had a three-run homer and Kevin Millar hit his second career grand slam.
Beckett (1-0), the second overall pick in the 1999 amateur draft, struck out five and walked three.
Beckett also doubled and scored as Florida won for the just the fifth time in 22 games.
Beckett signed a $7 million deal with the Marlins, then predicted he would pitch in the 2001 All-Star game. Maybe he could have, but the organization didn't want to take any chances with his talented arm — especially after shoulder tendinitis put him on the disabled list twice last season.
This season at Class-A Brevard County (Fla.) and Double A Portland, he went 14-1 with a 1.56 ERA in 26 games. He looked just as masterful against Sammy Sosa and the Cubs.
Sosa was 0-for-3 against Beckett. He grounded out in the first, popped out in the fourth on a 97 mph fastball and struck out in the sixth.
Rondell White had the Cubs' only hit off Beckett, a second-inning single. Fred McGriff was the only player to reach second base against him, getting there on consecutive walks in the fourth.
Beckett walked Delino DeShields on four pitches to start the sixth, but struck out two of the next three batters and got a standing ovation as he walked off the field.
The crowd didn't realize he had been removed from the game until Eric Owens pinch-hit for Beckett in the bottom of the inning. Owens was booed loudly before striking out.
The fans also had plenty to
cheerabout.
Wilson hit his 18th homer of the season. Beckett led off the fifth with a double down the right-field line, and made it 4-0 in when he scored on Lee's sacrifice fly.
Millar finished 3-for-4, a double shy of hitting for the cycle. Millar extended his hitting streak to nine games with a first-inning triple, his third of the season.
Lieber (17-6) allowed seven hits and a season-high eight runs in five innings.
Michael Tucker's two-out triple in the eighth off Vladimir Nunez scored Joe Girardi and gave Chicago its lone run.
Notes: The Cubs lost for third time in 10 games. ... Floyd snapped an 0-for-23 slump in the fifth inning. ... Florida 3B Mike Lowell was back in the lineup after missing a game for the birth of his first child. The Lowells welcomed Alexis Ileana, a 7-pound, 15-ounce girl Monday.
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