What Did the Kids Know and When Did They Know It?

Last week, the 2014 champions of the Little League for the United States, the "Jackie Robinson West" team based in Chicago, was stripped of its title.  The team, made up of young black players 11-13, had been determined to have been put together far afield of the rules, pulling in all-star players from beyond the boundaries within which it was permitted to have its players reside.

Naturally, given the racial composition, the race industry, led by good old Jesse Jackson (asking "Is this about boundaries or race?"), rose in protest.  They complained that there was a racial component to the title strippage (though they're careful not to name one individual to call "racist"), that it was terribly unfair, that these kids had been singled out -- and one other little element.

The kids, all seem to say, are pure as the driven snow in all this; they didn't know; it was the adults who did this, the kids were innocent and should keep their title, la la la.

Here's the problem: I don't believe it.

I played Little League 50 years ago.  I still remember my batting average (.294) and many of the at-bats I had.  I remember my coach's name and many of the players.

And I remember even in 1962 that you had to live in the proper area in order to be eligible to play in that particular league.  If you lived over there, you were in that other league.  So it is, is how it has ever been.  And I was 11.  I wasn't one of those adults running the league; my father didn't coach; my family had nothing to do with the administration of the league -- we just played ball.

And we knew there were residency rules to follow.

There is little doubt that the players on the team representing the now-disgraced Jackie Robinson West organization were aware that something was amiss.  How could they not be?  If you know the community where your league can be pulled from, and all of a sudden other kids you didn't know a week earlier start playing third base and center field for your team, you have to know.

They're 11-13 years old, they're not four.  They know quite well that something has changed and, I assure you, they have a sense of whether it was right or wrong.  They aren't stupid.  Look at the article; team officials were going to neighboring leagues to "convince them to go along."  The kids knew something was up.

Now, I don't "blame" the kids, at least not a lot.  What were they supposed to do, call the cops?  In Chicago?  But stop the whole blathering about innocent children.  They weren't complicit in the actual corruption; they didn't cause it, but they certainly were aware that the organization was playing fast and loose with the rules, loading their team with talent.

Nothing about this whole effort was good.  Kids had to be embarrassed in front of the country.  Adults screwed up royally and caused those kids to be embarrassed.  "Clean" players from the second-place team were permanently denied the chance to play for the Little League World Championship.  The shameless race-baiters are out again spouting their stupidity.

Just stop with the "innocent children" stuff.  They knew.

Copyright 2015 by Robert Sutton