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CNN Live Saturday

Danny Almonte Remembers the Good from Little League

Aired August 24, 2002 - 18:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Of course, this year's road to the Little League World Series wasn't filled with the potholes of last year's controversy. CNN's Josie Karp reports now on what's happened to those who were at the center of the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE KARP, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the baseball mementos that Danny Almonte keeps close at hand. A medal for outstanding pitching and a team trophy. Almonte's keepsakes don't include anything from last summer's Little League World Series when his team was stripped of its victories and his perfect game was erased from the record book.

DANNY ALMONTE (through translator): I remember the good stuff.

ROLANDO PAULINO, FMR. LEAGUE PRESIDENT (through translator): When he saw himself on TV, he felt they were saying good things about him.

KARP: The child space was front and center, but in the end two adults were held responsible for supplying a fake birth certificate and lying to Little League officials about Almonte's age. His father and Bronx Little League President Rolando Paulino. As a result, Paulino was banned from Little League for life. Only now, a year later, does he admit that Almonte was too old to play last summer in a tournament with an age limit of 12.

PAULINO (through translator): Until June of this year or the end of May, to me Danny's age was that he turned 13 in April, but when I saw the new document, that I saw for the first time in June, now Danny to me is 15.

I'm really sorry about everything that happened in the 2001 Little League World Series and if there were people affected with all of this, truly from my heart I ask for their forgiveness, but I never did do anything. I really wasn't responsible for all of this.

KARP: Almonte and Paulino are now closer than ever. When the child's father returned to the family's home in the Dominican Republic nine months ago, the star baseball player moved in with Paulino's family.

PAULINO (through translator): We faced the choice of who would take Danny in or if he would go back to his country, and I offered to take him in. I was given the opportunity of doing something for a child. If it hadn't been me, somebody else would have done it.

KARP: This summer, like last, is filled with baseball for Almonte. Away from the field, New York's Administration for Children's Services continues to monitor his education. He finished eighth grade and will go to high school in the fall where he hopes to play baseball. He's getting plenty of practice now as a member of three different summer league teams.

ALMONTE (through translator): That's my favorite sport and it's a lot of fun. You have fun with your friends.

KARP (on camera): Because of what happened last year with Almonte, this year Little League implemented new guidelines for proving a player's eligibility.

(voice over): There's an eight-page affidavit with detailed information and new requirements relating to birth certificates. Almonte's name may have been stricken from the record book, but his impact on the rulebook is lasting.

Josie Karp, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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