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American Morning

Amid the Celebrations, There is a Cloud of Controversy

Aired August 28, 2001 - 11:37   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: About an hour from now, the Little League team to the Bronx gets the key to the World Series. But, amid the celebrations, there is a cloud of controversy. At issue here: the age of the team's star picture.

CNN's Jason Carroll is following the story for us and go to him now. He is at City Hall in New York -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good afternoon to you, Leon. If you can see right behind me here, you can see the celebrations. Some of the folks are starting to file in. The celebration will be getting under way at about noon. And they're expected to get keys to the city. That's all of the team members. The coaches will be honored as well.

In addition to getting a key to the city, they're going to also be getting this bag here, filled with a baseball cap and T-shirts. I will put this down, because my hands are full. And they're also going to be getting something like this. There's a proclamation from the city of New York, from the mayor, that will go to all of the teammates and to the coaches.

But as you said, Leon, there is a sort of cloud of controversy hanging over the celebration over the Bronx' Baby Bomber pitcher Danny Almonte. It's all about his age.

As you know, you're supposed to be only 12 years old in order to play Little League. But some are saying that the pitcher is 14. So I've got some of the fans here. We've been getting reaction all morning along about this controversy.

Louis and Freddy here. Louis, you are an opinionated man. What are some of your thoughts?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the only thing I can say is, they have to prove it to begin with from what I understand. But I don't see anything wrong, 12 or 14. But if he doesn't belong in the 12-year- old, then he should be in the 14, well, all they should do is just put him in there and tell him, sorry you can't -- you don't belong in there.

But as long as they don't hurt anybody, that's the important part, to the live a clean life.

CARROLL: All right, let me get Freddy in here. Freddy, Louis says 12 or 14, it doesn't matter. What do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think it matters at all. It's just a whole big deal about nothing. His mother produced the birth certificate, and that's good for me.

CARROLL: All right. Good for you. Thank you very much.

Again, Leon, the celebration will be getting under way at about 12:00 noon, and right when that happens, we will bring you all of the action. I am Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

HARRIS: All right. Thanks, Jason. We'll check back with you later on.

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