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- THE WEEK, Page 22SOCIETYNot-So-Little Leaguers Forfeit a Championship
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- A Filipino dream team becomes a nightmare for baseball fans
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- The joyous homecoming for this summer's little League World
- Champions turned sour even before the last shred of confetti hit
- the ground. Local sports columnists claimed that as many as half
- the players on the team from Zamboanga City in the southern
- Philippines were over the 12-year age limit (or 13 if the
- player's birthday is after Aug. 1). Little League officials in
- Manila stonewalled efforts to certify the players' ages, and
- most of the Philippine press and public seemed to view the
- accusations as an American plot.
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- Last week the manager of the team dropped another
- bombshell: forget about being overage -- most of the team wasn't
- even from Zamboanga City. League officials in Manila had packed
- the squad with ringers even though national All-Star squads are
- barred from the World Series. Little League officials in
- Williamsport, Pennsylvania, declared eight Philippine players
- ineligible Thursday and ordered a forfeit of their team's 15-4
- victory last month over Long Beach, California. The newly
- crowned California team got together Thursday night for a quiet
- celebration at a park. "I think this is a real big thing," said
- pitcher Randall Shelley, 12. "But it would have been better if
- we had won it on the field."
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