CHICAGO (AP) – A day after Little League International stripped Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West of its national championship, team officials announced they’ve hired a high-profile attorney to conduct an investigation they hope will end with the return of their title.
The sport’s governing body announced Wednesday that team officials had violated regulations by including players who didn’t qualify because they lived outside the team’s boundaries, then scrambled to get adjacent leagues to go along with the scheme. But attorney Victor Henderson said Thursday he will try to determine not only whether the team broke any rules but whether – as supporters in Chicago have suggested – Little League International unfairly singled them out.
“I want to make sure that whatever rules and regulations are being applied to Jackie Robinson West are being applied to any other team,” Henderson said during a news conference, flanked by members of the family that runs the league on the city’s South Side and the team’s manager, who has been suspended.
Henderson said it is too early to say if Jackie Robinson West will file a lawsuit against Little League International.
“Clearly, we have one more battle,” said Bill Haley, the director of the team, whose father was the founder. “You were not wrong for sticking with our boys then (during the Little League World Series), and you are not wrong for sticking with our boys now.”