The Jackie Robinson West Little League Team was embroiled in a cheating scandal earlier this year, which was the most notable such incident since Danny Almonte pitched as a 14-year-old in the Little League World Series. The donations to the Jackie Robinson team have now been made public.
Back in February, Chicago's little league baseball team was stripped of its 2014 national title due to recruiting violations. Team officials assembled a roster of players from outside the recruiting boundaries and then submitted fake maps in an attempt to cover their tracks. And now there's this:
"Jackie Robinson West took in at least $324,000 in donations before Little League International stripped the Chicago team of its 2014 U.S. title - money that's enabled the organization to build more than $200,000 in cash reserves, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show," writes Chris Fusco of the Chicago newspaper.
The Associated Press also reported the findings of the IRS documents.
Those donations were received between Oct. 1, 2013 and Sept. 30, 2014.
The donation money could be even greater than the reported $324,000. Under IRS regulations, any donation received after Sept. 30, 2014 cannot be publicly released until the following summer. Here's the breakdown of the team's expenses as a result of the donations and players' fees (over $14,000):
Travel costs - $55,310
Equipment purchases - $32,156
Legal and professional fees - $10,450
Baseball field maintenance - $10,221
As a result, their cash reserves after Sept. 30, 2014 totaled $205,054, which was about $200,000 more than the previous year. At this point it's unknown what the rest of that money has been or will be used for.
"It would be inappropriate to comment upon JRW's sources and uses of funds besides what is in the tax return," said Victor Henderson, an attorney representing the organization, told the Chicago Sun-Times. "JRW plans to use its remaining funds, like it has always done, in keeping with its mission of providing a first-rate baseball experience to children on the South Side of Chicago."
Jackie Robinson West filed a lawsuit against Little League Baseball for the decision to strip them of their national championship, but it was withdrawn earlier this month. The team left Little League back in April and joined the Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken league "based on the disregard and disrespect" of Little League officials.
