Danny Almonte and Aging...

[Alex]

When Danny Almonte was discovered to have been 2 years older than his birth certificate, would it have been "racist" to wonder if others playing in the U.S. who were born in other countries could be lying about their age?

The answer is yes!

If our country had conducted an inquiry last year and checked out the age of all foreign players, we would have been labled as racists.

In fact, the primary reason these age discrepancies are now being found out has to do with the Sept. 11th Attack and increased security at our airports.

Perhaps a minor assist goes to Danny Almonte.

Once it was made public knowledge that his family lied about his age, it made it possible to wonder about others.

The Bottom Line is, without the Sept. 11 attack, any age-investigation of foreign born athletes would have been viewed as prejudicial and a violation of their civil rights because the underlying motivation would have been Danny Almonte.

You are not supposed to investigate any infraction (such as lying about one's age) among individuals of the same nationality without specific evidence for each violator.

But you also can't go "looking" for evidence.

Whatever Danny Almonte's family did has NO RELEVANCE to any other ballplayer who comes from that country. To "investigate" any other player who came from his country would be labeled a "witch-hunt".

Even if you make a blanket age investigation of all foreigners, groups like the ACLU would have been in court fighting this as racist and prejudicial.

So, how old is Manny Ramirez?

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Alex

[the teacher]

manny's such a whacky cat he probably lied the wrong way: he's really 25.

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Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est

[Alex]

For Boston's sake, I hope he's 30.

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Alex

[teddysurf1]

actually alex,
first off,,, youre wrong!!! if they checked and cross referenced the birth dates of EVERY hispanic player, that would be "racial profiling" - in essence a "rascist" act, BUT lets not argue that, unless this is a political forum.
the point is they would not check and challenge every hispanic or person of specific nationality... they would probably reference FOREIGN "BORN" PLAYERS with emphasis on those born in whats considered "2nd and 3rd" world countries. where records and files arent really kept well, and no one would really notice duplicated or fake birth certificates. theres no telling what players might do now. they could trade identities with someone 3 years younger than them or ANYTHING crazier than the 15 seconds of thought ive put into that idea. the point is every employer has the right to investigate someones answers in an interview process, and they are employees. the motivation would not have been almonte, but i say the "fear" that alot of these foreign born players are lying about their age to make themselves more marketable and how easy it is to pull it off. plus, what owner wouldnt want leverage in contract negotiations and certainly a players age is a factor.

let me just that i dont blame these kids for trying anything for a chance to make millions and escape their living situations. i dont condone lying, but if you have the ability to play baseball professionaly and the difference in staying in the dom. rep. or getting your big chance is lying about your age, i probably would too.

but for fun, assuming baseball did something so stupid as to check every hispanics age, it probably wouldnt be dumb enough as to make it a public investigation. more than likely theyd put private investagators to work to find out that information, but thats really just food for thought.

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[the teacher]

"baseball" meaning what, the american or national leagues? They wouldn't mount some massive campaign to check ages. What does "baseball" as an entity care? The individual owners are the ones who stand to lose, buying talent that's older than they bargained for. Each individual owner is doubtless right now checking the age of everyone on his team. The US born players will be easy to check, and it won't cost much. The foreign born players (where the problem lies) will be more difficult, but by checking all players the owners are not profiling.

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Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est

[Alex]

teddysurf1, I don't quite get your response.

Profiling is political in nature...so to say we can't talk about the "politics" of the situation is something I disagree with.

I'm simply pointing out that our great country tends to correct nothing until it hits the media fan.

That's how it seems anyway.

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Alex