The Little League World Series is an annual event that invites the world’s best young baseball teams to complete for the right to be crowned champion.  The tournament includes children between the ages of 11 to 13 and has been held since 1947.  While the tournament is usually intended to be fun-filled event for players, families and fans, in 2001 the event was filled with controversy.

On this day, August 31st, in 2001, Little League World Series hero, Danny Almonte, was exposed as actually being 14 years old.  Danny Almonte helped lead his Bronx little league team to a third place finish in the tournament and was considered to be a “little league phenomenon.” Almonte threw a 75 mph fastball and achieved a no-hitter and perfect game during the tournament.  His accomplishment earned him the nickname “little unit.” Towards the end of the tournament, Almante began to gain a lot of media attention for negative reasons, as concerns surfaced over his true age.

Weeks after the tournament, documentation was discovered that proved Danny Almonte was actually born two years before previously reported.  Danny was retroactively declared ineligible for the Little League World Series and his team was forced to forfeit all of their wins.  Danny’s father, Felipe Almonte, was banned from Little League competition for life.