Chris Lee Blazed this trail first...

With the Little League World Series upon us, what better time to take than now, to remember Danny Almonte?

Almonte, whom you may recall, was the 14 year old Dominican flame thrower who captured America's hearts and immagination during the 2001 LLWS. Only problem was, is that he was two years too old for the cut-off age of 12.

Danny, was claimed to have been born in 1989 in the DR, however it was found out, on a hand written birth certificate signed by the midwife, that he has actually been born in 1987.

Before the evidence was produced, Almonte dazzled us all with his 75mph fastball and his bat, leading the Bronx little league team in LLWS. In route to getting there, Almonte famously threw a No No in the Mid-Atlantic championship. He then threw the second perfect game in LLWS history. The 'Baby Bombers' as they were called were America's sweethearts. They were the lil' Yankees and had entered the lexicon with Field of Dreams, Babe Ruth, and Roy Hobbs.

The thing he done during this stretch that sticks out the most to me, was that he got a dip of snuff before going out and tossing the perfect game. I was sold. Cooolest kid ever. Or so we thought.

The allegations that had been running rampant about his age(Dominicans commonly practice the art of lying about their age) during the tournament play were proven to be true, and The Bronx was stripped of it's glory. However, the only thing Almonte had done wrong ws be the pawn of his father and a glory-searching local little league president.

Too bad it was proven only after Almonte and his teammates were honored with the key to the city by New York mayor, Rudy Guiliani.

Almonte married a 30 year old in 2005, and graduated high school in 2006. He was projected as being a possible draftee in the MLB Amateur draft, but went undrafted. He bounced around Indy leagues, and did a stint at a JUCO school Western Oklahoma State, where in two seasons he hit .497 and .472, and finished with 32 home runs, and had a record of 16-1 in two years with 1 save to his credit. He would yet again go undrafted.

At this point, it seems that some people are just being petty. Almonte played semi-pro ball the falling year and then returned to New York to be an assistant high school coach, with plans of playing more semi-pro and Indy ball after the school season completed.

He no longer has any aspirations that he will play Major league ball.

But the real underlying message here is this, you know Danny was getting laid.

*Editors Note: It should be taken into consideration that Chris Lee had stopped playing minor league ball at Fannin Park by this time. Lee played minor league until he was 17, in 1999, when he was told that he would no longer be allowed to hit from the machine and had to face live pitching, albeit from an 8 year old.