THE ACE

August 15, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Vlad Guerrero Sr. loved pine tar.

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Most of us tend to think of Little League as the purest form of baseball, but it’s had a fair share of controversy over the years.

The Little League World Series at South Williamsport is a massive event - way bigger than your average MLB game.

Crowds of up to 40,000+ show up to experience the games in person, and millions more watch on TV.

That kind of exposure is super valuable, especially to a kid trying to get noticed by scouts.

In 2001, Danny Almonte had everyone’s attention.

He played for the Rolando Paulino All-Stars out of Bronx, NY.

They almost didn’t even make it to the LLWS, but in the game that sent them to South Williamsport, Almonte threw a no-hitter.

That was just an appetizer.

In his first game at the LLWS, Almonte faced the team from Apopka, FL and threw a perfect game.

He struck out the first 15 guys he faced.

Throughout the series, 46 of the 72 outs Almonte recorded were K’s, and the kid hit over .450.

The Rolando Paulino All-Stars ended up placing third, but they were still treated like heroes back at home.

Rudy Giuliani (Mayor of NY at the time) even gave Almonte the key to the city.

All this is super impressive for a 12 year old.

Thing is, Danny Almonte wasn’t actually 12.

Shortly after the ’01 LLWS, his birth certificate came out and shit hit the fan.

The documents showed that he was actually 14 - PLUS, he hadn’t even played in enough games to qualify for playing in the playoffs.

The cherry on top?

Danny and his dad Felipe’s tourist visas were expired.

All of the team’s games were forfeited.

Felipe and Rolando were banned from Little League for life.

In the end, the adults surrounding Danny Almonte failed him badly; his reputation followed him throughout his career.

He went to Western Oklahoma, and despite hitting .472 with 18 home runs and going 9-0 on the mound, he was STILL undrafted.

BASEBALL TRIVIA

The answer will be in the bottom of this email!

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Ernest Edward Bonham got the nickname “Tiny” as a joke.

He was actually 6’ 2” and 215 lbs.

Tiny had a very successful big-league career, mostly with the Yankees.

He won two World Series rings and racked up over 1,000 innings, and let me tell you… this man had that DAWG in him.

In 1942, Tiny was an absolute workhorse for New York - he went 21-5, tossed 22 complete games and recorded a 2.27 ERA.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

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BASEBALL TRIVIA ANSWER: Sammy Stewart