Mike Segar / REUTERS

Danny Almonte, whose perfect game in the 2001 Little League World Series was wiped out because he was too old, is now playing for an 18-and-under Connie Mack League team in Miami.

updated 2:40 p.m. ET June 2, 2005

MIAMI - Danny Almonte strolls into the batter’s box, taps the plate and waves the bat above his head under the searing South Florida sun. He lines pitch after pitch into the outfield with a relaxed, easy cut.

He then takes the mound, firing fastballs to his new catcher, under the eye of his new coach and his new teammates.

Four years after his name was etched in baseball infamy with an age-limit scandal during the Little League World Series, Almonte, now 18, is still taking swings at his past.

Almonte says he has made friends pretty quickly in Miami, and no one has asked him about the World Series fiasco.

“I don’t want to talk about that anymore,” Almonte said during an interview Thursday between final exams. “I’ve shown I can perform since then.”

Almonte moved to Miami from New York in February, eager to abandon his reputation and the punch lines. He’s still the kid known for a stunning perfect game in the 2001 Little League World Series that was erased because he was 14 — two years older than the tournament’s age limit.

“It’s something that he’s never going to outlive. It’s something he had no control over,” said Eddie Diaz, Almonte’s mentor and adviser in Miami. “I try not to even bring it up. I think we talked about it once, but now it’s a moot point.”

Sunday may mark his first pitching appearance since he led James Monroe High School to the New York City Championship last June. He’s playing for the Florida Bombers, an 18-and-under Connie Mack League team known for sending players to college and the major league draft. Scouts looking to analyze Almonte’s talent likely will be there, and it could be the best-attended summer league game in these parts in a long while.

“He’s going to have to live up to some high expectations,” said Bombers coach Emilio Fernandez.

The game is a rebirth of sorts for Almonte, a native of the Dominican Republic who moved to New York shortly before the World Series mess. Representing the Rolando Paulino All-Stars, he was stripped of the first perfect game in the 44-year history of the World Series after it was learned that he was too old, and his team’s third-place finish was taken away.

Almonte’s father, Felipe de Jesus, was banned for life from Little League activities and was accused of falsifying Danny’s birth certificate.

Almonte later dominated New York high school baseball, going 8-0 with 77 strikeouts and an ERA below 1.40 in 2004, while also hitting near .500 with five home runs. He missed the 2005 season after his late arrival in Miami.

Almonte now lives with his father and brother in the suburb of Opa-locka, but his baseball activities are being monitored by Diaz, a student adviser and former coach at American High School.

The teen is far from the streets of the Bronx, where everyone recognized him. In Miami, he is not known as a cheater. In the nondescript halls of American High, he’s just another face.

“The kids have kind of accepted him ... for the nice, humble kid that he is. It’s not like they throw rose petals at his feet or roll out the red carpet,” Diaz said.

Diaz says that Almonte is no villain, that adults were behind the age-limit dispute. But Diaz also pauses in thought when asked if Almonte bears any responsibility for the scandal.

“It’s a situation where he was told, ‘You’re 12,”’ Diaz said. “It’s coming from an adult that you think is a reasonable individual. What can (Almonte) say?”

More news

Lm Otero / AP file

Should parents let kids play?

The NFL's head injury issues are causing some parents of youth and high school football players to rethink whether football is safe enough for their children.

Focus on safety in youth, high school football

A few years ago, Omaha businessman Larry Hagan was watching a news report on concussions in high school sports and decided to do something.

Dos Santos stops Mir, keeps UFC heavyweight title

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Junior Dos Santos flattened Frank Mir with a huge right hand and finished him on the ground at 3:04 of the second round Saturday night, emphatically defending his heavyweight title at UFC 146 on Saturday night.

Headlines

• Label

Opinion: Time to do away with sports betting stigma

NJ to defy federal ban, will allow sports betting

CFT: SEC commish no fan of plus-one model

CFT: Slain CB's family wants $5 million from UConn

Md. back in NCAA lacrosse final   |  Faces Loyola

Chandler: Motorcycles flying over MMA fighters? Yes!

Froch stops Bute for IBF super middleweight title

Crimson win 147th Harvard-Yale Regatta