The world fell in love with the Jackie Robinson West Little League baseball team last year. The all black players and coaches dominated the tournament by capturing the US title. However, on Wednesday, the league stepped in and stripped the Chicago southsiders of their national and regional titles. The team cheated by fielding players outside of their defined districts.

Many in the black community are disheartened by this decision and investigation. With all the negative media, press and news coming out of Chicago’s black community, the Jackie Robinson West team provided something positive to cling on to and motivate others to strive for excellence.

“For more than 75 years, Little League has been an organization where fair play is valued over the importance of wins and losses,” Little League International President and CEO Stephen Keener said in a statement. “This is a heartbreaking decision. What these players accomplished on the field and the memories and lessons they have learned during the Little League World Series tournament is something the kids can be proud of, but it is unfortunate that the actions of adults have led to this outcome.

“As our Little League operations staff learned of the many issues and actions that occurred over the course of 2014 and prior, as painful as this is, we feel it a necessary decision to maintain the integrity of the Little League program,” Keener said. “No team can be allowed to attempt to strengthen its team by putting players on their roster that live outside their boundaries.”

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“As our Little League operations staff learned of the many issues and actions that occurred over the course of 2014 and prior, as painful as this is, we feel it a necessary decision to maintain the integrity of the Little League program,” Keener said. “No team can be allowed to attempt to strengthen its team by putting players on their roster that live outside their boundaries.”

The investigation into the players on the Jackie Robinson West team was started by the Nevada’s Mountain Ridge team that was defeated by JRW in the U.S. final.

“They tricked people, and they blindsided others, and they did those things that were strategic but illegal,” Mountain Ridge coach Ashton Cave said. “It’s just a matter of integrity and dignity, it’s just awful,” former Mountain Ridge team president Kristi Black said.

Nevada’s team wasn’t alone in complaining about the residency issues surrounding Jackie Robinson West team. Evergreen Park in Chicago also  noticed the violation of JRW using players from a surrounding suburb.

The decision to strip the little league players of their title is not sitting well with many in the black community around the country. They feel others are able to get away with bending the rules, but when it comes to their players, a strict adherance is required.

SOUND OFF: What do you think of the Little League baseball decision to strip JRW of their title? And is this only an issue because a black team dominated America’s past time?

Source: CBSNews