White Sox VP Kenny Williams Questions Heart Of Little League Officials
(CBS) There was perhaps no bigger booster of Jackie Robinson West than the White Sox vice president Kenny Williams.
And on Wednesday, Williams had strong words for Little League International, questioning where is their heart? Earlier in the day, the organization had stripped Jackie Robinson West of its Little League national title because it used players outside its boundaries.
When Williams spoke to students Wednesday as part of the Becoming a Man program, or BAM, the topic of integrity couldn't have been more timely.
When Jackie Robinson West players were called cheaters, Williams says he corrected the kids.
"These young men have done nothing wrong. They've done nothing wrong, so why are they being penalized?" Williams said
For an organization on a mission to get more black youth playing baseball in the inner city, the Jackie Robinson West team was heaven sent, and the White Sox supported them at every turn. Williams congratulated them at their victory rally in Millennium Park and shared the White Sox World Series trophy with the team during their parade.
"If somebody is gonna tell me that they're now going to take away from 13-year-olds that have given so much to the city, I have to ask where there heart is," Williams said.
But what about the charges of using kids who lived out of the boundaries?
"We're in such a day that these boundaries people are speaking of I don't think they're applicable," he said.
Williams says finding a viable safe baseball program overrides such concerns.
"They are not just champions because they won on the field, but because of how they conducted themselves off the field, how they represented the city of Chicago," Williams said.