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Originally posted by G-Man

I have seen proof in the past but as I mentioned in my other post. If all these organizations would require the players to get passports it would cut out 99.99% of the fraud.

As for my son being a big kid..Nope! He is 5'3 90 lbs. He starts at SS for the 14u team and hits 2nd in the lineup. I wouldnt call him a stud but he does compete with these older young men and so far earned their respect. I will be curious however later this summer to see how he will be received at a Perfect Game 14u WWBA Showcase tournament starting at SS in June at ECB.

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Originally posted by mlbscout



Thank you for the information, I guess I'm more naive than others. I wonder if other posters have documented proof of birth certificate fraud. One thing is to play a tournament with the wrong age group and another is to alter the birth certificate. However, if you have seen it< I'll take your word.
Your son is age 11 and is playing with 14 year olds? He must be a big boy or a true stud. I know of no other kids able to play up by 3 years. Aren't you afraid he might get hurt? How well does he do against the older kids?

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Originally posted by G-Man

MLB, first welcome to the board. 2ND Why do you sound so defensive about this subject? As for proof MLB we are here discussing this issue not policing it. However I can give you 4 times I have witnessed this issue in the last year.

First was 2 kids last year playing for a 12u team ( same 12u team ) who were found out to be 14 and was suspended by Usssa. The next was a young man who is playing 12u and 11u this year and my son played with another boy who is in this other kids class who says the boy is 12 years old not 11yrs. Lastly I put together a pickup team early in the fall. I got BC's from all my players. This was a 12u team. A friend of mine called me telling me about this young man playing for him in a Major tournament for 11u. I told this friend that this kid was 12u not 11u. My friend said he had a BC that showed he was 11u. I pulled my files and me and this other coach compared birthdates on the BCs we had and they did not match. Everything else was the same but the year born and the date of birth were different.

Also if you want see how much of this really goes on. Look at the Super Series website. They list all suspensions and the reasons for them. See how many have been suspended for BC fraud.

Now as its been mentioned. If someone is cheating by playing down in age group. Hey more power to them. It will catch up and when it does they will be way behind their true age group from a skill perspective. I dont have these worries. My son is 11 yrs and plays for a 14u travel ball team. So no matter what we are always playing against young men much bigger than he is.

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Originally posted by mlbscout

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Originally posted by Spartan4

MLB, do you believe it happens with kids born inside the US??

Two years ago we played at the Grand Slam 10U Session 2 World Series, and one particular team had a boy who was RIPPED!! This kid had hard stubble for facial hair, threw mid-high 60s(not guessing we had a gun) and hit a HR that hit the second fence not the temporary fence I believe it was 300ft but I could be wrong. He was the only kid I have seen I really question if he was really his age. Plus his mom FLIPPED out when all the boys from 3-4 teams were playing tips and a 12U brother from out team asked him how old he was. She got extremely defensive but that might have just been from constantly having to answer the same question over and over and over again.

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To answer your question: yes, I believe it could happen with kids born in the USA but it rarely happens. Most likely it could happen as an isolated event not requiring alteration of a birth certificate. I know of one particular case where that very thing ocurred. A kid who was 10 years old pitched a game in place of his brother who was 9. No birth certificate was requested and the family thought it was funny. The reason I know this happened is because I know the family and I confronted them and the coach.
The type of player you are describing in your recent post (ripped) is precisely the kid most likely to be legal. Appearances can be deceiving. As I stated in my recent post, the bigger kids are not the ones you should be suspicious of. We have never questioned the age of an opposing player, whether big or small. I guess we may be naive.
One of the posters (G-man) seems to have definitive proof that altering birth certificates is a common ocurrence in travel baseball. He claims this is much more common in the state of Florida than in Georgia. It is very easy to make such claims, but much more difficult to provide proof. I wish that he or anyone else who believes this happens with some frequency, to provide some type of proof. Just because a player looks older than his age does not equal to altering official documents.Where is the evidence?

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Originally posted by Gwinnett

G-man, does your son pitch on this 14u team?

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Originally posted by G-Man

No he doesnt. I dont allow him to even pitch in his own age group. I figure if he is meant to be a pitcher he will find out in high school. This way he has less strain on his arm during these youth years. Last weekend we watched a 12u player throw 104 pitches. I have seen this abuse too often in the younger age groups.

MLB: He has always played up at least a year. Playing 14u happen not by seeking it out but by luck. We attended a baseball camp that was being run on a 60/90 field. One of the coaches in that camp had a 14u team saw my son and asked if we would like to come play for them. So just for fun I thought we would see how it would go. It went really well and since late spring we have been playing primarily 14u but guest play in other age groups when nothing is going on with 14u.

However I want to say my son is not the next Jason Heyward. He is not some super stud. He is just a good ball player that competes with these older young men on a 60/90 baseball field. Am I proud of him..of course I am. However a lot of things can and will change between now and his senior year in high school. So some perspective is in order.

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Originally posted by Gwinnett

G-man, does your son pitch on this 14u team?

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Originally posted by G-Man

No he doesnt. I dont allow him to even pitch in his own age group. I figure if he is meant to be a pitcher he will find out in high school. This way he has less strain on his arm during these youth years. Last weekend we watched a 12u player throw 104 pitches. I have seen this abuse too often in the younger age groups.

MLB: He has always played up at least a year. Playing 14u happen not by seeking it out but by luck. We attended a baseball camp that was being run on a 60/90 field. One of the coaches in that camp had a 14u team saw my son and asked if we would like to come play for them. So just for fun I thought we would see how it would go. It went really well and since late spring we have been playing primarily 14u but guest play in other age groups when nothing is going on with 14u.

However I want to say my son is not the next Jason Heyward. He is not some super stud. He is just a good ball player that competes with these older young men on a 60/90 baseball field. Am I proud of him..of course I am. However a lot of things can and will change between now and his senior year in high school. So some perspective is in order.

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Originally posted by Gwinnett

G-man, does your son pitch on this 14u team?

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Originally posted by mlbscout

You're smart not letting him pitch. If he guest plays on other teams and some are of his age group, doesn't that mess up his timing at the plate? You would think that going back and forth from 50 to 60 feet distances would cause some timing problems. How are you able to get him to play on other teams? Do the other coaches know you well? I have never had another coach request my son to be a guest player. He probably is not as talented as yours but is not a bad player. I guess I may not have the right connections. That is to be expected living in almost heaven West Virginia.

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Originally posted by G-Man

No he doesnt. I dont allow him to even pitch in his own age group. I figure if he is meant to be a pitcher he will find out in high school. This way he has less strain on his arm during these youth years. Last weekend we watched a 12u player throw 104 pitches. I have seen this abuse too often in the younger age groups.

MLB: He has always played up at least a year. Playing 14u happen not by seeking it out but by luck. We attended a baseball camp that was being run on a 60/90 field. One of the coaches in that camp had a 14u team saw my son and asked if we would like to come play for them. So just for fun I thought we would see how it would go. It went really well and since late spring we have been playing primarily 14u but guest play in other age groups when nothing is going on with 14u.

However I want to say my son is not the next Jason Heyward. He is not some super stud. He is just a good ball player that competes with these older young men on a 60/90 baseball field. Am I proud of him..of course I am. However a lot of things can and will change between now and his senior year in high school. So some perspective is in order.

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Originally posted by Gwinnett

G-man, does your son pitch on this 14u team?

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Originally posted by Spartan4

Pretty sure G-Man is from Florida originally....They don't know what full-time players are in FLA.....they are all guest players on the same 3-5 teams every week!!! It is like a roulette wheel down there!!

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