Foul territory: Second-place team chunks trophies into pond

(Editor's note: This story has been updated.)

Anglers fishing in the pond at Capaha Park may catch some trophies.

No, not a record catfish or bucketmouth bass and not even a first-place winner.

If snagged, these trophies would be for second place -- in the 2023 Babe Ruth World Series.

After losing the championship game of the tournament Sunday, Aug. 20, to the Southeast Tropics -- a team comprised of Southeast Missouri players -- members of the Alabama Rawdogs -- defending champions and a team with a storied history of on-field success -- showed their displeasure by chunking their trophies (the team's second-place trophy as well as each player's individual trophy) into the pond.

The trophy trashing -- captured on at least one social media channel and since deleted -- came about after Babe Ruth League officials found six Rawdogs ineligible to compete in the tournament, leaving the team with 11 players.

The matter has caught the attention of local authorities.

Cape Girardeau Police Department spokesman Bobby Newton issued a news release Tuesday, Aug. 22.

"The City works extremely hard and spends millions of dollars to provide great features, such as Capaha Park along with the pond. The Alabama Rawdogs coach is reviewing the video footage and attempting to identify the individuals responsible. Once the individuals are identified, the report will be forwarded to the City of Cape Girardeau attorney or to the juvenile office depending on the age of the individuals," the release states. "The Cape Girardeau Police Department does not condone this type of action and has been reassured that the Babe Ruth League is looking into the incident. We feel confident in the league along with the juvenile office and city attorney, doing a thorough investigation and holding the individuals and the team accountable."

Doug Gannon, Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation director, said department staff has no plans to retrieve the trophies.

"At this point of time, we're not going to be fishing those out of the pond," he said. "There's a lot of things that lurk at the bottom of the pond that people have thrown in there over the years, and those have sunk to the bottom. We won't be retrieving those."

The eligibility question revolved around the players' age, when they graduated high school and/or whether they had completed a year of collegiate baseball. A Babe Ruth League rule reads: "Any player born prior to May 1, 2007, and on or after January 1, 2004, will be eligible for Babe Ruth 16-18 League competition. Any player eligible to participate in high school athletics will be eligible to participate in the Babe Ruth League 16-18 Division (National Federation Rule)."

After he learned about the league barring the players from competing, Rawdogs manager Tony Hendrix contended the players had been cleared to play.

"I just don't understand. We interpreted the rule one way, and Babe Ruth says another. Our regional commissioner was part of the rules committee when they voted that in, and we got an email with a letter stating how the rules were read and then states that any kid eligible at these ages could play. All of our kids are the same ages as these kids are. None of them are too old, but because they played a year of college instead of high school (they) are ineligible," he said.

A representative of the Babe Ruth League said no one was available to discuss the matter Tuesday afternoon.

According to a media report, Michael Minner, head coach of the Charleston (Missouri) Fighting Squirrels and local organizer of this year’s World Series tournament said he had spoken with the Rawdogs coaches, who apologized for the incident. He was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Dustin Schwartz, Tropics manager, defended the Rawdogs team in a social media post: “I have known their coaches for years now and have talked to them about the events of the World Series in depth. They would have never intentionally tried to use illegal players. If they would have, why would have they used their correct birthdays? Babe Ruth doesn’t require us to submit birth certificates so they could have easily lied, but they didn’t. Even after losing six players that team played their butts off and was a part of an incredible championship game. ... As for the trophy incident, I really didn’t wanna touch this, but I have talked with multiple people that I trust and I have been told that the Alabama coaches and players are in full compliance with Cape and the incident will be made right. They’re kids, they did something very stupid, and they will be making it right.”

Tony Capobianco and Maryam Seyedalhosseini provided additional reporting for this story.