Almonte's imposing appearance and command on the mound, as well as the velocity of his fastball, led to rumors that he was older than 12 years old, the age limit for Little League Baseball.
Paulino was initially backed by Little League and Dominican officials, who said the Baby Bombers had followed all proper procedures regarding age verification.
Officials at Little League headquarters even took the unusual step of checking each of the player documents due to the rumors surrounding the team.
[5] Their report, posted on the magazine's website just before being published, triggered a full investigation by Little League, even as Almonte and his teammates were being feted in the Bronx.
Almonte's mother, Sonia Rojas Breton, owned a handwritten birth certificate saying that he had been born at home in Jamao with the help of a midwife in 1989.
As part of Dominican officials' investigation, Victor Romero, head of the national public records office, interviewed the witnesses whose signatures appeared on the 1989 birth certificate.
As a result, Danny Almonte was retroactively declared ineligible, and the Baby Bombers had to forfeit all their wins in tournament play.
Little League president Stephen Keener said that Danny and his teammates had been "used ... in a most contemptible and despicable way" and that "millions of Little Leaguers around the world were deceived."
ESPN's Jim Caple called Felipe "the worst stereotype of the Little League parent sprung to life.
[8] About the same time, New York City child welfare officials discovered that Danny had not been enrolled in school for the 2000–01 year—which would be a violation of state law, and grounds for placing him in foster care.
Later that year, Almonte joined the Southern Illinois Miners of the Frontier League,[10] an independent minor-league circuit—and thus forfeited his NCAA collegiate eligibility.
Almonte finished as one of the top hitters in junior-college baseball, hitting for a .497 batting average with 14 home runs and going 7–1 with one save as a pitcher.
[11] Forced to give up pitching due to a sore arm, Almonte played semi-pro baseball in the summer of 2009 as an outfielder.
As of 2010, Almonte had returned to the Bronx, where he was serving as a volunteer assistant coach for his high school alma mater's baseball team.
[13] Almonte indicated an intent to return to semi-pro baseball that summer, after the end of the school year, but said that he no longer held expectations of some day playing in MLB.