Use of Softball Ringers Becomes a Federal Case

One is a courthouse marshal in Van Nuys, a shortstop so good some say he could have made the pros. Another washes cars for a living and a third works for a utility company. Still another is a machinist in Sun Valley, a coveted slugger who plays as a “ringer” in softball tournaments all over the western United States.

“I live and die softball,” said machinist Manny Maldonado, 34, who hit 75 homers last year and claims a .660 batting average.

What these four men have in common is a Pacoima-based softball team called the Wongs, whose members are supposed to work for the U.S. Postal Service’s Van Nuys division.

But if claims under investigation by postal inspectors prove true, the Wongs are not right.

The suspicion is not a corked bat or a doctored softball, but doctored IDs. Postal inspectors are investigating allegations that some Wongs were issued phony Postal Service identification cards to be eligible for a variety of post office tournaments.

Although outsiders, or “ringers,” are not uncommon in the highly competitive world of amateur softball, how many fake ID cards were allegedly issued in this case, who dispensed them, and how often they were used is unclear and a matter of investigation, said Postal Inspector Donald Obritsch.

“It’s basically forging a government document, and that would be a felony,” Obritsch said. “We take these types of allegations very seriously.”

If the allegations prove true, Obritsch said, the culprits could be looking at five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. But such hardball, Obritsch said, is usually reserved for people who want to steal more than trophies.

He declined to say who was under investigation.

Softball purists may be troubled by such allegations of impropriety, but hardly surprised.

“Historically, it’s not anything unusual,” said Douglas Noverr, a sports historian and professor of American studies at Michigan State University. “I guess it’s the win-at-all cost syndrome that’s part of American sports.”

Regulations on using ringers, outsiders recruited for their superior athletic abilities to shore up amateur teams, vary among different leagues and tournaments.

While some leagues forbid anyone other than employees from joining company teams, others allow a small number of outsiders to enhance the team’s performance.

“As far as I know, they said they were allowed two ringers without ID,” said Maldonado, who claimed that he hasn’t played for the Wongs since the mid-1980s and that he never used a bogus ID.

In any case, it is unusual for such transgressions to attract the attention of the feds.

“I’ve never heard of anyone going to that extent,” Noverr said.

The Wongs take softball seriously. Besides its victories, the team is known for its distinctive red jackets, and for the vanity key chains, visors and even toothbrushes emblazoned with its name.

One ringer contacted by The Times acknowledged that he received a government driver’s permit about two years ago so he could play for the Wongs in a tournament for post office employees in Las Vegas. He said he used the ID only once, and hasn’t played for the Wongs since.

“I do have an ID and I did play on the team,” said the man, who asked not to be identified.

The signature of the official issuing the man’s ID card, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, does not belong to an employee of the Postal Service’s Van Nuys division, a spokesman confirmed. The signature on the card, issued in 1988 and good through 1992, appears to be “John Smith” and such an employee does not exist there, the spokesman said.

Other ringers contacted also acknowledged playing for the Wongs in post office games in the past years, but they, like Maldonado, denied ever using fake IDs.

The softball scandal surfaced in a harassment claim by Jill Helms, a 35-year-old letter carrier, who happens to manage a Burbank-based softball team.

Helms said she believes her problems began after a casual conversation with her boss, a member of the Wongs, about that team’s winning record in a post office tournament in Oxnard. Knowing how hard it is to recruit good players, Helms said she innocently asked her boss whether his team was composed entirely of post office employees. Helms said she found it odd when the supervisor replied, “They all work for the post office and they all have their IDs.”

It was after that incident that she began to be harassed by her supervisor over attendance problems, Helms said, and she took a stress leave in October. She learned of the Wongs’ alleged use of ringers from others while discussing her work problems with softball colleagues, she said.

Helms said she believes she was penalized for her discovery, which she reported to postal inspectors after she went on leave. “It’s because of the way he came down on me in the three months after we had that conversation” about softball, she said.

In an interview, Helms’ former supervisor, Charles Evans, said he plays for the Wongs but denied any involvement with ringers or forging government identification cards.

“As far as I know, all the Wongs are postal employees,” said Evans, now a supervisor in the Newhall post office.

Evans, who said Helms’ attendance problems are well-documented, called the allegations “abusive and unfair to the guys who do play on the softball team.”

He repeated: “We are all postal employees.”