San Fernando Valley : All-Star Team Tagged Out Over Fund-Raising Games

One set of adults warned a couple of other adults not to put their baseball leagues into a series of charity games.

But the second set of adults went ahead anyway, and had the players participate in the unprofitable fund-raiser set up by a third group of adults.

So who lost? A bunch of kids.

The Little League benched 20 all-star players for the season because they broke the league’s rule against playing in unauthorized games--a rule designed to keep some players from gaining an unfair edge by engaging in more competition than others.

The two league presidents who put the players in the fund-raiser said it was for fun, not competition. “Everybody was a winner,” said Carlos Torres, president of the Verdugo League.

The players from the two Glendale leagues participated in a series of games this month to benefit the Tim Herman Foundation, a nonprofit organization named for a 9-year-old La Crescenta ballplayer who died of a heart condition last year. According to Tim’s father, Rob Herman, the fund-raising tournament barely broke even.

The players “were devastated” by the benching, said Jackie Garcia of Glendale, mother of 12-year-old player Sergio Garcia. “They feel that they’re being punished.”

They are. Little League spokesman Dennis Sullivan said the league presidents had been warned of the potential consequences if their players were in the charity games.

“I hope the effect of this is that the adults act responsibly,” he said.