NewsWhore
07-24-2009, 04:00 PM
A rash of identity and age fakes from minor league prospects has led MLB baseball teams to take an extra step in protecting their prospects and their investments.
The New York Times is reporting on the case of baseball prospect Miguel Sano who agreed to take a DNA test to verify his age and family connection. The Times writes, "Miguel Sano, a top prospect in the Dominican Republic, was given DNA tests and a bone-scan procedure to help confirm that he was 16, he said in a telephone interview from his hometown, San Pedro de Macoris. The DNA tests were conducted on Sano and his parents to determine if he was their son, he said. Sano's sister underwent the bone scan as well, to help confirm that she was his older sister, and not a younger sibling whose birth certificate was used to falsify Sano's age."
The need for more testing and proof of ages for players comes in the light of a new case where the New York Yankees voided the signing of an amateur from the Dominican Republic after a DNA test conducted by Major League Baseball's department of investigations showed that the player had misrepresented his identity.
There was also the case of Smiley Gonzalez who admitted he wasn't who he said he was or the cases of Miguel Tejada and Vladimir Guerrero who both admitted to lying to scouts about their age in order to get scouted and drafted.
Age changing and birth certificate forgery is common among older ball players seeking to increase their chances in the signing process but deficiencies in the Central Electoral Board's (JCE) civil registries have aided in the scandals.
A bigger scandal that could be brewing for MLB is that federal legislation, signed into law last year and scheduled to take effect on November 21, prohibits US-based companies from asking an employee, a potential employee or a family member of an employee for a DNA sample.
The Times reports, "In a written statement, Major League Baseball said that it used DNA testing in the Dominican Republic "in very rare instances and only on a consensual basis to deal with the identity fraud problem that the league faces in that country.
The statement added that the results of the tests were not used for any other purpose. A spokesman for Major League Baseball declined to say how many players had been tested and whether the results were stored or destroyed."
www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/sports/baseball/22dna.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/sports/baseball/22dna.html)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#12)
The New York Times is reporting on the case of baseball prospect Miguel Sano who agreed to take a DNA test to verify his age and family connection. The Times writes, "Miguel Sano, a top prospect in the Dominican Republic, was given DNA tests and a bone-scan procedure to help confirm that he was 16, he said in a telephone interview from his hometown, San Pedro de Macoris. The DNA tests were conducted on Sano and his parents to determine if he was their son, he said. Sano's sister underwent the bone scan as well, to help confirm that she was his older sister, and not a younger sibling whose birth certificate was used to falsify Sano's age."
The need for more testing and proof of ages for players comes in the light of a new case where the New York Yankees voided the signing of an amateur from the Dominican Republic after a DNA test conducted by Major League Baseball's department of investigations showed that the player had misrepresented his identity.
There was also the case of Smiley Gonzalez who admitted he wasn't who he said he was or the cases of Miguel Tejada and Vladimir Guerrero who both admitted to lying to scouts about their age in order to get scouted and drafted.
Age changing and birth certificate forgery is common among older ball players seeking to increase their chances in the signing process but deficiencies in the Central Electoral Board's (JCE) civil registries have aided in the scandals.
A bigger scandal that could be brewing for MLB is that federal legislation, signed into law last year and scheduled to take effect on November 21, prohibits US-based companies from asking an employee, a potential employee or a family member of an employee for a DNA sample.
The Times reports, "In a written statement, Major League Baseball said that it used DNA testing in the Dominican Republic "in very rare instances and only on a consensual basis to deal with the identity fraud problem that the league faces in that country.
The statement added that the results of the tests were not used for any other purpose. A spokesman for Major League Baseball declined to say how many players had been tested and whether the results were stored or destroyed."
www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/sports/baseball/22dna.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/sports/baseball/22dna.html)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#12)