Nightline E-mail: August 31

W A S H I N G T O N, August 31 -- Danny Almonte is a phenomenal little baseball player - at any age. The lefthanded pitcher for the Rolando Paulino All-Stars of the Bronx, nicknamed the Baby Bombers, throws a 77-mph fastball. This summer Danny's talents became well known outside of New York, however, when he pitched the first perfect game the Little League World Series has seen in some 44 years. The 5' 8" pitcher left so many young hitters looking that a number of grown-ups started to raise their eyebrows. They wondered, was he really only 12?

Today, after a week of press reports suggesting the same, Dominican government officials held a press conference acknowledging Almonte's real age: 14.

Tonight's broadcast comes to us courtesy of HBO's Real Sports, a terrific program that makes sports related stories interesting for non-sports fans and sports junkies alike. We will replay Real Sports' Bernie Goldberg's report on baseball in the Dominican Republic. Bernie's report aired a year ago, but offers real insight into today's story about Danny Almonte.

The Dominican Republic, a country of 8.5 million people, shares a Caribbean island with Haiti. As Goldberg explains, it is a poor country about the size of West Virginia, and yet, it produces 10 percent of all of the players in the Major Leagues. Where baseball in the U.S. was once the national pastime, it now competes with basketball and football for the primary affections of athletic young boys. Not in the Dominican Republic. Baseball rules there. And a really talented Dominican baseball player knows that he stands a better shot of making it off the island, and the possible fortunes of America's Major Leagues, if he is young.

Sara Just is a Senior Producer for Nightline.