Little League bails out major league player

Meet Elijah Dukes. By all accounts a nice guy. Meet the Washington Nationals. By all accounts a terrible team. Put those together and you have a player being benched for being late to the ballpark because he was speaking at a Little League function.

Pretty stupid huh? Now the Little Leaguers that Dukes spoke to intend to raise $500, the amount that Dukes was fined for being late.

Washington Nationals outfielder Elijah Dukes was fined $500 and benched for being late to Saturday's home game against Florida.

But he won't pay the fine himself. The Great Falls Little League, where he was speaking prior to the game, says it will pay it for him after a fundraising effort.

"The point is, this guy gave back to our community, and now he's in a hard spot. We need to help him," said Jim Mraz, the Great Falls LL president, according to The Washington Post. "It's not a question of whether this guy can afford the 500 bucks. We're just trying to send a message to our kids: He was here for us. Now we've got to be there for him."

On Saturday, Nationals acting general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Manny Acta decided to fine and bench Dukes because Dukes was late and the appearance was not sponsored by the Nationals. They warned Dukes that if he was late again, he could be sent to the minor leagues.

Although incidentally, being on the Nationals isn't much different from being in the minor leagues so I'm not sure that's exactly a good enough threat. Perhaps they should throw something into the mix like "We're going to sign you to a long-term contact here in Washington, D.C."

That would be enough to cause any player to straighten up and ask for a trade to the Marlins in a hurry.