GREENVILLE — A Greenville coach has been banned for life by a youth baseball league after it found he forged the birth certificate of one of his sons.
Mark Eldridge has been banned for life from the Midwest Ohio Baseball League, which found he fraudulently altered the birth certificate of his son, Logan, for the 2013 and 2014 baseball seasons. Eldridge has been banned from coaching, managing, administering or any other non-parent involvement with any team in the Midwest Ohio Baseball League, according to a release on the league’s website.
“The Midwest Ohio Baseball League considers the altering of birth certificates the ‘betting on baseball’ of youth sports,’” the release on the Midwest Ohio Baseball League states. “There has been, and will be no tolerance for such activity.”
Additionally, Logan has been banned for life from playing in the Midwest Ohio Baseball League.
When reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, Eldridge declined to comment.
The Miami Valley Heat, whose 13U team in 2013 and 14U team in 2014 were coached by Eldridge, cooperated with the Midwest Ohio Baseball League and accepted numerous sanctions including:
1. The Miami Valley Heat will fully support and enforce the lifetime bans for both Mark Eldridge and Logan Eldridge.
2. This team will be disbanded.
3. All 2015 Miami Valley Heat players will be required to submit original, certified birth certificates.
4. The Miami Valley Heat will contact each and every national affiliation and each tournament venue from these season and vacate all wins and any championships.
5. On their website, and in any and all promotion of their organization, including but not limited to any and all tryout postings, the Miami Valley Heat will cease to use this team in any way. Additionally, any historic records of this team must include a notation that all wins and any championships were vacated due to the unethical use of an illegal player.
6. The Miami Valley Heat will return any team trophies and awards received from the league for this team during 2013 and 2014.
Eldridge was one of the founders of the Miami Valley Heat when the organization was formed for the start of the 2013 season. The program has expanded to six teams.
Eldridge’s teams have had a lot of success and won numerous tournaments, including the Midwest Ohio Baseball League Division I championship in 2013.
Eldridge is slated to become the commissioner of the Greenville Citizens Baseball League, which is separate from the Midwest Ohio Baseball League, for the 2015 season.
Ryan Delk, the outgoing Greenville Citizens Baseball League commissioner who will remain on the board of trustees, said the trustees haven’t made any decisions about the league’s actions in regards to Eldridge as they haven’t had a meeting since learning about the forgery. The trustees will have to have a special meeting, Delk said.
Eldridge also is an assistant coach for the Greenville High School football team.
Greenville Superintendent Doug Fries and representatives of the Miami Valley Heat couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday.