Oviedo Babe Ruth teams say they were banned from All-Star play

Ten-year-old Christian Salem has had some great baseball moments. 

He remembers the first time he caught a fly ball. He’s hit two triples. He loves pitching, and playing second base. 

And best of all, he got on the 2026 Oviedo Babe Ruth All-Star 10-and-under team. 

“I felt really happy, since this is my first time and I worked really hard,” Christian said. 

His mother Alexa Salem said Christian put in the extra work this year and really blossomed on the team. 

“You could see him getting better throughout the year because he decided he was going to put in the work to play, and when he was asked to try out for All-Stars and told he made All-Stars, he cried,” Alexa said. “He was so happy and so proud to be one of those kids on the banners at the fields and to represent Oviedo.” 

But there’s a problem: Christian’s team is one of the squads who parents and coaches said were banned from playing in the All-Star season over the summer by the broader Babe Ruth league over allegations that coaches didn’t follow league rules in selecting players to be on the team. Christian is one of dozens of players in Oviedo affected by the decision to ban the 10-and-under All-Stars A Team, the Rookie Coach Pitch A team, and the T-ball A Team.

The All-Star games would have started this week if Christian had been allowed to play. The other six All-Star teams will play. 

“It seems like there’s drama going on league wise with some of the coaches and the board, and the collateral damage here has been kids who just tried out for an All-Star team after playing rec all season, and now we’re being told you can’t play,” Alexa said. “Whether you refund my money or not, that doesn’t make it easier for me to explain to him why he doesn’t get to go play in an All-Star tournament.”

Allegations surface of violating league rules for All-Star selection

The Greater Seminole Babe Ruth Baseball League Inc. – the legal name of the Oviedo Babe Ruth league – is part of Babe Ruth League Inc., a national nonprofit headquartered in Hamilton, New Jersey. 

According to its site, there are more than 1 million players on 60,000 teams nationwide, and the organization made more than $5.9 million in revenue in 2024, according to a database of tax forms maintained by ProPublica.

The Oviedo Babe Ruth league is an all-volunteer organization. It collected more than $621,000 in revenue last year from registration fees, according to its public tax report, with most of the money going to the national organization and to expenses like insurance and equipment.

According to an email posted on Facebook by Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek and obtained by Oviedo Community News, some teams’ coaches were accused of allowing players onto the All-Star teams who didn’t try out. Some coaches were also accused of not following scoring and voting rules for which players would be on the All-Star team, and the rules around which managers, or coaches, would be handling certain teams. 

As a result, the Oviedo Babe Ruth league will be on probation for two years – through the end of 2028. 

“If there are any additional violations of league policy, additional sanctions will be communicated up to suspension and or removal of charter,” wrote Joe Coluccio, an assistant state commissioner for the Babe Ruth League. “All of the above documentation/notes have been reviewed by all of Babe Ruth League. There is no appeal of the sanctions.”

Calls and emails to Coluccio and to the national Babe Ruth League were not returned before Oviedo Community News’ publication deadline.

Rick Bosley, the coach of one of the All-Star teams that was banned from playing, said he had offered to have someone else coach the team so that the kids could still play. But he said he never heard back on that offer. 

It’s not entirely clear from the email what the specific allegations against Bosley were. 

“There is no mention at all of any wrongdoings by (our)  team,” Bosley said. “There were zero allegations or conversations of me or towards me. I don’t know what I’m be alleged of doing.”

He said he’s being told to wait for the full report, which has not yet been released. He said if it’s a first offense, the punishment should match the crime. 

“We don’t even have the full report,” Bosley said. “None of the managers considered in violation were interviewed. They just came to the conclusion.”

Want to contact leaders and weigh in on this topic? Find Babe Ruth League contact information here, and Oviedo Babe Ruth league contact info here. Have a news tip or opinion to share with OCN? Do that here.

Mayor Sladek said she’s been contacted by parents and players, including getting a letter from Christian asking to be allowed to play. 

“This is not the city’s circus; we didn’t say these kids can’t play,” Sladek said in an interview with Oviedo Community News. “They’re mad at everyone but themselves. And now the kids can’t play because the parents didn’t follow the rules.”

Oviedo Babe Ruth pays a fee to the city to use the ball fields. Sladek said the city has adjusted the fees so that it covered about 30% of the cost to do maintenance on the field. She said the costs are subsidized, but no more than for soccer or any other facility rental.

Oviedo Babe Ruth pays the city $75,000 per year to use the baseball fields, and another $18,600 to use the concession stand, according to the Oviedo City Clerk office.

“There is a call for consideration of letting Little League have more access,” Sladek wrote. “I tried to give the fields to Babe Ruth for free, but the cost to maintain was more than they could afford.”

According to its website, Oviedo Little League Baseball and Softball is a nonprofit founded in partnership with The First United Methodist Church of Oviedo and plays on ballfields on King Street. 

For Alexa, Christian’s mom, the drama with the team had her thinking about leaving Babe Ruth next year. But her son loves the coaches and teammates, “so we’re not planning on leaving, even though we’re disappointed.”

For Christian, this last week has been tough. On Saturday, the University of Central Florida Knights baseball team played against Kansas State. Christian and the Oviedo Babe Ruth All-Stars were brought out onto the field and announced on the jumbotron. He said he was “really happy” he got to do that.

And this weekend, his entire All-Star team signed up for the CFL USSSA Memorial Day Classic tournament. 

“We’re playing in other tournaments now, but it doesn’t feel like we’re an All-Star team if we’re not playing All-Stars,” Christian said. 

He said he still wants to play and said he’d like to ask the people in charge what could have been done to make that happen. 

“Is there any way that we could have played? Is there anything we could have changed so that we could have played?” Christian said. 

Abe Aboraya is a Report for America corps member

Disclaimer: One of the players on one of the affected teams is a child of an Oviedo Community News reporter who did not report on this story.