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FOR AN HOUR, Elyjah Blankenberg carefully went through his baseball card collection. He wanted the perfect mix of Orioles and Yankees cards — but mostly Yankees — for the biggest adventure of his life: His first mad dash to try to get autographs at a baseball game.
Blankenberg has a nice-sized collection, including lots of cards from his beloved Yankees. He wanted a good card, but not too good because an unverified signature usually makes a card less valuable. Blankenberg also knew from asking around that some of the melees along the clubhouse rails can result in bent or banged-up cards.
After meticulous curation, Blankenberg eventually settled on the right blend to take to the March 19 spring game in Sarasota, Florida, and he took particular pains about finding the absolute perfect DJ LeMahieu card. Blankenberg is an elite 11-year-old baseball player who teammates and coaches call “DJ” after LeMahieu because of his ability to play anywhere on a baseball field and rake from any spot in the order.
Elyjah’s dad, John, and mom, Colleen Spencer, piled him into the car for the 40-minute drive from Venice, Florida, over to the Yankees-Orioles game at Ed Smith Stadium. They noticed how nervous Elyjah was. He’s an uber shy kid, and the idea of running up and down the bleachers trying to get players’ attention — this was his World Series Game 7.
During batting practice, he managed to sneak into a horde around Josh Donaldson, held his ground in the pack and got a card signed. “I can do this,” he thought.
As BP wound down, though, he felt the butterflies grow. Blankenberg has a very quiet voice — he often will say one or two short sentences, and then make eye contact with one of his parents, who’ll jump in and elaborate. When he’s asked how he’s hitting this year so far, Elyjah looks toward his dad, John, and then says “.767” in such a library tone that his dad repeats it, a few decibels louder.
It’s that same voice that Elyjah knew he’d need if LeMahieu ever got…
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Source : espn
