As the 2018 Little League World Series bracket gets underway, the international Little League Museum has welcomed one of its finest pieces of handcrafted memorabilia to date.
It comes courtesy of 9-year-old Philip Adeeri Fagbenro, who plays for a Nigerian Little League, Ekiti Kete, in Ekiti State, and once touted a glove he made with his own hands. .
Lance Van Auken, the vice president and executive director of the World of Little League Museum, said one of his Facebook friends shared a picture of Philip with the homemade glove, and after getting in touch with Philip’s coach, he struck a deal to have the gear displayed as the centerpiece of a museum exhibit in Williamsport.
Thanks to a shipment worth about $47, the glove arrived in June and has been “one of the museum’s most important artifacts” at its Connections Gallery, according to the museum itself:
“It’s made from cardboard, paper, glue, black thread, and copper wire,” Mr. Van Auken said. “You can tell that Philip worked hard to make it authentic-looking, including the stitching. .
It reminds me of some of the equipment created or repurposed by children in the U.S. before Little League came along.”
Very few players in the Ekiti Kete Little League have gloves and other equipment, so after receiving Philip’s glove, Little League International sent him back a brand-new Easton glove to replace the one he provided to the Museum. .
In addition to the glove, Little League also provided Philip’s league with a kit of other baseball equipment, as well as school supplies for the school which he attends.