A handcrafted glove by a Nigerian schoolboy in Ekiti State state has been adopted as a memorabilia by the World of Little League Museum in the United States.
The baseball glove made up of cardboard and copper wires was the handiwork of nine-year-old Philip Adeeri Fagbenro, who plays for Ekiti Kete, a Nigerian Little League.
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 centrepiece of a museum exhibit in Williamsport.
Thanks to a shipment worth about $47 in American money, or more than N17,000 , the glove arrived in June and has been “one of the museum’s most important artefacts” 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.
The 2018 Little League World Series began on 16 August with Asia-Pacific beating Caribbean 4-2 and Mid-Atlantic also beating Midwest 5- 2
Other games on the opening day saw Mexico beating Australia 3-2 and Southwest beating New England 3-1.
Other first round games on Aug. 17 pitted Europe-Africa against Japan, Great Lakes against Northwest, Latin America taking on Canada and Southwest going up against the West.
The modified double elimination tournament continues with the international and U.S. title games on Aug. 25 and world championship contest at 3 p.m. the following day.
A team from Queensland will represent Australia with the other seven international entries and the eight from the United States to be determined in coming weeks.
The second MLB-Little League Classic with the Phillies hosting the New Mets will be played at historic Bowman Field in Williamsport on Aug. 19.
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