The boy who lost his autographs

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…