Bristol 7-Year-Old 'Signs' With SJU Baseball Team

BRISTOL BOROUGH, PA — St. Joseph's University's newest baseball recruit may be only 7 years old. But everyone who knows Mason Wyckoff says he has enough heart for the whole team.

Mason, of Bristol Borough, lives with common variable immune disease, a condition that essentially means his immune system doesn't function. Since he was born, his mom Brianna says, Mason has had six surgeries, more than 420 doctor visits, 2,000 breathing treatments and weekly infusions.

But, at a ceremony on Saturday, Mason signed a letter of intent, officially becoming part of the St. Joseph's baseball team. With his mom by his side and his teammates standing behind him, he officially became a Hawk.

Mason's signing was made possible through Team Impact, a national nonprofit that connects children facing serious and chronic illnesses with college sports teams in their area. The program works to form bonds between the kids and players that can be life-changing.

That's definitely been the case for Mason, Brianna says.

"The program is amazing," she told Patch. "It’s allowed Mason to be a part of a team when otherwise he wouldn’t be able to."

In the past, Mason has tried playing T-ball and doing martial arts. But his mom says that both times, he ended up in the hospital after being exposed to illness by other kids.

"College-age students and adults don’t seem to pose the same level of threat, which makes being on a college team much more doable," she said.

As part of the program, Mason joins the Hawks baseball team at practices, participating when he can and resting and watching when he needs to because of chronic fatigue. He's also spent time with his SJU teammates, and Coach Fritz Hamburg, off the diamond.

They attended the Flyers Wives Carnival together, FaceTime together regularly and hang out and play video games in the team's clubhouse. Team members visited Mason during one of his recent infusions at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

"They are an incredible group of guys who really enjoy Mason, not because they are being told to but because they want to," Brianna said. "We couldn’t have asked for a better team."

Headquartered in Quincy, MA, Team Impact was founded in 2011 by Jay Calnan and Dan Kraft, along with a group of former classmates and business associates. Since then, thousands of children have been hooked up with tens of thousands of college athletes through the program.

Through the program, children are "drafted" by local sports teams and become full-fledged members, attending practices, games, team dinners, events and more.

Scroll through the photographs above to see Mason in action with his Hawks teammates.

Photos courtesy St. Joseph's University, Brianna Wyckoff