EAST RUTHERFORD − Christian Campusano is a Yankee Kid all the way. His favorite players are Aaron Judge and … Jim Abbott.
Wait a minute, Jim Abbott?
“I’d love to meet him,” Campusano said with a bright smile. “He was a pitcher for the Yankees. He had the same condition as me.”
Campusano, 11, is getting ready to enter sixth grade in East Rutherford. He loves playing FIFA on his Xbox, his two frisky dogs, his little sister Luciana and playing baseball… not necessarily in that order. He’s a pitcher and first baseman who has played baseball for three years.
Like the famous Abbott, who played for the Yankees well before Christian was born, Christian was born with one hand. Abbott was a lefty. Christian is a righty.
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Both never let their condition keep them from doing all the things they loved.
“It’s incredible,” said Jose Campusano, Christian’s father. “We don’t really…we don’t…mention his hand. To us, he’s just Christian. He’s always been like that. But I tell him, it’s absolutely incredible. If I tried to put a right-handed glove on [while pitching], if I tried to bat lefty… no shot at all, and I’m pretty athletic.”
Christian thinks he’s special too, but it’s not because of what he doesn’t have.
“I’m the best base-runner on the team,” he said.
Born this way
Jose Campusano was a good athlete at North Bergen, wrestling and playing baseball and football. Christian’s mother, Francesca, went to St. Mary in Rutherford.
“I don’t have an athletic bone in my body,” Francesca laughs. “I was a theatre nerd.”
The couple moved to East Rutherford just before Christian was born. By then, they knew there was something wrong.
“I was about four-and-a-half months along and they picked up on the hand situation,” Francesca remembered. “We did everything, a fetal MRI, a fetal EKG, an amniocentesis, they did a genetic work up on me, one on Jose. They came back and said we can’t find anything else wrong.”
Like every other new parent in the world, the Campusanos were already worried about their first child. Now he’d have to deal with having one hand. How would he crawl? How would he ride a bike? What about tying his shoes?
To get Christian to crawl, Jose would nudge his Xbox controller just out of reach. Christian would crawl using his left arm to balance. He figured it out.
“He’s just been doing stuff like this since he was little,” Jose said. “Our thing is, you’ll find your own way. We try to explain it in our mind how to accomplish something, but in the end, we say you have to find your own way and he does.”
Ride a bike? Christian figured it out. Tying his shoes? Christian shows how he does it right away, making a big loop over his left arm.
A sporty sort
The Campusanos visited a specialist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia when Christian was 1 year old, meeting with a surgeon famous for performing a double hand transplant. It was his belief that Christian had Symbrachydactyly, a syndrome that causes parts of the hand to be deformed. He offered them a prosthetic, but they weren’t interested.
The Campusanos were comfortable with that diagnosis (Luciana is perfectly fine, coming along six years later) and Christian wanted to play sports. All of them. Francesca said Christian joined a track team sponsored by his school in kindergarten. He was doing tae kwon do before that.
As soon as he could, Christian started playing baseball. Jose coached him in just about everything (Francesca drew the line at football, worrying he would get hurt).
Christian played on his league's baseball all-star team this summer. He even competed in the home run derby.
“When I first met Christian at practice, he was 9,” said his Little League All-Star coach, Barry Blauvelt. “I thought this is awesome that he wants to play. He did every drill all the other players did and realized he had to work in transitioning his glove. He never once complained. Myself and the other coaches said no special treatment.”
Still, kids on opposing teams come up to Christian and ask him the deal with his missing hand. He gives it to them straight.
“When they ask me, I just say I was born like this,” Christian said. “I was born like this and that’s it.”
“I do think kids see him as an inspiration,” Blauvelt said. “His teammates just see Christian and don’t think anything of it. Other towns’ coaches are consistently coming up to us with words of encouragement and praise for him. I see him more as an inspiration on just how hard he worked and his determination to be a better player.”
All about Jim Abbott
Jim Abbott last pitched in the Major Leagues in 1999, but baseball fans remember his name.
Sure, Jose and Francesca had heard of Abbott, but it wasn’t until a family friend sent the family a baseball card during COVID that they started studying him.
Abbott's highlights became a gift. Christian's parents could show him how Abbott transferred his glove in one motion and how he played the game with no fear.
They could show Christian how Abbott became a pro, a respected Major Leaguer who won 87 games in his career and threw a no-hitter for the Yankees in 1993.
“We started watching videos and that’s how Christian really became aware of who he was,” Francesca said. “That was a beautiful gift from his friend.”
“We showed him [Vikings defensive back] Shaquill Griffin videos, and there was a college basketball player with one arm,” Jose said. “We just wanted to show him as he’s growing up, if you work hard, you can do these things. This guy played in the NFL. This guy pitched for the Yankees.”
Christian isn’t thinking about the pros just yet. He’s thinking about entering sixth grade, honing his two-seam fastball, and switch-hitting. But it’s good to know those dreams are out there. He has the support of his family, the respect of his coaches and peers. He’s found his own path, and he’s on his way.
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