The 77-year-old Farmington Hills resident was watching his phone on Sunday, July 12, when his grandson's name appeared on the MLB.com draft tracker.

Jayden Lobliner, a 21-year-old catcher from the University of San Diego, had just been selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the ninth round, 264th overall, of the 2026 MLB Draft.

"It was a triple wow and a wonderful early birthday present when I saw Jayden's name pop up on the MLB.com website on my phone," Waxer told the Jewish News. "I yelled so loud, it drove my dog crazy."

Waxer turns 78 on Tuesday, August 4.

Lobliner, born in Royal Oak, moved with his family to St. Charles, Ill., where he attended high school. He started his college career at Kansas State University before transferring to San Diego, where he earned back-to-back West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year awards and landed on the midseason watch list for the 2026 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award.

In 103 career games at San Diego, Lobliner hit .291 with 16 home runs and 69 RBIs while throwing out 28 would-be base stealers. He started all 51 games in his final season.

On Thursday, May 14, Lobliner hit for the cycle against Loyola Marymount, becoming only the second player in San Diego program history to accomplish the feat. Two days later, on Saturday, May 16, he delivered a walk-off single against the same opponent.

Waxer, a Detroit Mumford High School and Wayne State University graduate, has run Parties with Class, a Southfield-based catering service, for 45 years. He's also a decorated bowler who competed for Team USA at the 2001 and 2005 Maccabiah Games in Israel and the 2003 Pan American Maccabiah Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He served as president of both the International B'nai B'rith Bowling Association and the Metropolitan Detroit B'nai B'rith Bowling Association.

The baseball-bowling overlap produced a coincidence Waxer can't stop talking about. His fellow Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson B'nai B'rith Bowling League member Stu Vinsky has a grandson, David Vinsky, who was also drafted by the Cardinals, in the 15th round in 2019 out of Northwood University.

The proud grandfather has also been collecting congratulations around town since the draft. He ran into Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell and his wife eating at the Sunrise Cafe in Farmington Hills, shared the news, and received Campbell's congratulations on the spot. It was the first time the two had met. Former Red Wings star Darren McCarty, president of the Detroit Sports Media group where Waxer is a member, also reached out.

Waxer still has the video he recorded of Lobliner's first over-the-fence home run on Friday, July 6, 2012, during a travel baseball tournament in the Chicago area. Fourteen years later, Lobliner has signed a professional contract and reported to the Cardinals' training facility in Palm Beach, Fla.