Oakland A's start fund for young fan who wrote team about losing memorabilia in wildfires
The Oakland Athletics have set up a fund to help a young fan who wrote the team about losing all his memorabilia after wildfires destroyed his home.
Loren Jade Smith, a 9-year-old from Santa Rosa, Calif., wrote a letter telling the team how he played baseball with his younger brother and how he lost his 17 A's jerseys and 10 hats.
"To the Oakland A's:
I love watching your A's games. I want to be an A's player and I play at Mark West Little League in Santa Rosa. I played baseball in my backyard all day loving the A's and making up my own game. In my backyard they won six World Series in a row. But my house burned down in the Santa Rosa fire and my saddest things was my baseball collection cards, my 17 jerseys and 10 hats and my baseball from the game and also a ball signed by the whole team and Rickey Henderson and Bob Melvin. My brother and me have so much fun but he is only 9 months old. I am teaching him how to throw balls. I have every single A's card from 2000 to now but I am 9-years-old. I had a major league baseball and it all burned up. So sad. I know you are not all together but hope they get this.
By Loren"
A's president Dave Kaval responded to the letter with a tweet, saying, "This is so touching. So sad to hear about their loss. We would be happy to completely outfit the family in new Athletics gear."
After the letter was shared, fans began showing their support on social media and asking how they could help.
The team set up a fund for Smith and his family and tweeted out details Monday afternoon, telling fans where they could send memorabilia to help Smith rebuild his collection.
Follow Spain on Twitter @kevin_spain