ARMOUR SQUARE — The White Sox have stepped up for a 9-year-old baseball fan and memorabilia collector who lost his home in the deadly California wildfires.
Santa Rosa resident Loren Jaden Smith's home burned to the ground in the fires, and the young collector lost quite the collection in the process: 17 jerseys, 10 hats, game-used balls, balls signed by Oakland A's legends and much of the current team, plus countless baseball cards, according to SB Nation.
Smith then wrote a touching letter to his favorite team, the A's, detailing the loss and his love of baseball.
Young @Athletics fan pens heartbreaking letter to team after losing all of his baseball memorabilia in the #NorthBayFires #abc7now pic.twitter.com/5dNDt5PLkY
— Katie Utehs (@KatieUtehs) October 15, 2017
"I played baseball in my backyard all day loving the A's and making up my own game," Smith's letter to the A's reads. "But my house burned down in the Santa Rosa fire... So Sad. I know you are not all together but hope they get this."
The letter went viral, and after the A's agreed to outfit Smith's family with gear and memorabilia, the White Sox and other teams donated to Smith's collection.
We’d love to help out the baseball family. There’s some White Sox swag on its way to you, Loren! pic.twitter.com/pRYoVF6yjZ
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) October 17, 2017
The Sox sent over a team bag, bobblehead, t-shirt, hat, plush doll, water bottle, baseball cards and baseballs signed by Avisail Garcia and Sox legend Harold Baines.
Smith's family said the baseball teams' donations are a silver lining amid the tragedy that struck them and their neighbors.
"It breaks my heart just that he is not going to be back here screaming and yelling homes runs that he hit over the fence with the whiffle ball to the neighbors," Tait Smith, the boy's father, told a local ABC affiliate.
