Oakland A's respond to heartbreaking letter from young fan whose home was destroyed in wildfires

A 9-year-old wrote his favorite sports team after wildfire destroyed his home.

ByABC News
October 16, 2017, 1:05 PM

— -- A young Santa Rosa resident wrote an emotional letter to his favorite professional baseball team, the Oakland Athletics, after his home burned to the ground along with all of his favorite sports memorabilia.

Nine-year-old Loren Jaden Smith wrote to the team:

"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 were 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. I am 9-years-old and 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."

ABC News affiliate KGO in San Francisco met Loren's family in the wake of the wildfire and tweeted a photo of his letter to the Athletics and the team's president, Dave Kaval.

"This is so touching. So sad to hear about their loss. We would be happy to completely outfit the family in new Athletics gear," Kaval replied to the post.

"It breaks my heart just that he is not going to be back here screaming and yelling home runs that he hit over the fence with the whiffle ball to the neighbors," the boy's father Tait Smith, told KGO, referring to the yard of the family's destroyed home.

Retired A's pitcher Dan Haren reached out on Twitter offering to help the boy's family.

A spokeswoman for the A's said that a meeting between the family and the team has been set for later this week and will likely include a few surprises.