Written by Jennifer Langosh at Cardinals.com
For more than two weeks, just as the sun was rising, Ryan Sherriff would leave his rented Spring Training home and begin his walk to work.
The journey wasn’t far, 10 minutes by foot, Sherriff estimated. But it was unusual. Most players rent cars for the duration of camp or at least arrange a carpool schedule. Sherriff, a 28th-round pick who hasn’t yet risen above Triple-A, was the exception.
He didn’t make a big deal about the lack of transportation and actually grew to enjoy the walk. What he didn’t realize, however, was that someone was watching.
For three consecutive days earlier this week, veteran right-hander Adam Wainwright passed Sherriff on his way to the park. Each time, Sherriff was further away than the last. Wainwright was too curious to leave the observation alone.
He approached Sherriff on Wednesday and, after learning that Sherriff did not have a vehicle, offered him a bike or a car. Sherriff politely declined and went about his day. Then, shortly after walking home that afternoon, he received a call from a member of the Cardinals’ equipment staff.
There was a Nissan Altima at the complex with his name on it, Sherriff was told. Wainwright had taken care of the rental car cost.
“I started crying because no one had done anything like that for me,” Sherriff said. “It was awesome.”
Couldnt thank Waino enough for purchasing me a rental car for Spring Training. He saw me walk every morning to the field and surprised me.
— Ryan Sherriff (@KingSherriff) March 2, 2017
For Wainwright, it was a pay-it-forward moment.
“That’s the kind of thing that happened to me when I was younger,” Wainwright said. “I remember I wore a couple of tired collared shirts a couple days in a row to the field, and Mark Mulder bought me a whole box of collared shirts. Many, many things like that happened to me, so you just kind of pass that stuff on.”
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