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Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright purchases teammate a rental car for the spring

Courtesy of USA Today Sports

Ryan Sherriff is a 26-year-old lefty in St. Louis Cardinals camp. He’s not only a longshot to make the Cardinals, but is a longshot to ever pitch in the majors. Still, Sherriff and Adam Wainwright combined for what will be one of Spring Training’s nicest stories.

Wainwright had spotted Sherriff walking 10-15 minutes to the team’s facility to his condo. He’d also seen Sherriff walking 10-15 minutes in the other direction to buy groceries.

One day, a team employee asked Sherriff for his driver’s license for an unrevealed reason. Not long after, it made more sense.

“Why a team employee needed his license was never explained until later in the day, when Sherriff’s phone rang,” Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote. “It was, he said, from a St. Louis area code. One of the clubbies was calling to tell him a Nissan Altima rental car had been delivered for him at the ballpark, all expenses paid.”

Sherriff was overwhelmed by the gesture.

He also called his mother and “started crying” out of appreciation for his teammate.

So, what triggered Wainwright’s generosity?

According to Goold, veteran Mark Mulder bought Wainwright a box of new shirts after seeing him wear the same old shirts every day. Now with the roles reversed, Wainwright wanted to keep the generosity going.

“That’s the kind of thing that happened to me when I was younger,” Wainwright said, per Goold. “Many many many things like that happened to me. You just kind of pass that stuff on.”

Sherriff did give Wainwright a nice gift in return.

All parties involved deserve praise for this one.

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