Mariners fan makes another's Christmas dream come true with a gifted Ichiro bat

Mariners fan makes a Christmas dream come true

By Michael Clair

December 17, 2015

The holiday season is one that is characterized by a time of warmth and family and drinking hot cocoa before a roaring fire. Unfortunately, the cynical side of us can often focus instead on the darker, meaner sides of it, like all those Black Friday sales gone awry. Fortunately, there are still plenty of stories of goodness out there.

Enter Marty, a Mariners fan. When he heard that Seattle-based artist Keegan Hall's sister, who suffers from cerebral palsy among other issues, was a massive fan of Ichiro's, he got an idea. After all, he had a bat of Ichiro's that he won at auction and knew just who could use it.

At first, Hall tried to turn the bat down. As he posted on his Facebook page:

"Marty said that he has enjoyed the bat for so many years but, after learning how much my sister loves Ichiro, he thinks that she'll treasure it even more.

He has no idea. When I give this bat to my sister for Christmas she is going to explode with excitement!

And to think…. We were complete strangers. He didn't know me or my sister. He just wanted to make another person happy. That's it."

But while that's a heartwarming story in itself, it doesn't end there. The Mariners caught wind of it and knew what they needed to do: Pay it forward by gifting Marty with a signed Ichiro jersey.

.@KeeganHall Awesome story! Please make sure this gets to Marty for us. #TrueToTheBlue pic.twitter.com/veVgeKqWj4
- Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) December 15, 2015

On Thursday, Keegan went to Marty's office to surprise him with the gift. I'll let Keegan take it from here:

Then came the moment: I presented him with the signed jersey.

Marty's eyes lit up as I handed him the jersey.

He slowly leaned back in his chair while staring at the jersey in disbelief as he continued to process what was happening.

A slight gloss began to shine from his eyes, and he didn't say anything for nearly 20 seconds.

He didn't have to.

Finally, he spoke: "No one has ever done something like this for me."

If you've read this story and a slight gloss hasn't shined from your eyes, then I don't know what I can say. This is the kind of thing that makes the Grinch's heart grow two sizes.