You may have already heard the news, if not, read the letter below from Justin Huber.
Prepare yourself with a tissue first...it's bittersweet.
I am not emotionally ready to say it verbally yet!
Yep, that day, as a diehard fan, you are never ready for! The day your favourite player re, ret... (Come on Billy, you can say it!) retires!
Our boy, Justin Huber is all class...and then some!
My favourite player on the planet, didn't want me to just read the letter in my inbox so he thought it was important to ring and tell me the sad but 'happy for the future' news personally.
After finally tracking me down, he shared the news as I stood there speechless, crying. Haha poor guy.
I couldn't believe he would take a moment to track me down in his busy day and deliver the news himself!
It's been 26 hours of mourning since and now ready to write a short response.
A message from Huberfan,
So now that I have my emotions a little more under control (Aaagh, who am I kidding, I am crying again writing this! Dang it!) Anyway, I want to say the biggest thank you to you Justin, not for just being the best baseball player ever, not just for all the amazing memories, not just for causing me to become a great auction bidder trying to own your memorabilia, but for your character, love for team, insight and the heart and manner with which you go about everything you do.
You have so much greatness in you, it astounds me. It really has been such an honour to watch you partner that greatness with the influence you have across the world to grow the sense of family at a game or at training camps, to see how you form a brotherhood with the boys in the dugout, to see the future of baseball grow through you and in this next chapter, watch the excitement of it all come to life again as you champion on and lead this team and next generation of players!
I remember sitting at the Showgrounds and regularly prattling on to Chris and Trace about how good it would be if you were to lead this club. The vision of what I saw back then is so evident in you now, and that makes us as fans so happy! To see it actually happening is a dream come true!
My emotional tank is always going to want to see #26 in the lineup and knowing that those outstandingly beautiful cleats are hanging up next to those flipping beautiful gloves is going to take a while to process, but I can't wait to see what you rise up to pursue In the GM role and just want you to know I am with you all the way! Just when you thought you could get rid of me! So proud of you mate and praying God's best for you every day!
Job well done Hubes!
Huberfan
ps. Thank you for the phone call yesterday. As a fan, that was priceless!