RANCHO SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Leave it to the San Diego Padres Rookie baseball team to make an 8-year-old boy's dream come true. In this Zevely Zone, Jeff heads to Rancho San Diego for a feel-good home run story. When second-grader Grayson Geraghty sent his class's Flat Stanley to the San Diego Padres Rookie team they played ball.
"Dear Padres family, Hi I am Stanley Lambchop," read Grayson. It took a lot of courage for the 8-year-old and his second-grade classmates to step up to the plate. But when the San Diego Padres Rookie Team agreed to participate in their Flat Stanley project the students went wild.
"Flat Stanley is supposed to go on adventures with the kids," said Grayson's mother Heather. She told us Mrs. Hanks' class at Vista Grande Elementary is filled with Padre fans. "They are all baseball fans, they are all sports fans, they love the Padres," said Heather.
When the Padres responded with a personalized letter to her son, Heather was really touched. "I thought this is pretty amazing," she said.
Grayson read part of the letter, "Dear Grayson, we had a blast hanging out with our pal Flat Stanley during his time with us." The Padres Rookie Team also sent back a journal describing how they welcomed Flat Stanley to the team.
Stanley got to spend the day with the team in the dugout and on the field.
"This is one of my favorites. Flat Stanley fell into the sunflower seeds," said Heather. Flat Stanley also did some coaching and must have picked the right lineup because the Padres beat the Colorado Rockies Rookie Team 10 to 8. "He even got in the down and dirty," said Heather. "I think they put him to work."
Flat Stanley washed all of the dirty Padre uniforms. "Kind of just shows that you got to try right?" said Heather. Grayson added, "You never give up."
The players even sent Grayson a Padres hat and team stickers. "I felt good and excited," said Grayson who says he will be a Padre fan for life. "Probably, ha, ha," said Grayson. Flat Stanley may not have traveled the world, but he did make it to Peoria and back in no time flat.
Grayson and his classmates would like to thank the entire Padres organization for supporting their school project.
WATCH: Zevely Zone hits the ballpark with San Diego Padres' organist Bobby Cressey