MEXICO CITY — Padres players didn’t just travel to a new country. For a few hours on Friday, they ventured back in time.
As they ran drills, posed for photos and signed autographs for players from Liga Infantil de Beisbol Olmeca A.C. ahead of this weekend’s Mexico City Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Padres recalled their own first interactions with big-leaguers.
Xander Bogaerts was suddenly 9 years old again, maybe 10. There was a celebrity softball game in town. He had nothing for the players to sign.
Except. …
“I had a phone, and I remember Andruw Jones signed the back of my phone,” Bogaerts said with a laugh. “I was probably, like, maybe 9 or 10. I didn’t want to throw away that phone for anything.”
Manny Machado was suddenly back on the field at Marlins Park, meeting his baseball heroes at the Miami club’s annual FanFest.
“Mike Lowell, (Antonio) Alfonseca,” he said, naming two fan-favorite Marlins. “It was a cool moment to be on the field with them and then get an autograph. Alex Gonzalez was there as a shortstop, and he was a big impact (on me). I used to watch him a lot.”
Jason Adam was home again in Kansas City, taking part in a camp not unlike Friday’s event 1,600 miles away.
“I remember (Royals star) Jermaine Dye. I think Carlos Beltran was there,” he said. “So those were kind of my guys growing up in Kansas City.”
Childhood memories tend to stick into adulthood. And no baseball-crazy boy or girl will ever forget their first meeting with a big-league player.
“Tons of smiles, tons of laughter,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said, noting baseball “brings us all together.”
Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres is rushed by young players for autographs during the team’s kids clinic at Liga Infantil de Beisbol Olmeca A.C on Friday, April 24, 2026 in Mexico City. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
So, yes, more than a dozen Padres lingered a little longer than planned at Olmeca on Friday, making memories alongside the 250 or so baseball and softball players ages 4 to 17 from arguably Mexico City’s most famous youth baseball league. (Former Padres and Diamondbacks pitcher Rodrigo Lopez grew up there, more than one local pointed out with pride.)
The Padres high-fived till their hands were sore. They praised, joked and teased in broken Spanish. The kids, playing baseball during what are normally school hours, were in no hurry to leave, either.
Friday marked the Padres’ second trip to Olmeca, having visited the 63-year-old league before their first Mexico City Series game three years ago. A green oasis in a city of 9 million people, Olmeca’s complex is marked by a pair of massive concrete Olmec heads — one near the bleachers and another in dead-center field. The ball flies here at nearly 1 1/2 miles high, so it’s indeed possible for a strong hitter to hit one on the fly.
The kids in attendance on Friday wore Padres City Connect T-shirts courtesy of the club; the Padres, in turn, wore Olmeca baseball caps.
Friday’s event began with a formal introduction, the youth players saying “Hello” in unison, in perfect English. Eduardo Ortega, the Padres’ Spanish-language broadcasting legend, then introduced Stammen and more than a dozen players. Club CEO Erik Greupner spoke as club chairman John Seidler watched nearby.
The plan was then for the visiting Padres players, coaches and ambassadors — former stars Mark Loretta and Jake Peavy were also in attendance — to put the kids through a few baseball drills. The kids and coaches fanned out between the “local” (home) and “visitante” (visitor) dugouts and onto the pristine infield and sprawling outfield, where they started some fielding and throwing drills.
Gavin Sheets #30 of the San Diego Padres smiles as he works out with young players during the team’s kids clinic at Liga Infantil de Beisbol Olmeca A.C on Friday, April 24, 2026 in Mexico City. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The pop of gloves and laughter of children rang through the field for a while — until a few industrious boys and girls got their manos on some bolígrafos.
Then the autograph avalanche was on.
Kids who didn’t bring pens with them scrambled to borrow one from anybody — the adults on the field, their parents in the stands, even a reporter standing nearby. There were no baseball cards to sign, and few pristine balls perfect for an autograph.
The kids didn’t care.
Hats and shirts were marked up in a matter of minutes. Bogaerts signed one little leaguer’s juice bottle. Another kid, upon getting a shoe signed by the Padres shortstop, made a sound of pure joy … then sprinted away.
Adam said he signed “a lot of zapatos,” he said. “I don’t know how to say cleats in Spanish.”
Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres signs autographs during the team’s kids clinic at Liga Infantil de Beisbol Olmeca A.C on Friday, April 24, 2026 in Mexico City. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Asked how many autographs he signed, Machado wondered how many kids were in attendance. Told 250, he said: “250 times two. Maybe three. Everywhere. Everything.”
Machado said it with a smile. He was the most popular Padre on this day. Player introductions were interrupted when a group of kids, maybe 20 of them, began chanting “Machado! Machado! Rah! Rah! Rah!”
But other Padres brought star power, too: Mason Miller, Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth, Miguel Andujar and others.
And thanks to a certain slugger’s attendance, more than one Mexico City resident now knows what “Holy Sheets” means.
Soon it was “Padres! Padres! Rah! Rah! Rah!”
Jason Adam of the San Diego Padres signs autographs for young players during the team\xe2\x80\x99s kids clinic at Liga Infantil de Beisbol Olmeca A.C on Friday, April 24, 2026 in Mexico City. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Events like Friday’s “humanizes the big-leaguer,” Adam said, “and it reminds you, as a kid, that it’s possible.”
Bogaerts has a lot of baseball heroes, Derek Jeter chief among them. But his childhood interaction with Jones, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer, still resonates.
Maybe it’s why Bogaerts signed his final autograph as he walked the final 10 steps to the team’s bus parked along Avenida Cinco de Mayo.
“Even when I shag (flies) to this day,” he said, “I do it as if I’m Andruw Jones.”
Machado, too, went back to the future one more time before leaving Olmeca and returning to the major-league grind.
“I was in parks like this when I was a young kid,” he said. “So, to see (kids) here, enjoying it, having the privilege to be around big-leaguers … and now we’re here to give back and give these kids a dream. That’s the most important part.”