SAN DIEGO — It was a dream come true for one of Manny Machado’s biggest fans when the Padres star met a young boy who idols him.
Christian Kandell, 7, may very well be Machado’s number one fan. His father, Mathew Kandell, recorded his son breaking into “tears of joy” when the Padres third baseman was announced at the World Baseball Classics in Miami back in March.
His dad posted a TikTok video on social media, stating in the caption that he couldn’t put his feelings into words to described how it felt to see his son so happy.
This game was Christian’s very first live baseball game.
The video showing the overjoyed fan clapping and becoming emotional was quickly picked up by popular Instagram account “Padres Blogger” and it took off from there.
The celebratory video found it’s way all the way to Machado, who took it upon himself to send a message to his dedicated superfan. The result: more tears of joy.
Machado invited Christian and his dad to attend the May 30 San Diego Padres away game against the Miami Marlins in VIP-style.
On Tuesday in Florida, Christian “walked onto his field of dreams” to meet his favorite Major League Baseball player face-to-face. Machado complimented Christian’s “swag” and personally signed a baseball for the young fan.
Christian even sat in the dugout during pregame interviews as well as got a behind the scenes look in the locker room, where Machado gifted the 7-year-old with a game-used bat and gloves.
Christian and his dad joined FOX 5 via Zoom from Naples, Florida on Friday to recount the moment with the Padres player. Mathew says Machado told Christian he was super excited to meet him in-person.
This may not be the last time you see Christian. His father says he’s been in talks with Padres officials about finding a date in the summer for the 7-year-old superfan to come out to Petco Park and throw a first pitch to his idol.
FOX 5’s Jill Chandler and Phil Blauer contributed to this report.