Parker's Blake Grice meet MLB great in honor of his papi: 'Lots of emotions'
For many kids, meeting a Major League Baseball player would be the memory of a lifetime. When surrounded by baseball's best at the All-Star Game in Los Angeles, 10-year-old Blake Grice from Parker didn't ask for any autographs. He was there for a bigger reason: to honor his grandfather.
"It was all on the [bucket] list," Blake explained. "My grandfather, Papi, was a big Dodgers fan. If you told him we're going to a game, he would say, 'ok, got my shoes on, got my clothes, let's go.'"
The story begins with Blake's grandfather, Graham Grice. Near the end of decades-long fight with brain cancer, Graham Grice created a bucket list with all his sports aspirations. At the top of the list was meeting with his favorite team's star player: Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw.
"He said, 'lets talk about all the things I'm going to do when I get better," Graham told Barrie Grice, his son and Blake's father. "He really didn't seem horrible at the time. [His passing] was kind of shocking. We just came up with all these things we were going to do."
Graham died before he could start crossing items off the bucket list. So young Blake decided to complete the list in his honor. He contacted the MLB, successfully petitioning for a media credential for the All-Star game in L.A. Blake met Kershaw in the postgame press conference, as a tearful Blake delivered the message his "Papi" never did.
"Lots of emotions," Blake recalled meeting Kershaw, "Sadness, because I really miss Papi. Happiness because I was checking it off the list. And [I was] really nervous. Three emotions just rushing through me."
Since the meet-up, Blake's story has reached ears across America. Another Dodgers legend, Vin Scully, is also on Graham's bucket list. Now, Blake's hopeful a similar meet-up will happen soon.
It's also an out-of-body experience for Blake's father, who spent many years in California.
"Just surreal. Kind of blown away by it all, but I guess everything happens for a reason," Barrie said.
