Maddon signs Phillies hat, poses for picture

Jake Cassidy, 12, was looking for autographs with his dad today at the Rays' hotel.

Manager Joe Maddon came through the lobby and agreed to sign his Phillies hat, then patiently waited while Cassidy's dad Mark figured out how to take a picture with his iPhone.

"He's nice but he's not Charlie Manuel," Jake said.

--Stephanie Garry

Photo courtesy of Mark Cassidy

Comments

[Mark C]

Jay, no kidding.

[Jay]

Hey Mark C, I never said the kid was smarter than our fans. It's called sarcasm! Duh!

[Mark C]

to Laughing all the way: First off you, Rays fans, trashed a 12 year old who, as noted, is smarter than your fans, per Jay. What does that say about you? The proof is my family sticks together. You should all be like Jimbo!! Game time is less than one hour away so let's close this out. Go Phillies!

[jake]

and he I mean by joe maddon,and I met Cliff Floyd he is cool too.

[jake]

He is cool and markie you r right .OUR BELL IS BIGGER THAN YOURS!

[Meghan]

LET'S GO PHILLIES LET'S GO!!!!!!!!

[Mark]

love the originality

[Mark]

Jake don't worry about it they're just mad that were better then them and the signs all the fans made humiliated there front running style were half the people that like the rays now couldn't name five players on the team last year and i will take that bet. Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena still hitliss in the World Series, pretty humiliating for the 4th and 3rd spot. How about Joe Blantons home run!!!!And any of u mohawked cowbell losers that wanna say screw u 2 me and f u 2 me go ahead cuz i just know u know the phils r gonna win the world series!!!!EVA!!!

[Markie Grimes]

Our Bell is bigger and not homo

[Markie Grimes]

DO IT FOR STEVE IRWIN Beat the Rays

[Jay]

Smart kid! Of course, Joe Maddon is not Charlie Manuel. Joe is 100% better! Clearly the kid knows!

[Laughing all the way]

Meghan,
If you don't care about us, why are you (and your whole family it seems) trashing us on our own blog?

You seriously have nothing better to do?

You have proved the point of those commenting on the behavior of your fellow Phil fans.

jose,
Talk about made up.
There's no one bringing you anything on the non-existant beach in Tampa and there's certainly no one playing baseball there.
But don't let facts get in the way of your little rant.

[Jimbo]

OK, then, now I feel like a fool. My apologies, Meghan. That's the problem with being both a Phillies phan and a Rays fan; you have to keep the peace between the two, while trying to convince the other side they're truly not like the media portrays them to be and not knowing if what one side's saying is directed as you.

FYI, next time, don't stoop to the troll's levels; it makes you look like the bigger person if you don't! I hope your bro enjoyed his meeting; Joe really is a great manager, and I can see both him and Uncle Cholly both getting Manager of the Year. Should I send up a pair of Maddon glasses? :-)

[Meghan]

Jimbo,
I was not referring to you by any stretch of the imagination. I was commenting on the people, who like you said aren't "real people" who take the time to comment on what a 12 year old said, when that is how he feels.

Those people are the ones who really irk me the wrong way. Not just because Jake is my younger brother, but because there always has to be a couple in the world who have to comment and make someone feel bad about what they said. Now obviously, this moment was one of the greatest moments in Jake's life, and if he was to meet Manuel, I'm sure it would have been even greater.

[jose]

all this stuff is joke. romano' article was made up. its typical crap any city writes about phila, particularly a small city that has about 1/2 to offer as a major city like phila.

romano should be hauled in by editors for being lazy. that article has already been written about 500 times.

tampa is a nice little city; you do a great job of bringing me drinks at the beach, answering my phone calls and serving my steaks. gotta love that service economy.!!

[Mark]

Jimbo, I think Meghan was referring to the comments of the chosen few, not you.

[Jimbo]

Now, Meghan, I just got done saying we can all get along, then you go and insult us by saying no one cares about us. That's not cool at all. Even if we win or lose, both teams, not just the Phils, will have made their indelible mark on MLB for years to come.

Cut the holier-than-thou attitude. I've been a Phillies phan through the lean years also, as well as a Rays fan for the last 4 (which most were also extremely lean), so you're no better off than us. Yeah, the Phils may win, but that still doesn't give you the right to be a d-bag.

[Bob K., Jr.]

Way to go Jake. That was a rare experience. Don't pay attention to the rude comments. What fan, adult or otherwise, wouldn't throw support to their own team first? Go Phils!

[Meghan]

All I have to say is that any Tampa Bay fans that rip on a little kid for saying something that he feels is absolutely RIDICULOUS!!!

Philadelphia fans are there through thick and thin with their teams...if they are winning or not it doesn't matter. I totally agree with you Mark, we are tough fans and we are definitely passionate about our teams.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and quite frankly, to all of you TB fans...nobody cares about you because the PHILLIES are going to win the WORLD SERIES!!!!

LET'S GO PHILLLLLLIESSSSSSSS!!!!

[Mark]

Jimbo, some people do not even sign their name. Talk about class or lack there of. You are right, Phils fans are tough and passionate and when TB won the Super Bowl they were great. He was nervous when he was being interviewed but he loved it. Let's go PHILS!!!

[Jimbo]

The fact that people are calling for the kid's head here is despicable! Stop trying to turn Rays "fans" into Pink Hat Brigade wannabes.

Mark, I promise the real people, like myself, out there aren't wishing any ill-will toward your boy. Those are just trolls who think they can hide behind a screen name and act all rough and tough. I think it's great that Joe Maddon did that for you guys, and I understand what your son means by, "he's not Charlie Manuel;" he's a Phillies phan, just like me (I just happen to like the Rays also - my season tickets prove it), so there's no hard feelings from 99% of the Rays fans here.

Contrary to popular rumors, honest-to-goodness Rays fans are not bandwagoners, and Phillies phans are not out to eat your first born and use the corpse to throw at the Tooth Fairy. Both fans are really just passionate about seeing their team win, so we can totally get along...so long as Romano doesn't keep perpetuating the stereotype with his horrible excuse for journalism earlier today!

Well we can see who won the title of Most Classy in that exchange.
What a little snot.

[Mark]

Meant to say Terri is NOT great!!

[Mark]

Cheryl is right, it does say alot about the man. Comments such as Terri's are great but the rest are totally out of line, as you do not know the boy. I know because I am his father. Joe Maddon was a total gentleman and a class act from Hazelton and so was Cliff Floyd. Phils in 5!!

[Paul]

Terri...I thought the Red Sox and Yankees had the most obnoxious fans. Face it, you guys can't get along with anybody.

[terri]

what a rude little kid - typical Philadelphia fan - from any team - the most obnoxious, ignorant fans on the face of the earth. No class.

[Grim Reaper]

Caleb,
Don't close your eyes in the first inning. Really, take it all in.
TGR

[Caleb]

Screw the kid.

[Cheryl]

How awesome! Says a lot about the man.

[Normal People]

F U you stupid little brat.