March 18, 2013

EASTON, Pa. – For the second straight year, the Friends of Lafayette Baseball have announced that Joe Maddon '76, the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, has donated his four tickets to select Rays' games throughout the 2013 MLB season. The Friends of Baseball will be holding a silent auction for tickets spanning 27 dates and 16 different Major League ballparks.

The winner of each auction will also receive four field passes to meet with Maddon during batting practice. Each auction ends two weeks prior to the date of the game. In addition to eight Rays' home games, tickets are available for games in Arlington, New York, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Oakland, St. Paul and Seattle.

The 2013 Joe Maddon Lafayette Baseball Tour is a fundraiser to supplement the Lafayette baseball program's annual operational budget as well as other large-scale projects germane to the program.

Visit the auction homepage for more information or to place a bid.

Joe Maddon '76 has twice been named the American League Manager of the Year, most recently in 2011 after leading the Rays on a dramatic run to the postseason. He also earned the award in 2008 after guiding the Rays to their first World Series appearance in franchise history. Maddon, who majored in Economics at Lafayette, was the Leopards' catcher for three seasons prior to signing as a free agent with the California Angels in 1975.

After four years as a backstop in the Angels' minor-league system, Maddon remained with the organization in various coaching roles. He served two short stints as interim manager of the Angels in 1996 and 1999 and was a bench coach for the club's 2002 World Series Championship. He became the Rays' manager in November of 2005. Maddon, a 2009 Maroon Club Hall of Fame inductee, was awarded an honorary doctor of letters degree from Lafayette on Sept. 2, 2010.