Team cancels A-Rod juice box promo

Published 10:22 am Monday, May 25, 2015

NEW YORK (AP) — A minor league team of the Tampa Bay Rays has canceled an “A-Rod Juice Box” promotion that barbed slugger Alex Rodriguez after a complaint by the New York Yankees.

The Class A Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Florida State League had planned the giveaway to the first 500 fans Friday night. The writing on the boxes said “100% percent juiced” with side effects that included “tainted records, inflated ego, omission from the Hall of Fame, and more!”

The Yankees spoke to Major League Baseball, the Rays and the FSL after learning of the promotion. Rodriguez, fourth on the career home run list, missed the 2014 season while serving a drug suspension and returned to the Yankees this year.

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The Stone Crabs wiped out the event and issued an apology for the “insensitive nature” of the promotion, saying “we in no way meant any ill intent or to offend anyone.”