Baseball team cancels ‘Juice Box Night’ planned to make fun of A-Rod

A minor league team’s A-Rod Juice Box Night promotion was canceled Friday after the New York Yankees protested.

The Charlotte (N.C.) Stone Crabs, a Class A affiliate for the Tampa Bay Rays, planned to poke fun at New York infielder/designated hitter Alex Rodriguez with a contest for Friday night’s game that the Yankees found to be in poor taste.

“The first 500 fans in attendance will receive an A-Rod themed juice box they can either drink or donate to the Charlotte County Homeless Coalition, and any fan wearing an A-Rod jersey, t-shirt or hat will receive a free ticket to the game,” according to the promotion slated for the game against the Tampa Yankees.

The juice box had affixed to it a label that listed possible side effects of “The Sports Drink,” “100% Juiced” with “tainted records, inflated ego, omission from the Hall of Fame, and more!” The reference was to Rodriguez’s involvement with performance-enhancing substances in the past.

Rodriguez returned to the Yankees this year after a one-year suspension and is batting .246 with 10 home runs and 22 RBIs in 38 games.