It's Free Beer Friday at the @StoneCrabs! You can get an A-Rod Juice Box at the gate too pic.twitter.com/VV195QTvay
— Minor League Promos (@MiLBPromos) May 22, 2015
In hindsight, this may have been a poor idea to begin with. The Port Charlotte Stone Crabs, the Tampa Bay Ray’s Single A affiliate, decided to have some fun Friday night at the expense of Alex Rodriguez by hosting an “A-Rod Juice Box Night.”
The Tampa Bay Times first reported that “the first 500 fans get a free juice box (which they can drink or donate to the Charlotte County Homeless Coalition) and any fans bringing A-Rod T-shirts, hats or other merchandise to be donated to the Salvation Army can get a free ticket.” However, the promotion was quickly removed once the major league teams in Tampa Bay and New York caught wind of it. Per The Times, The Stone Crabs organization later issued this apology statement:
The Charlotte Stone Crabs organization would like to apologize for the insensitive nature of tonight’s promotion. We in no way meant any ill-intent or to offend anyone through this promotion.
We sincerely apologize to the New York Yankees organization, the Tampa Bay Rays organization, and anyone offended by this promotion.
It’s not that the short-lived “A-Rod Juice Box Night” wasn’t fine social commentary, but there was no way it was ever going to fly.
