Producers of a feel-good children’s animated movie have cut Alex Rodriguez from their flick over investor fears that the disgraced Yankee’s role would lead to a box-office strikeout.
A-Rod’s voice and animated image were all set for “Henry & Me,” but when the final cut hits movie screens in April, the steroids-loving third-baseman will not be included. “We have to do what we have to do,” said executive producer Ray Negron.
A-Rod is fighting a 211-game suspension handed down by Major League Baseball over his ties to Biogenesis, the Florida performance-enhancing-drug mill.
Rodriguez’s appeal is expected to keep him on the field for the rest of this season, before an arbitrator rules over the winter. So the slugger could be under suspension when the movie comes out, and investors feared that distraction.
“We don’t want to get caught up with everything that’s happening right now,” Negron said. “This is too important a message of what we’re trying to relay to kids.
The movie is about a young cancer victim named Jack who meets “Henry,” and they go on a magical journey to meet Yankees greats, past and present.