LOS ANGELES -- Giants officials saved themselves a lot of waste and even more embarrassment, canceling an order for 20,000 Melky Cabrera T-shirts just as their supplier was about to print them.
Fans attending the Sept. 8 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers will receive an Angel Pagan T-shirt instead, club vice president Staci Slaughter said.
"We were able to cancel the order in time and we're happy that fans will receive a T-shirt as scheduled," said Slaughter, without further comment.
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The Giants are seeking to distance themselves from Cabrera after the All-Star MVP was suspended 50 games for a positive testosterone test. The situation went from chaotic to outright embarrassing when the New York Daily News revealed that one of Cabrera's handlers affiliated with his agents created a phony Web site and a made-up product in an effort to persuade Major League Baseball officials that the 27-year-old outfielder inadvertently took a banned substance.
Similarly, Cabrera was not truthful with Giants officials, team trainers and even teammates when word of the positive test began to leak in late July.
The T-shirt giveaway will still feature the "Gigantes" logo on the front but will bear Pagan's name and number on the back.
The Giants wouldn't have been so fortunate if they were giving out Melky Cabrera bobblehead dolls, which go through months of design, revision and production before they are handed out.
San Francisco Giants
On a related note, the Philadelphia Phillies still plan to hand out thousands of Hunter Pence bobbleheads at Citizens Bank Park Tuesday night.
Pence was traded to the Giants on July 31.