The Athletics think selling T-shirts playing off A's pitcher Dallas Braden's early-season feud with Alex Rodriguez is a good marketing opportunity. Braden calls it a "suicide request."  The A's, who are near the bottom of the major leagues in the attendance, have T-shirts on sale that play off Braden's comments to the Yankees third baseman during an April 22 game in Oakland. "Get off my mound," read the shirts.  Braden, who was pitching in the game, was upset when A-Rod crossed the pitcher's mound while returning to first base following a foul ball.  "They're trying to generate revenue, trying to get butts in the seats, I can see that," Braden told the New York Daily News during this week's Yankees-A's series that marked the Yankees' return to the A's home ballpark. "It's almost like, at what cost do you do that? They didn't have permission. They were told on multiple occasions that, no, it's not a good idea. It's not going to be approved. They just kind of put the horse-blinders on and ran with it."  According to the Daily News, Braden said the A's marketing department went to the Major League Baseball Players Association to get the shirt approved, but was not given permission to license it.  "It's just not cool," Braden said. "It's just a serious, gross lack of tact. At the end of the day, I hope I do not become associated with that kind of approach."  The A's released this statement, cited by the Daily News, in response to Braden's comments:  "We regret that Dallas has expressed concern. The organization created these shirts in response to numerous fan requests and made them to generate interest in this series. The shirts represent the competitive nature of the team, which Dallas epitomizes, and were intended as a fun way to engage the fans. We will speak privately with Dallas about this to clarify our position and make sure we have a clear line of communications going forward."  To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor  . For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to  . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to
Dallas Braden denounces T-shirt celebrating A-Rod feud - Daily Pitch: MLB News, Standings, Schedules & More - USATODAY.com