Pittsburgh Pirates fans wearing Roberto Clemente jersey sit by a statue paying tribute to the Hall of Famer outside PNC Park. (Photo by Justin Berl/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
(Justin Berl via Getty Images)
A tribute to Pittsburgh Pirates legend Roberto Clemente that adorned the right-field wall at PNC Park was taken down and replaced by an advertisement. That decision has outraged the Clemente family, which said it wasn’t informed of the change by team management.
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Drawing attention to the matter drew a quick response from the Pirates, who announced that the sign, comprised of a diamond with Clemente’s name and his jersey number 21, will return to its place in right field, where the Hall of Famer played all but 68 of his 2,373 games in the field. (He played 2,433 games overall.)
The sign was on the wall near the right-field pole. However, an ad for alcoholic beverage Surfside is now in its place. The change was seen by those in attendance for the first time with the Pirates playing their home opener on Friday versus the New York Yankees.
Clemente’s son, Roberto Clemente Jr., issued a statement on Sunday — on the same date when the Hall of Famer’s number was retired by the Pirates — regarding the removal of the sign commemorating his father.
“Yesterday, I was shocked to learn that the Clemente 21 sign — a tribute to my foather on the right field wall at PNC Park in Pittsburgh — had been removed and replaced by an advertisement,” Clemente Jr. wrote. “This change was made without any communication or consultation with our family.
“While we appreciate that the Pirates acknowledged their failure to inform us, it reveals a broder issue, a lack of meaningful collaboration between the organization and on matters that are deeply personal and historically significant to us and the fans.”
Clemente Jr. went on to express gratitude to Pittsburgh fans and baseball fans around the country for taking inspiration from his father’s legacy, including his on-field achievements and off-field philanthropy.
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Team president Travis Williams took responsibility for what he called “a honest mistake” and “oversight” that was never intended to disrespect Clemente’s legacy.
“We have used this area for advertisements for many years,” Williams said in a statement. “When we didn’t have a sponsor coming out of COVID, we added an additional element in 2022 to honor the legacy of Roberto. It was a replica of the Three Rivers signage honoring him.”
Williams added that the right-field wall is 21 feet tall, in honor of Clemente’s number, named the Roberto Clemente Wall and has two No. 21 above the out-of-town scoreboard along the wall.
PNC Park also features a statue of Clemente outside the stadium’s center field gate near the Roberto Clemente Bridge leading to the ballpark.
“We want to make sure that the Clemente family understands that we intended no disrespect to their father,” Williams continued in his statement. “We look forward to continuing our relationship with the Clemente family and apologize to them and our fans for our honest mistake.”
Clemente died in 1972 when an airplane he was on carrying humanitarian aid supplies for victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua crashed off the coast of his native Puerto Rico.
The Pirates retired No. 21 in 1973 and many have called for the number to be retired throughout Major League Baseball as Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 is.
Clemente played all 18 of his MLB seasons with the Pirates, finishing with 3,000 career hits, 240 home runs and 1,305 RBI with a .317 average and .834 OPS. He is the team’s all-time leader in hits and tied for most games played in franchise history. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.
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