For the last three seasons, a corner of the right field wall at PNC Park featured a tribute to Pittsburgh Pirates icon Roberto Clemente.
On Saturday, fans noticed the decal adorning the position Clemente once patrolled was no longer there. Instead it had been replaced with an advertisement for Surfside canned cocktails. Considering how much Clemente means to the Pirates, baseball and humanitarian efforts, the ad received immediate backlash — including, most notably, from Roberto Clemente Jr.
The criticism on message boards and social media called out the organization for being too cheap to keep that part of the wall ad-free, while the team had a much different take on the situation.
WOW………….. https://t.co/qcL1O6zPZ2
— Roberto Clemente Jr (@RClementejr21) April 5, 2025
In a statement to ABC 4 Pittsburgh, the Pirates said the decal was never meant to become a permanent fixture at PNC Park:
"The 21-foot-high wall that officially bears Roberto Clemente’s name continues to, and will forever, display his No. 21 in two separate locations. The temporary wall sign in question was put in place before the 2022 season and was never meant to be a permanent tribute, simply another cap tip to 'The Great One.' We apologize that we didn’t directly communicate that fact to the Clemente family and our fans."
Well, sure. That's not totally unreasonable. But just as a general rule of thumb, if you're going to leave a temporary tribute up for three years and then decide take it down without warning, you should either expect a bit of backlash or just accept the decal has become permanent and find another part of the stadium to advertise cans of vodka-spiked iced tea.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Pittsburgh Pirates replacing Roberto Clemente tribute with an ad angered fans
