The Pittsburgh Pirates have issued an apology to the family of Roberto Clemente after the team replaced a tribute to the late Hall of Famer on the right field wall at PNC Park with an ad for an alcoholic beverage.
‘When we added the advertisement to the pad, it was an oversight not to keep the No. 21 logo,’ Pirates president Travis Williams said Sunday in a statement. ‘This is ultimately on me, not anyone else in the organization. It was an honest mistake.’
The criticism was ignited Saturday when photos of the new ad for Surfside cocktails began popping up on social media.
Clemente’s son, Roberto Jr., expressed concern that no one from the Pirates organization had informed the family of the impending change.
In a statement posted to social media on Sunday, Clemente Jr. criticized what he called ‘a lack of meaningful collaboration between the organization and (the family) on matters that are deeply personal and historically significant to us and the fans.’
The team statement said there was no intent to diminish Clemente’s legacy, and that the space had been used for ads previously. The Clemente logo was placed on the right field wall in 2022 when the team didn’t have a sponsorship for it coming out of the COVID pandemic.
‘We want to make sure that the Clemente family understands that we intended no disrespect to their father,’ Williams said 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.’
The No. 21 logo will be returning to the right field wall, the team said.