April 7, 2025
Pittsburgh Pirates Will Place Roberto Clemente No. 21 Logo Back On Right Field Wall
The team apologized to Clemente's family for removing the logo for advertisement placement
After baseball fans and the family of Roberto Clemente expressed outrage over the Pittsburgh Pirates’ removal of the Major League Baseball Hall of Famer’s logo from the outfield wall at the team’s stadium, the team announced that it would be restored.
MLB.com reported that the team will add the player’s No. 21 logo back to the right field wall at PNC Park after it was removed to place an advertisement on the space. The logo has been in place for the past three seasons.
My statement on the removal of the Clemente 21 tribute sign at PNC Park. pic.twitter.com/lKW2TkMrpS
— Roberto Clemente Jr (@RClementejr21) April 6, 2025
The team’s president, Travis Williams, issued a statement explaining that the area where the logo was previously used for ads was replaced due to not having a sponsor for that space with Clemente’s logo. The advertisement placed there was in no way disrespectful to the player, and his logo will go back in its place. Williams took full responsibility for the move.
“We did not intend to disrespect the legacy of Roberto Clemente by adding the advertisement to the pad in right field.
“When we added the advertisement to the pad, it was an oversight not to keep the No. 21 logo. This is ultimately on me, not anyone else in the organization. It was an honest mistake.
“We will be adding the No. 21 logo back to the pad.
“We have used this area for advertisements for many years. 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.”
The park’s right field wall has two 21s above the video board. There are also other tributes to Clemente throughout the ballpark.
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