Roberto Clemente's son sheds light on Pirates meeting after team draws fury for removing tribute

EXCLUSIVE: Roberto Clemente Jr. met with Pittsburgh Pirates officials connected Monday to fig retired ways to further grant the bequest of his legendary begetter pursuing the outcry astir the squad removing an outfield tribute to the Baseball Hall of Famer.

The tribute was placed connected the right-field partition – a motion with Roberto Clemente’s sanction and No. 21. Fans noticed earlier the team’s location opener that the tribute was removed successful favour of an advertisement for an alcoholic beverage.

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Roberto Clemente Jr., lad of Hall of Fame Roberto Clemente, sits successful the dugout anterior to a crippled against the Baltimore Orioles astatine PNC Park. (Charles LeClaire-USPRESSWIRE)

Clemente’s lad expressed dismay astir the determination successful a connection implicit the weekend, but helium told Fox News Digital the 2 sides were "brainstorming" ideas astir however to decently rectify the concern aft having an archetypal speech with the team.

"Right now, we’re going to beryllium brainstorming. We request to robust retired immoderate ideas that we person listed. I’m not going to get into the details close now," helium said. "But I deliberation we should person thing successful the adjacent mates of weeks to astatine slightest truly benignant of necktie successful this caller narration with the Pirates. And I deliberation things hap for a reason.

"This is thing we consciousness truly tied successful with the squad forever. I ever accidental that I was calved with an eyepatch and I would dice with an eyepatch, adjacent though I ne'er played for the Pirates, but obviously, I’ve been connected and it doesn’t substance wherever I go, I americium representing the Pirates and we, arsenic a family, person ever been ambassadors, not lone to the crippled but for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"I genuinely bash cognize that fans amusement their enactment and immoderate vexation to a batch of things that are going on. I judge that we tin person a large result from this speech that volition payment the fans of Clemente successful Pittsburgh."

Clemente said helium learned astir the tribute’s removal done societal media.

"I ne'er truly realized that the motion was down until aboriginal connected erstwhile I got location done societal media seeing the station there," helium explained. "It was precise astonishing to me. I was amazed and evidently my absorption was ‘wow.’ That’s each I said and I near it astatine that.

An opening time assemblage watches the Pirates instrumentality connected the New York Yankees astatine PNC Park successful Pittsburgh, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

"Little did I cognize it was going to drawback occurrence and evidently there’s a batch of emotions with the fans and the squad and immoderate frustrations and I deliberation that benignant of was the past straw for a batch of the large Pirate and Clemente fans, and they took it upon themselves to explicit themselves, and evidently it was an overwhelming response. It was thing that I didn’t deliberation a ‘wow’ would really beryllium that big, but evidently it wasn’t truly the wow, it was really the information that the motion had travel down and determination was an advertisement connected the wall."

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The Pirates enactment said removing the tribute was an "honest mistake."

"We did not mean to disrespect the bequest of Roberto Clemente by adding the advertisement to the pad successful close field," squad president Travis Williams said successful a statement.

"When we added the advertisement to the pad, it was an oversight not to support the No. 21 logo. This is yet connected me, not anyone other successful the organization. It was an honorable mistake."

The squad said it would instrumentality the No.  21 logo.

"We person utilized this country for advertisements for galore years. When we didn’t person a sponsor coming retired of COVID, we added an further constituent successful 2022 to grant the bequest of Roberto," Williams added. "It was a replica of the Three Rivers signate honoring him.

"This is successful summation to the galore elements passim the shot parkland that grant his legacy, including the information that the partition is named the Roberto Clemente Wall, is 21 feet gangly and has 2 No. 21s connected it.

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente astatine Forbes Field. (Malcolm Emmons-USA Today Sports)

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"We privation to marque definite that the Clemente household understands that we intended nary disrespect to their father. We look guardant to continuing our narration with the Clemente household and apologize to them and our fans for our honorable mistake."

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