Wow. Morons!
A crucial component of institutional competence is “know the history and culture of the organization you work for.” Obviously the Pittsburgh Pirates, one of the original National League Major League Baseball franchises, contains too many employees who lack this component. Had not this been true, the team would not have taken down a tribute to Pirates icon and Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, whose uniform number, 21, was retired by the club, to put up a liquor advertisement.
How clueless can you get?
“Hey, Fred, what does this “Clemente 21″ thing stand for?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Stinky, just some old guy nobody remembers! Just cover it up!”
Clemente, who died in a plane crash while trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Nicaragua, played 18 seasons for the Pirates, during which he joined the elite ranks of players with 3000 hits, had a .317 lifetime batting average and won four batting titles, twelve Gold Gloves, two World Series, and a National League MVP award. He may not have been the greatest Pirate—that honor goes to Honus Wagner—but he was and is the most beloved. For the team to replace his number with a liquor ad was spectacularly ignorant.
Appropriately, the backlash on social media was immediate. Clemente’s son, Roberto Jr., wrote,
Yesterday, I was shocked to learn that the Clemente 21 sign-a tribute to my father on the right field wall at PNC Park in Pittsburgh-had been removed and replaced by an advertisement. 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 broader issue: a lack of meaningful collaboration between the organization and on matters that are deeply personal and historically significant to us and the fans.
The outpouring of support from fans in Pittsburgh and across the country has been overwhelming and deeply appreciated. It is clear that our father’s legacy continues to inspire and unite people, not only for his achievements on the field, but for the integrity and compassion he demonstrated off of it. We have always been open to building a sincere and lasting partnership with the Pirates, one grounded in respect and shared values.
Our hope is that this moment serves as an opportunity for reflection, paving the way for a more thoughtful, transparent, and collaborative relationship moving forward. I intend to reach out to the Pirates directly to explore this further.
The Pirates rushed to repair the damage, claiming the slur on Clemente’s memory was “an oversight.” That’s no explanation. If the Boston Red Sox took down Ted Williams’ famous #9, nobody would believe anyone who works for the Sox or lives in Boston could be so ignorant. In the case of Clemente’s number, the reasoning is likely to have been no more sophisticated than, “This liquor ad will make us some money, and that “21” doesn’t. Screw Clemente; he died 50 years ago. Nobody will care.”
How wrong they were. The team president was forced to grovel an apology:
It wasn’t an honest mistake. It was an inexcusable, negligent, embarrassing act of ignorance and greed. I suggest that all team employees be immediately forced to undergo a course in the history and lore of the Pittsburgh baseball team: Honus, Big Poison and Little Poison, Harvey Haddix, Bill Mazeroski, Dave Parker, Willie Stargell, and. most of all, Roberto Clemente.
Ethics Alarms 
https://triblive.com/sports/mark-madden-ridicule-pirates-for-many-things-but-not-for-disrespecting-clemente-family/
From today’s Pittsburg Tribune Review.
Wait. This tribute has only been up since 2022?
Prior to that, it was ad space?
Was this supposed to be something permanent? Or was it just to fill space?
When numbers are retired, you know it is permanent. There is a ceremony; there is a place reserved for numbers; the space is only used for that.
I don’t know how this space got reserved for Clemente. If it was just a decision to fill empty space, the mistake was to make it look like a tribute in the first place. (Of course, if they designated it as a tribute space, it should have been permanent.) Because, once you do something like, it’s hard to undo it.
-Jut
This is the old (and frequently discussed here) problem of taking away something that was given or created without fanfare or much thought, nd stupidly thinking it just restores an earlier status quo and will be perceived as neutral rather than deliberately negative.
I recall you wrote about this recently; I just forget the topic (something to do with race, I believe).
But, if that is what this was, it is less a matter about knowing the history of the organization, and more about competent PR. Instead of apologizing, they could have said, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust; from advertising space you have come and to advertising space you shall return.” Or, they could have said, “they are reorganizing their space so they can put up a more fitting tribute to all of the heroes of the franchise that will celebrate the vibrant history of the Pirate Nation” (or some such nonsense). Then, they would shell out money to do something more than just a name and a number (I presume his number has already been retired and is visible in the stadium already; this tribute is probably redundant anyway).
-Jut
This struck me immediately as someone at the franchise wanting to be anti-DEI.
Good perspective. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t think of that as a serious possibility, though keep Hanlon’s Razor in mind. These days its more tenuous than usual, however. There’s a lot of malice out there.