PITTSBURGH — Pirates fans who purchased a “Bucco Brick” over 20 years ago recently found out that the commemorative bricks they paid for were destroyed.
Lifelong Pirates fan Tom Crombie says his “Bucco Brick” was a heartfelt way he and his family honored his late father every time they visited PNC Park.
“So we’d always see it. It was right behind Willie Stargell out in left field in the right hand corner,” Crombie said. “I knew exactly where it was. We’d go there, I’d have people send me pictures of it like ‘oh, look who’s brick we found..it was your dad’s!’”
Crombie is one of some 10,000 people who bought Bucco Bricks, never thinking that these commemorative and personalized bricks would end up in a Reserve Township recycling facility some 20 years later.
“It’s just a disappointing action by them in a world where they’re struggling to have popularity in Pittsburgh, and I think they need to do everything they possibly can to keep fans,” Crombie said.
The Sports and Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh, or ‘SEA,’- which owns and operates PNC Park, launched an independent investigation into the excavation and disposal of the Bucco Bricks. The findings were released Thursday.
The report says removing the bricks was part of a sidewalk replacement project funded by a state grant. The SEA’s report says it was told that special care would be taken to salvage the Bucco Bricks. The SEA says it was the Pirates who made the decision to dispose of them.
“After 25 years, the sidewalks around PNC Park represented a safety risk and were in desperate need of repair, this included the Bucco Bricks,” Pirates spokesperson Brian Warecki said. “The way in which we communicated and handled the replacement of those bricks was flat out wrong. That has been well documented at this point and something we, the Pirates, take sole and total responsibility for and are working hard to make right.”
The Pirates have opened up a website, offering fans who previously had Bucco Brick the opportunity to get a complimentary commemorative brick.
“Really let down by the Pirates,” Crombie said about the situation. “You know I can put up with them not spending money and you know not making the playoffs all the time, cause my son and I enjoy going to the game so much, but that was the first time that I really was falling out of love with the Pirates.”
The Pirates also say a new permanent display at PNC Park will include all the original messages from the Bucco Bricks. We’re told they’re finalizing those plans and will share them later this season.
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