Bucco Bricks remedy: Pirates to install bronze plaques that carry fans' personalized messages

The Pittsburgh Pirates are planning to install bronze plaques on PNC Park’s facade to replace the personalized, fan-purchased bricks that were removed amid controversy.

Sixty bronze plaques to be installed on the outside walls of the stadium along West General Robinson Street and Mazeroski Way will be “a deserving and lasting display” of more than 10,000 messages fans purchased through the Bucco Bricks program, Pirates President Travis Williams said Thursday.

The Pirates in 1999 launched the Bucco Bricks program, which allowed people to buy personalized bricks to be displayed near the statues of Honus Wagner and Willie Stargell at the North Shore baseball field. The bricks cost between $75 and $100.

Those bricks were ripped up and discarded before the season’s opening day this spring. Pirates officials said they had deteriorated and posed safety concerns.

The team plans to have the new bronze plaques displayed before Opening Day in 2026, Williams told the Sports and Exhibition Authority Board.

The board unanimously voted to allow the team to install the plaques. The Pirates will cover the costs.

Williams said the prior bricks had been replaced three times and were in bad shape when they were removed this year.

“Due to Western Pennsylvania weather and other wear and tear, the bricks were deteriorating and causing unsafe conditions for the fans who were attending the games,” he said.

The new plaques will be 5 feet high and 6 feet wide. They’ll feature the exact messaging the bricks had featured and in the same font. They’ll be laid out in rectangles and squares, like the Bucco Bricks had been, Williams said.

The Pirates will seek approval from the city’s Public Art & Civic Design Commission later this month.

“We understand how important these messages and the memories associated with them are to our fans,” Williams said, adding the new presentation will be a “permanent fixture.”

“I’m glad you came up with a way where it’s going to stand the test of time, rather than walking on them, the elements,” City Councilman Anthony Coghill, who sits on the Sports & Exhibition Authority board, said.

The Pirates also are offering to ship replacement bricks to anyone who participated in the original Bucco Bricks program. About 3,000 replacement bricks have been requested so far, Williams said.