Pittsburgh Pirates will keep ‘Jolly Roger’ logo

Earlier this week the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that the gold letter ‘P’ will officially be their primary logo in 2014. This apparently stirred some premature reports that they were getting rid of the ‘Jolly Roger’ logo (the pirate with the eye patch and bandana).

Rob Biertemfpel of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reports that is not the case (cue Pirates jokes and puns here):

"However, reports by some media outlets suggested Jolly Roger had been forced to walk the plank. Headlines on ESPN.com and SI.com said the Pirates had “ditched” the buccaneer.‘The perception we have dropped the Jolly Roger is not true,’ team spokesman Brian Warecki said in a news release issued Thursday. ‘The only change our fans will notice is that we will no longer be using the ‘Pirates’ lettering above the Jolly Roger.’The Jolly Roger, sans lettering, will remain on the uniform sleeves."

I think my favorite part of this article is the title: ‘Pirates stand by Jolly Roger.’

Warecki insisted that the Pirates want Roger, with the crossbones to go with his skull and a gold hoop earring, to remain part of their identity:

"“We will continue to produce merchandise featuring the current Jolly Roger logo. And we will continue to encourage our fans to raise the Jolly Roger in celebration after every win.”"

That’s fine, but it’s hard to beat the classic ‘P’ that is now the primary logo. That was definitely the right decision on their part.