What started as a typo on a T-shirt is now an ice cream holder at PNC Park. The Pittsburgh Pirates and PNC Bank have announced a new promotional giveaway called Hoist the Cones, offering fans limited-edition collector traffic cone ice cream holders during select Sunday home games this season.
The partnership, first reported by WPXI, will roll out the PNC-branded holders with the purchase of ice cream at select ballpark locations during home games on Aug. 16, Sept. 6 and Sept. 20, while supplies last. Pirates President Travis Williams said the team is proud to build on its relationship with PNC to give fans traffic cones to hoist inside the park. Lou Cestello, PNC's regional president for Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania, called the traffic cone phenomenon a uniquely Pittsburgh moment that fans have made their own.
From Typo to Team Tradition
The whole thing traces back to March, when merchandise company Fanatics listed a Nike T-shirt reading Hoist the Cone alongside a Pirates logo, a phrase fans widely assumed was a mistake for Hoist the Colors, according to Sports Illustrated. The confusion had some precedent: PNC Park had previously sold a concession item called The Pittsburgh Cone back in 2019, a waffle cone stuffed with kielbasa, pierogies, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing, and Fanatics had even produced a niche shirt referencing that food item, adding to the early mix-up.
The joke became a dugout ritual on March 31, when outfielder Jake Mangum grabbed a traffic cone near a visiting clubhouse ATM during a road game in Cincinnati, using it to symbolize directing traffic home after the offense had stranded 40 baserunners over four games, per MLB.com. The Pirates responded by hitting four home runs and scoring eight runs against the Reds that day, and the cone has been a fixture in the Pittsburgh dugout ever since.
Fans Ran With It, Sometimes Too Literally
The trend spread fast beyond the dugout. During the Pirates' home opener in April, parking manager ABM Parking reported that fans stole more than two dozen traffic cones from nearby lots, prompting local officials in Allegheny County to ask fans to stop swiping road safety equipment, as detailed by CBS Pittsburgh. Parking operators noted the cones are costly to replace and needed for post-game traffic management.
Rather than fight the movement, the Pirates embraced it. Williams announced on 93.7 The Fan in April that PNC Park security would allow fans to bring their own orange traffic cones into games, letting stadium staff set guidelines for the fan-made props while keeping entry lines moving. The cone theme even made its way onto the field: in May, relief pitcher Yohan Ramírez caught a Marcell Ozuna home run ball in the PNC Park bullpen using an inverted traffic cone during a 6-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, a moment Sports Illustrated also chronicled. The cone joined another blue-collar dugout prop already in rotation this season, a welder's mask players don after home runs as a nod to Pittsburgh's steelworking heritage, according to TribLIVE.
Local Businesses Got There First
Pittsburgh's food scene had already turned the meme into a menu item before PNC Bank made it official. Bellevue ice cream shop Scoops debuted a Hoist the Cone sundae in April featuring its Bucco Batter ice cream topped with a souvenir traffic cone, a commercial hit that helped pave the way for the bank's stadium-wide promotion.
PNC Bank's involvement builds on a deep institutional relationship with the team. PNC has held naming rights to the North Shore stadium since it opened in 2001 and signed a 10-year extension in March 2021 that keeps the ballpark named PNC Park through the 2031 season, per SportsPro. The bank and the Pirates also run other joint community efforts, including the Going to Bat for Small Business initiative, which Hoodline previously reported awarded six local shops $100,000 marketing packages and $5,000 cash grants this season.
PNC says it plans to bring the traffic cone phenomenon to life in a new way and create another memorable experience for fans visiting the ballpark. For a team whose fanbase turned a printing error into a rallying cry, the ice cream holders are the latest sign that Hoist the Cone has become more than a slogan — it's now official Pirates merchandise.
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