CLEVELAND (AP) — Known as the Indians since 1915, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team will be called Guardians.
The ballclub announced the name change Friday — effective at the end of the 2021 season — with a video on Twitter narrated by actor and team fan Tom Hanks. The decision ends months of internal discussions triggered by a national reckoning by institutions and teams to permanently drop logos and names considered racist.
The choice of Guardians will undoubtedly be criticized by many of the club’s die-hard fans.
Together, we are all… pic.twitter.com/R5FnT4kv1I
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) July 23, 2021
The organization spent most of the past year whittling down a list of potential names that was at nearly 1,200 just over a month ago. But the process quickly accelerated and the club landed on Guardians.
Dolan said last summer’s social unrest, touched off by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, spurred his intention to change the name.
Dolan is expected to provide more details on the choice and background on the change at a news conference at Progressive Field before the Indians host the Tampa Bay Rays.
Dolan said the new name mirrors the city and its people.
“Cleveland has and always will be the most important part of our identity,” he said in a statement. “Therefore, we wanted a name that strongly represents the pride, resiliency and loyalty of Clevelanders. ‘Guardians’ reflects those attributes that define us.”
“It brings to life the pride Clevelanders take in our city and the way we fight together for all who choose to be part of the Cleveland baseball family. While ‘Indians’ will always be a part of our history, our new name will help unify our fans and city as we are all Cleveland Guardians.”
Not far from the downtown ballpark, there are two large landmark stone edifices — referred to as guardians — on the Hope Memorial Bridge over the Cuyahoga River. Cleveland’s team colors will remain the same, and the new Guardians’ new logos will incorporate some of the architectural features of the bridge.
In 2018, the Indians stopped wearing the contentious Chief Wahoo logo on their jerseys and caps. However, the team continues to sell merchandise bearing the smiling, red-faced caricature that was protested for decades by Native American groups.
The name change has sparked lively debate among the city’s passionate sports fans. Other names, including the Spiders, which is what the team was called before 1900, were pushed by supporters on social media platforms.
But Guardians does seem to fit the team’s objective to find a name that embodies Cleveland’s hard-working, loyal, Midwestern-valued ethos while preserving the team’s history and uniting the community.
Guardians is the fifth name in franchise history joining the Blues (1901), Bronchos (1902), Naps (1903-1914) and Indians (1915-2021).
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instead of tailgating –they should have a huge pow wow in the parking lot -come fully dressed in indians garb
and put a dumpster in position and have a huge controlled bon fire and burn effigies of the team owner-
the board of the team-plus the MLB board and ceo-
bring drums and have war dances and many rain dances for future games-
what a crappy name for a baseball team-
but my high school takes the cake for crappy team names-they actually named our football team –the mirrors–no lie-
look it up -in the 1960’s-in phila pa
Well, if burning the US FLAG Is “Protected free speech”, i can’t see how the left could then say “it would be a crime” for folks to BURN in effigy, a dummy mocking the owner….
It is a great honor to have anything named for you. For example if you are John Smith then John Smith Blvd is great as is John Smith State Park as is the John Smith Little League team. Thus to remove your name from anything is an INSULT not an honor. So, for those who understand anything whatsoever, changing a sports team named in honor of a Native American (‘Indian’) group is a deep insult.
Just another nail in professional sports coffin. The NFL and MLB are determined to rush their end. Soon the only thing left will be golf and chess.
Screw both of them.
A very large order should be placed for those signs shown in the headline, and should be sold in the parking lot before the next game. They should then be proudly waved from the stands throughout the game. The same for every game. I would love to see a thousand or so waving throughout the stands. It would be unlikely that there was more than one camera sited where it did not have stands in the background. Imagine, a fly is hit and the camera immediately cuts to the catchers face. A runner round 1st and pounds down the base line for 2nd, and all we get to see is the pitchers knees. By the end of the season, both ESBN watchers would have switched to a cooking show.
At this rate, the only excitement on TV will be when one of the guest chef’s beats Bobby Flay
The Cleveland Capons would be appropriate. What better standard bearer than a castrated chicken?