Cleveland’s Baseball Team Will Drop Its Indians Team Name

I literally, today, had a delivery of an Indians jersey that I bought for a friend (diehard Indians fan) for Christmas. Guess it can be a collector's item.

 

India must be ecstatic.

Wouldn't "American" in the conference names be equally inaccurate and offensive to some?

 

I dont see why, it's a place not a race.

 

I heard they're going to be called the Cleveland Overweight White Guys with Crewcuts and Glasses.

 

BG and I caught a game at Progressive at the start of last season. It was the first year of the “C” on the caps and it caught me by surprise (though it looked pretty good). They were still selling the old Chief Wahoo swag in the fan shop, so I picked up an old style cap. I wear it most days when I’m walking the dog. Interesting how many Cleveland fans exist out here, though I’m still waiting for a local SJW to call me out on it. Just label me insensitive........

 

Actually.....it’s the wife that walks the dog. I’m just the bag man, doing in retirement what I did in my working life. It’s a shitty job but someone has to do it........

 

As is India, and the resulting mis-applied term.

 

So genuinely curious, is there any scenario where it would be okay to use any kind of version of a native American mascot for a sports team?

I completely understand why something like the Redskins would be extremely offensive, but why would any version of a native American be offensive? Outside of animals, there are a lot of examples of warriors from various points in history that are mascots. The Vikings. The Trojans. The Minutemen.

And I think we have a great example of a university who has the endorsement of the local tribe in the Seminoles. So if a local university or high school or pro team approaches a local tribe and gets their endorsement, is that okay? There seems to be groups that are still hostile towards FSU even though they have the support of the local tribe.

 

I've been a fan since 1956 and it's hard for an old man to embrace the new sometimes; but I'm gonna be OK. Here is (maybe) how they got the original name: "On the suggestion of fans, the club chose the name in honor of Louis Francis Sockalexis, a Cleveland professional ballplayer who was one of the first Native Americans in the game's history."

He was a very good player at first but "Even in glory, Sockalexis had already dealt with racism at the ballpark, with insensitive fans yelling things like "Scalp 'em!" or doing rain dances in the stands. Unfortunately, the taunts got worse as his play declined, and The Plain Dealer went so far as to refer to him as "A Wooden Indian" and "a broken idol."

But actually they weren't named the Indians until much later; by which time Sockalexis most likely forgotten. They were named the "Naps" at that time after a star player; but then the player got traded, so they needed a new name. Apparently the Boston Braves were very popular then and maybe somebody thought that was partly due to their name, so they came up with "Indians".

Now, that is probably more than you wanted to know. I will miss that racist Wahoo cap, but I'll be happy with whatever new name they come up with.

 

Yes, I think The Cleveland Iroquois would be great. They were a great and mighty tribe and located in the same general area.

 

I really think that's what they should do. Keep the tradition in a way, but approach a local tribe to get an endorsed name.