Certain profressional sports teams have come under fire over the last few years for names and logos deemed offensive to Native Americans. Among these are the Cleveland Indians, who have carried the Indian branding for over a century.
In early 2018, Cleveland announced they would be erasing the Chief Wahoo logo from their franchise, a goofy depiction of a Native American that was hard to defend politically or aesthetically. They were, however, a bit more tentative about changing their name.
Cleveland Indians president Chris Antonetti revealed in July of this year that the franchise’s top brass were finally having conversations about changing their name, possibly in response to the announcement the week before that the Washington Redskins were canning their name themselves.
On Thursday, Antonetti elaborated, a tiny bit, on their progress.
“We continue to work through that process,” Antonetti said during a press conference, “As we shared, we wanted to make sure we were thoughtful and connecting with all the different stakeholders and we’ve been engaged in those conversations over the course of the last several months.
“I’ve personally participated in some of those and have been enlightened by the conversation,” he continued. “We’ll continue that process and once we’re at a point where we have more information to share, we’ll certainly do that.”
Well, they’ve certainly had time to think. What are some names that could be on the table?
Historical Names
At the forefront of the conversation, as far as fans are concerned, is the name Spiders. From 1887-1899, the Cleveland Spiders played in the MLB with a roster that included Cy Young. It wasn’t the only moniker that rotated through Cleveland before settling on Indians in 1914, but it’s a good one.
In an era where the last two new sports teams have been named the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken, a 90’s-esque coolness factor seems to be a priority among team names. The Spiders could join a growing group of names that don’t make a lot of sense for the area, but are just “rad, yo”.
What aren’t as cool, are the other historical names Cleveland could choose. Let’s run down the list:
1879-1881: Forest Citys… Inaccurate and misspelled.
1882-1884: Blues… taken.
1887-1899: Spiders… possible.
1890 (briefly): Infants… Wow, okay. If I was Rob Manfred, we would have a winner. They shouldn’t even have a choice. I want the Cleveland Infants on the field in 2021. I want an enormous baby mascot that would tower over the Phanatic.
1900: Lake Shores… kinda boring.
1901: Bluebirds… could work with the other bird teams. Toronto may have something to say about it, though.
1902-1914: The Napoleons, aka Naps. The team was named after star second baseman Napoleon Lajoie, who was only traded to the team by the A’s due to a legal conflict and an injuction. Funky story.
1914-Present: The Indians
Unlike the Washington Football Team, who threw their hands up in dismay and decided if they didn’t have a former name then they couldn’t have a name at all, the Indians have a rich history to choose from. Antonetti and company may end up choosing the Spiders, but we don’t even know if they’re keeping their options limited to the franchise.
Perhaps, like the Seattle Kraken, they’ll let fans write in names until they find one they like. The problem there would be the overwhelming support for the Cleveland LeBrons.
Otherwise, the possibilities are endless for Cleveland’s ruling body to decide whatever they want. Unless it’s the Redskins.
It looks like we’ll just have to do more waiting before we see the first new team name since the Washington Nationals descended upon the league in 2004. I’m going to cross my fingers and hope we get to see Shane Bieber take the mound in a Cleveland Infants uniform next season.
For more MLB news and analysis go to BellyUpSports or follow @bellyupsports. For more articles and idle thoughts about sports, check out my Twitter @zacksphatstacks.
