The Cleveland Baseball Team

[MrMet]

Will be changing its name from Indians...


Cleveland To Change Team Name https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/cleveland-to-change-team-name.html


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[DaClyde]

Welcome back your ... Cleveland Spiders!

 

[DeliciousBacon]

Cleveland Steamers.

 

[MrMet]

Welcome back your ... Cleveland Spiders!

Naps?


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[michaelstepper]

So Dumb. Go back to the spiders then. Wait, people would find reason to claim some sort of arachnophobia and be unable to purchase merchandise or go to a game so that's out. The Cleveland Cavers.. that sounds good

 

[Pinbreaker]

"The team from Cleveland"



(similar to "the Team from Washington)

 

[tramers]

well that will leave at least TEN other teams names offensive in MLB ----It will never stop

 

[dano7]

To fit in with the year, the Cleveland Coronavirus

 

[banjar]

I fixed it with what I'm sure you meant to say

So Dumb. Go back to the spiders then. Wait, people would find reason to claim some sort of arachnophobia and be unable to purchase merchandise or go to a game so that's out. The Cleveland CADAVERS.. that sounds good

 

[banjar]

I suggest the Cleveland 48'ers.

 

[banjar]

Or the Cleveland Mistake By The Lakers

 

[mrmopar]

In the big picture of things, it really doesn't matter to most people if a name changes. We have seen many teams move and names changed. Those likely most affected by those changes were the fans of those teams or the cities that lost/gained the teams. We lost the Sonics for example and they became the Thunder. Unfortunate, but not the end of the world.

I am still not feeling the whole Brewers/Astros league switch myself. That is weirder for me than the Indians changing their name after many years. It's just a name after all. I imagine a lot of cost comes with a name change though, with logos, signs, apparel, etc. If an owner is willing to fight back against pressure to change a name that may be considered insensitive (as some have done so far), then they have to pay the ultimate price if there is one.

 

[gt2590]

Long overdue.

I know it’s prob too close to the Rockies name for licensing reasons but the Cleveland Rocks or Rox would be pretty cool...

 

[banjar]

Yeah, it is.

And another thing. This?



Not all that different than this:

Long overdue.

 

[Benbabs]

Over due. Braves fan here though and wonder if they are next. Took away chief noca-homa in 1988. from upstate ny but have been embarrassed by some fans’ behaviors whether in atl or elsewhere when I’ve gone to games. Should prolly change it to Atlanta barves or Atlanta crackers.

 

[bstanwood]

I'm just a middle class white guy from one of the whitest places in the country originally so my point of view isn't really relevant, but I think there is a difference between "a simple homage gone wrong", which I believe that is what this and something mean spirited. Having said that, yeah it's time for it to go.
My best friend growing up was a quarter native american, his father being half. Stuff like this never seemed to bother them, but at the same time that doesn't make it right.

 

[WizardofOz1982]

Lot of the Native Americans around here (Tahlequah, OK Capital of the Cherokee Nation) wear Indians gear, including Chief Wahoo. I'm sure someone around here is offended by the names but I've yet to meet them. I'm Cherokee and Choctaw and I could care less about the names. I've seen a lot more people, especially on Facebook after the announcement, wondering when it stops rather than being upset about the name. I did see some blowback against the Redskins, pre change, because it has been used as a derogatory term but for the most part Indians, Braves, and Chiefs (especially Braves and Chiefs since they're complimentary terms) are viewed as non-consequential or even positive. Our local Native American only high school is the Sequoyah Indians. Enough political mumbo jumbo.

They ought to take it back to the roots of baseball and just call themselves Cleveland. That way the only thing offensive will be the owners' ineptitude.

 

[mrmopar]

Like bstanwood, I can't reasonably know what it's like. Just a white boy from WA.

It seems unlikely to me though that any of the team names were done in a purposefully disrespectful way, I think it might have been the contrary. A tribute perhaps. Why would you name a team, or anything that you were promoting or essentially selling, something negative? "Step right up and buy tickets to see the Turds play tonight!!" That doesn't seem like a good way to sell tickets.

It's big money to tag your name to a stadium these days and it just seems the names selected originally might just have been in honor. I could be 100% wrong here, as it is just a guess. I have no idea how any of the team names really came to be from the earliest days of baseball (or football, Basketball, etc). If enough people are offended, eventually things change though. Our corporate Holiday calendar was released today and we no longer get Christmas Day off, it's not "Winter Break".

In the end and personally, I could care less if all the team names changed annually. Offensive or not. It does make for a weird void when you collect cards though. Anyone mix their Nationals and Expos together? Do the Senators get their own section or are they just lumped in with the Twins? How about those Pilots? Sure, they turned into the Brewers the following year, but a half dozen years later, Seattle gets baseball back and now it's the Mariners. That opens up an entirely different category of sorting dilemmas...Milwaukee Brakes/Milwaukee Brewers, Brooklyn Robins/Dodgers/LA Dodgers. Lastly, who does that, but whit if you sorted cards by league. How do you deal with the Astros and Brewers? (Were the Pilots & Colts part of the pile too?).

 

[RNCoyote]

they might change their name to this

Note: this came from skit Navajo Football League

 

[banjar]

I would also guess the team name was not chosen out of racism. Apparently it was chosen partly in tribute to Louis Sockalexis, a Native American player.

@WizardofOz1982 - if you don't mind the name or the logo, that's a reasonable opinion to have. I'm not going to be outraged on your behalf! Not that my opinion doesn't matter, but on this your opinion counts a lot more than mine.

Opinions in the Native communities are not unanimous on these things. I remember seeing this high school, on a reservation in northern Arizona, where the the school nickname was The Redskins:

Red Mesa High School - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But a lot of Native groups have been really outspoken in opposition to the name and logo, especially around the midwest. And I side with them - especially when it comes to the logo.