Baseball has been a staple in Cleveland since 1900 and the Indians has been the name of the franchise since 1915. The Indians have produced talent such as Jim Thome and Bob Feller while even being subject to arguably the greatest sports movie of all-time, Major League.

It will now be a new era in Cleveland baseball. The name had been subject to controversy for years, notably in the late 1990s when protesters burned down effigies outside of the stadium. On Opening Day in 2015, a group of Native Americans protested the Chief Wahoo logo. The Indians later got rid of that logo in 2018. In December of last year, it was reported that the 2021 season would be the last under the “Indians” moniker.

They are now named the Cleveland Guardians, with the primary logo being in the same format as the Indians logo. It seems as though the “block c” logo will go alongside the primary Indians logo. The club noted that the three most important things in a name change were “preserving Cleveland baseball history, uniting the community and connecting to the city of Cleveland.” Dropping a name that many Native Americans feel perpetuate stereotypes is a way to unite the community. The name “Guardians” connects to the city in its nod at the statues along the Hope Memorial Bridge in Cleveland. The logos are a nod at Cleveland’s past baseball history.

The name was released on Twitter in a video narrated by Tom Hanks (Big, A League of Their Own, The Money Pit) with background music from Grammy-award winning Black Keys, a rock-band based out of Akron about 45 minutes out from the Cleveland metropolitan area. “We are a city on the rise, forging our future from our ironed out past…and this is our team that has stood by our team for over a century…There’s always been Cleveland, that’s the best part of our name.”

What do you think of the name?

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