The report comes after three anonymous sources from the baseball club spoke with the New York Times in this report.
The team has already phased out the Chief Wahoo logo on its uniforms and from all team branding for the most part. In the summer of 2020, Washington’s NFL franchise decided to drop its longtime nickname “Redskins” and play under the name Washington Football Team for this season.
The Cleveland Indians have played under that mascot name for 105 years. However, with sweeping changes in the country’s “cancel culture,” and with the Washington changing its own brand, the Indians baseball club said it’s looking in its own mirror as well.
“Our organization fully recognizes our team name is among the most visible ways in which we connect with the community,” a team representative wrote last summer.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer last summer published a poll with seven names and another slot called “Other” with a blank box to fill with a suggestion. Here are the fan suggestions, according to the poll (in order):
35.2% Spiders 28.3% Other 16.7% Rockers 7.66% Guardians 6.62% Buckeyes 3.06% Clevelanders 1.33% Defenders 1.19% Lindors
The Spiders were the team at the turn of the century. Rockers makes sense as Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Guardians is a popular name in the city. Buckeyes is a popular name in the state with Ohio State University.
The Washington Redskins avoided changing their moniker for more than 50 years, but pressure last summer from major sponsors, including field sponsor FedEx and apparel giant Nike, led the team to eventually changing its name.
In baseball, the Atlanta Braves have also faced pressure over a few decades to change its name.
Florida State University, home of the Seminoles, has looked at plans to change the name of its football stadium named after Doak Campbell, a former president who had publicly-known, anti-Black opinions.
And back to Cleveland. Picking a name shouldn’t be that big of a deal, as names are probably easier to come by than professional sports championships. The Indians last won a World Series in 1948 (the only other was 1920). The Cleveland Browns have never won a Super Bowl, and their last NFL title was in 1964. The Cavaliers won their only NBA title in 2016.
