Cleveland Guardians: Burying Baseball History

The Cleveland Indians have junked a century of tradition to rename their team with the bland title “Guardians.” This is done as a nod to the sensitivities of virtually nobody who lives in Cleveland or roots for the team. There was no serious popular groundswell for this decision. Like the All-Star Game’s boycott of Atlanta, it reinforces the message that the lords of baseball care more about the opinions of a handful of left-wing sportswriters on Twitter and ESPN than they do about the people who actually buy tickets and watch the games.

Unlike “Redskins,” the name “Indians” is not commonly understood or experienced as a racial slur, even if we acknowledge that “Indians” has been a common misnomer for Native American tribes for five centuries. Adopted in 1915 after superstar Napoleon Lajoie was sold back to Philadelphia to finish his career (they’d been called the Naps to reflect his dominance of the franchise), the name “Indians” was long thought to be a homage to Louis Sockalexis, a member of the Penobscot tribe who starred briefly for the Cleveland Spiders for 66 games in 1897 before his drinking problem wrecked his career. Sockalexis was the first significant Native American player in the game, and during his own time, he faced open hostility:

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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The Cleveland Indians have junked a century of tradition to rename their team with the bland title “Guardians.” This is done as a nod to the sensitivities of virtually nobody who lives in Cleveland or roots for the team. There was no serious popular groundswell for this decision. Like the All-Star Game’s boycott of Atlanta, it reinforces the message that the lords of baseball care more about the opinions of a handful of left-wing sportswriters on Twitter and ESPN than they do about the people who actually buy tickets and watch the games.

Unlike “Redskins,” the name “Indians” is not commonly understood or experienced as a racial slur, even if we acknowledge that “Indians” has been a common misnomer for Native American tribes for five centuries. Adopted in 1915 after superstar Napoleon Lajoie was sold back to Philadelphia to finish his career (they’d been called the Naps to reflect his dominance of the franchise), the name “Indians” was long thought to be a homage to Louis Sockalexis, a member of the Penobscot tribe who starred briefly for the Cleveland Spiders for 66 games in 1897 before his drinking problem wrecked his career. Sockalexis was the first significant Native American player in the game, and during his own time, he faced open hostility: