Cleveland Indians: Is It Time To Retire Chief Wahoo?
Pro Ball in Cleveland
Professional baseball clubs in Cleveland have had many names, going back to the National Association, then the National League, and finally the American League. The Forest Citys, the Blues, the Spiders, the Bluebirds, the Naps, and finally the Indians have all represented the city in pro ball since 1871.
The current franchise was a charter member of the American League when it declared itself a direct competitor of the National League in 1901, breaking the nearly 20 year-old National Agreement. At the time, the team was named the Bluebirds, which was often shortened by sportswriters to the Blues.
Napoleon Lajoie, a future member of the 3,000 hit club and Baseball Hall of Fame, was traded to the team by Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1903, and when he was named player-manager in 1905, the team was renamed in his honor to the Cleveland Naps.
After Lajoie was sold back to the A’s in 1915, the team needed a new name. The official story, as adopted by the franchise itself to this day, is that a group of sportswriters renamed the team the Indians in honor of Louis Sockalexis, a member of the Penobscot tribe, who played for the old Spiders from 1897-99. Take that origin story with as large or small a grain of salt as you’d like, but the name has now been in place since 1915, and has been associated with the team’s two World Series championships and legendary players like Bob Feller and Tris Speaker.
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