The Cleveland Indians are no more.
After months of speculation, the Major League Baseball team in Cleveland has changed their name — the Cleveland Guardians.
The announcement came via a video posted to Twitter by the Cleveland Indians with actor Tom Hanks doing the narration.
Together, we are all… pic.twitter.com/R5FnT4kv1I
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) July 23, 2021
“We are excited to usher in the next era of the deep history of baseball in Cleveland,” owner Paul Dolan said in a statement. “Cleveland has and always will be the most important part of our identity. Therefore, we wanted a name that strongly represents the pride, resiliency and loyalty of Clevelanders.”
“‘Guardians’ reflects those attributes that define us while drawing on the iconic Guardians of Traffic just outside the ballpark on the Hope Memorial Bridge. It brings to life the pride Clevelanders take in our city and the way we fight together for all who choose to be part of the Cleveland baseball family. While ‘Indians’ will always be a part of our history, our new name will help unify our fans and city as we are all Cleveland Guardians.”
Their official name will change after the 2021 season.
“This is a historic moment for our franchise, and we are excited for our players and staff to debut our new team name and look in 2022,” president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said in a statement. “We look forward to our team proudly representing the city of Cleveland as the Guardians.”
The organization has faced years of protest from activists who felt the name was racist. The Indians had been the team’s name since 1915. After the 2018 season, the franchise moved away from their “Chief Wahoo” logo, which many considered to be racially insensitive.
Citing concerns over offending members of Native American and indigenous peoples, the team announced in December that they’d be choosing a new name.
In June, the team announced that they had narrowed the possible choices down to a final list after months of research and conversations with fans.
“We’ve engaged our fans and community on many aspects of our team name process,” said Curtis Danburg, the team’s vice president of communications and community impact. “We felt it was important to share our research journey and what we’ve learned so far.”
The name change comes after the Washington Redskins changed their name to the Washington Football team before the 2020 season.
“Today, we are announcing we will be retiring the Redskins name and logo upon completion of this review,” the Washington Football Team said in July 2020. “Dan Snyder and Coach Rivera are working closely to develop a new name and design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition-rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years.”
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].