Progressive Field, Cleveland (The Problem With Problematic Team Nicknames)

 

What do you do with problematic team nicknames?

The Cleveland Indians became the Cleveland Guardians before the 2022 season, one of the latest events in a long-running controversy over teams in all sports with nicknames based on Native Americans in one form or another. I want to explore that, but first, it’s worth noting that three major league teams have changed their names because of political correctness during my lifetime, and the Indians/Guardians is the first one related to the Native American issue.

Some history

The first team name change during my lifetime was in 1959, and was a change back to the long-time name after a political controversy had run its course. The Cincinnati team had been the “Reds” for decades, but in 1953, they changed it to “Redlegs” because “Reds” had become a politically sensitive word, used by U.S. Sen. Joe McCarthy and others as a slur for people they thought were Communists, or were not anti-Communist enough. The movie (more recently a play) “Good Night and Good Luck” is based on McCarthy’s crusade. By 1959, McCarthy was dead, the “Red Scare” of the early part of the decade was over, even though the Cold War was not, and the Cincinnati team became the “Reds” again.

The second change was when the Tampa Bay “Devil Rays” became the “Rays” before the 2008 season, in large part because of the number of complaints of religious blasphemy in having the word “devil” in a team name. It’s worth noting that Rays’ attendance improved by nearly 40% the next year, moving them from 14^th (of the 14 teams) in the American League all the way up to 12^th. However, there was at least one other factor that could have contributed to the increase in attendance. For the first time in the team’s 10-year history, they won more than 70 (out of 160+) games, winning 97! Also, never having been in the playoffs before, they made it to the World Series. Within five years, despite two more playoff appearances and still having the “devil” removed from the name, they were back to 14^th in attendance.

Then came the change by the “Indians” to the “Guardians.”

Native American nicknames

For decades, there have been sports teams, professional, high school, college, and amateur, with nicknames deriving in one way or another from Native Americans. Many teams were “Indians,” there were also “Redskins,” “Chiefs,” and “Braves” and teams named after specific tribes. For at least the last half-century, it has been controversial.

The first time I saw it explored in a manner more detailed than writers’ opinions was a story in Sports Illustrated in 2002, which included a poll that indicated that “81 percent of Native Americans who live outside traditional Indian reservations and 53 percent of Indians on reservations did not find the names or images used by sports teams to be discriminatory.” Incidentally, I sold my collection of Sports Illustrated a few years back, haven’t been able to find the story online (though I’ve found many, many references to it), and haven’t gone to the effort to buy a subscription to the SI archives or browse through a physical library, so I’m quoting a good Wikipedia article on the history of that and later related polls. Many activists were outraged at the tone of the article. I remember reading it and thinking that it was a more nuanced issue than either side usually acknowledged. To me, those numbers suggested that a) it’s not a slam-dunk that Native Americans will be offended by such names, and b) a huge number of Native Americans (nearly half of those on reservations who were interviewed) ARE offended by such names. At that point, I concluded that even though I liked some of those names, particularly those that remembered particular tribes, I thought the number of negative answers was enough that such names were problematic.

Most of the teams that still have names related to Native Americans (including all the NCAA teams) have the blessing of some tribe. The Indianapolis Indians, whom we saw recently, have the blessing of the Miami Nations of Indians of Indiana, the Atlanta Braves, whom we saw last year, have the blessing of a group representing some Cherokee tribes. But put yourself in the place of the Native American groups being asked to provide that blessing – if you don’t, you’ll be criticized for being too sensitive. Anyone who has thought about the dynamics of power or of leadership realizes that those folks are in a very tricky position.

Despite appreciating the tradition of the Cleveland Indians (including being the first American League team to integrate, thanks to 1940s owner Bill Veeck), I appreciate the change, and it seems to be OK with Cleveland fans. I have a habit of counting things, so as I walked to and through the stadium Saturday, I counted how many people had gear that said “Indians” vs. “Guardians.” More than two-thirds of the jerseys or other gear I could identify as one or the other, rather than “Cleveland” in general, said “Guardians.”

So congratulations Cleveland, and Go Guardians!  

The photo

It’s tacky, if not illegal, to use the images of people, so I resisted the temptation to take a picture of a couple where one has an Indians jersey, and one a Guardians jersey (there are plenty of couples like that). Instead, I just included a photo of last night’s sunset, after the rain delay. I’m from Tucson, so I tend to notice sunsets. Today's game was a Sunday day game, with bright sunshine, even though it was a little chilly (low 50s).

The game: Minnesota Twins 5, Cleveland Indians 4

Last night, the Guardians got only two hits in 11 innings, and despite their pitchers giving up only two hits as well, lost 2-1. The Guardians left the bases loaded three times, and left a total of 13 runners on base in 11 innings, including three times where they left the bases loaded.

Today, there were hits galore. The Twins got 13, the Guardians 11. But again, the Guardians fell short, this time leaving 12 runners on base in nine innings, including two times with the bases loaded.

Last night Brayan Rocchio twice came up in crucial situations in the 9^th inning or later, once where a hit would have won the game, once where it would have tied it in the 11^th, hit the ball hard, but had nothing to show for it. Today, he had four hits in four at-bats, the first time all season we’ve seen a major leaguer get four hits in a game. Today, he was the only Cleveland batter who never came to back with a runner on second or third base, so he had nothing to show for it. Baseball can be funny that way.

Audience participation

One of the things I liked last night was the audience participation, finishing the verse for “Country Roads” when Chase DeLauter came to bat, chanting “RO – KEY – OH” when Rocchio was up, and, most consistently, singing “JO SÉ, José José José, JO SÉ, JO SÉ” when José Ramírez was at the plate. That wasn’t there today. If you listened closely, you could hear a handful of people in the stadium (instead of 20,000) finish “Country Roads,” I never heard “RO – KEY – OH,” and there was only a half-hearted “José” after they played it on the loudspeakers. My friend Ralph, who we attended the game with, thought it might have to do with blood alcohol levels, since Saturday’s game happened after a two-hour rain delay AND Cleveland’s first win in the second round of the NBA playoffs across the street just before the original game time. Or maybe it was respect for Sunday. Whatever the case, I was disappointed.

The people you will meet

One of the absolute joys of this quest has been the people we’ve met. In some cases, it’s random fans (the Toronto fan who apologized after they beat the Diamondbacks with a walkoff home run, the Toledo fan for whom we somehow became part of the group) or staff (the Cleveland usher last night who gave Kerry a hug because we’d made it back after the rain delay, the El Paso usher I talked to while waiting through an unexpected rain delay there). In some cases, we’ve met obnoxious fans (usually those who are drunk) or rude staff (surprisingly seldom, except for Atlanta). But more often, it’s the friends, and their friends or relatives, that we’ve gone to games with whose interactions we’ll cherish. According to my spreadsheet (yes, I have a spreadsheet about this), we’ve gone to games with 28 other people during this quest (a 29^th had to go to the emergency room, so we missed her).  And nearly a third of those are people we hadn’t met before, spouses, children, parents, and a fiancée. This trip, we’ve gone to games with three people one or both of us knew, and six people neither of us had met.

Today, it was Ralph Harvey and his family. We’d gone to see Ralph’s daughter Scout pitch a high school softball game Friday; today we were accompanied by Ralph, his wife Nancy, Scout, and her brother Tucker, the second medical school student we’ve got with (although the first has since graduated and become Dr. Leverenz). Although Ralph is my friend – he was the person in charge of the four expeditions that I joined hunting for meteorites in Antarctica, a transformative experience in my life – Kerry connected well with Nancy, who dealt with a husband spending Christmases away on The Ice of the Polar Plateau, and with Tucker, who is going into the profession she spent a career in.

Ralph and Nancy are a few years away from retirement, but I think they’re fascinated by the idea that even once you’re a couple of old codgers, you can choose an adventure, and learn and grow from it. And yes, I have to include one random picture of an Antarctic field camp, the kind of place Ralph was in charge of for more than two decades, and where I spent about six months of my life over four seasons.