CLEVELAND – Bill Boldin, a Cleveland Major League baseball fan for most of his 52 years, conducted an informal poll Friday as he waited to meet friends in the Cleveland Guardians’ first home game of the season.
Boldin counted the names of the teams on the T-shirts of his Cleveland fans as they wandered downtown. He listed 38 T-shirts that contained the word “Indians” for the team’s old nickname before seeing even one with the team’s new name, Guardians. It was a highly unbalanced ratio and an unscientific data set, but not unexpected.
“And I hope it stays that way forever,” Boldin said.
Boldin’s views represent a large number of Cleveland fans, many of whom vehemently opposed the team’s decision in 2020 to change its name after 107 years. The decision came after decades of protests by Indian groups and others who claim the old name is racist.
Friday was the first home game for the rebranded Cleveland Guardians, a new name chosen in part to capture a Cleveland-themed historical theme reflected by statues of the Hope Memorial Traffic Keepers near Progressive Field, where the team plays. The team had already played six games as Guardians this season, but they were all on the move. Friday provided the first opportunity for local fans to gather en masse and express their feelings and loyalty.
Bob Hostatler, owner of a computer store in Willoughby, Ohio, wore a fresh white T-shirt with the team’s old name on it and a hat depicting Chief Wahoo, the famous old logo of a cartoonish, smiling Indian. This cartoon, loved by many but considered extremely offensive by others, was withdrawn from team uniforms in 2019 as the franchise began a gradual process to distance itself from old images and nicknames.
“I love Chief Wahu,” Hostutler said.
In the days after the team announced it would abandon its age-old name, Hostutler vowed never to pay to see the Guardians, so outraged by the decision. But when his brother offered him a ticket for Friday’s game, he decided to go. Then, at a party before the game on Friday afternoon, he was presented with a Guardians T-shirt as part of a promotional hand. He took the shirt, but planned to give it away again.
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“I will never wear it,” he said.
For decades, protests against the team’s name have been as much a part of Cleveland’s opening day as the flyovers and ceremonial first games. Protesters gathered in the streets near the stadium, carrying placards asking the team to change its name; many times they face abuse from fans entering the stadium. But on Friday, for the first time in recent memory, there were no protests, except for a man carrying an American flag advocating world peace and another man a few blocks away promoting religious piety.
The new form of protest comes in the form of shirts and jackets adorned with the word “Indians” and hats depicting Chief Wahu. In some cases, this is the only team outfit worn by fans who wear it, and many of the shirts bear the names of former players who have never worn a Guardians shirt. Even for fans who support the new name, asking them to buy completely new equipment would be costly.
But in other cases, wearing old clothes made sense.
“I don’t like it,” said Bill Marshall, a 64-year-old Cleveland heating and air conditioning engineer. He said he opposed the name change, a decision ultimately taken by Guardians chief executive Paul Dolan. “They succumbed to the pressure,” Marshall said.
Marshall demonstrated his devotion and opinion in bright colors, wearing a blue jacket and hat with the name and logo of the Indians.
Adapting to a new name will take time for many loyal fans, but the name changes are actually part of the fabric of the Cleveland franchise. In the early years of the 20th century, the Cleveland team was known as the Blues, Bronchos and Naps, before finally settling on the Indians in 1915.
This year, the Guardians became the fourth MLB team in 90 years to change names without moving cities, and only the second to adopt a completely different name. In 2008, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays became Rays. The Houston Colt 45s changed its name to the Astros in 1965, and the Cincinnati Reds were called Redlegs from 1954 to 1958. The Brooklyn Dodgers, who had many nicknames in their early years, were known as Superbas for 12 years before becoming Dodgers in 1932
But for Cleveland, the name change comes amid an unstable global struggle for labels and terminology that is sometimes found in the world of sports. And that happened at a time when teams from the NFL franchise in Washington to dozens of colleges and high schools were abandoning nicknames that were criticized as insensitive or racist.
“The whole culture of abolition has gone too far,” Boldin said.
A civil servant from nearby Solon, Ohio, Boldin is not as inflexible as some of his fellow fans. He applauded the decision of the Washington football team to give up his insulting name and admitted that the Wahoo boss should probably also leave. While hats like this were plentiful on Fridays, Boldin did not wear them.
Many people associated with the team, including fans and longtime players, have sometimes used the old name inadvertently, not out of malice, but simply out of habit. Carlos Baerga, the former second star of All Star and now a special assistant in the team, accidentally mentioned the team with his old name in a conversation.
“It’s difficult for a lot of people after all these years,” Baerga said. “But that’s what the team wants and what the owner wants, so you do it. After all, we played for the city, not for the name. This is the most important.”
Terry Francona, Cleveland’s manager for the past 10 years, has been helping fans adopt the new name. He was born in 1959, the first of six years that his father Tito Francona played for Cleveland, so his legacy is intertwined with the club. Francona applauded Dolan’s courage and said the Guardians were simply trying to show respect.
“Sometimes people aren’t particularly inclined to change,” said Terry Francona, manager of the Guardians. “But I think if you ask some people with color, the status quo isn’t always that good.”
And not all Cleveland fans cling so tightly to the team’s past. Alex and Jean Ann Reno, a couple from Upland, Indiana, celebrated the new era of the Guardians on Friday by tattooing one of Cleveland’s new logos, an animated C-style, on their ankles.
“Times are changing,” said Jean Ann as the couple showcased their new body art.
She and her husband traveled four hours to Cleveland on Thursday and went straight to the team store, where they bought all the new Guardian gear they wore on Friday. Alex said they received “tons of shine” from other fans for wearing them.
He learned to love the Cleveland team from his father, who is originally from Toledo, Ohio, and loves the team. He took Alex to his first game at the Municipal Stadium in 1985, when Alex was five months old and the team’s old name was deeply ingrained in family legends.
“I didn’t like it when they changed it,” Alex said, “but it’s still my team.”
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