Reports: Cleveland MLB Team to Drop Indians Nickname After 105 Years

By Matthew Zimmer

The Cleveland Indians are dropping their controversial nickname, first reported by the New York Times.

The announcement to abandon the name will reportedly come later this week. Cleveland started using the name in 1915.

At the moment, there is no indication when the change will take place, whether immediate or even after the upcoming 2021 season.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan notes the changes — including new uniforms and the removal of the name throughout Cleveland’s stadium — could delay a new name’s implementation.

After the Washington NFL franchise became the Washington Football Team, Cleveland announced a plan to throughly review its nickname.

Cleveland also rid itself of the Chief Wahoo logo before the 2019 season.

Some name ideas floated around include:

• the Spiders (after a defunct, 19th century baseball team)
• the Naps (their nickname before Indians; after Nap Lajoie, their star player and manager)
• the Rocks, and even
• the Cleveland Baseball Team (until a permanent name can be selected)

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