The Cleveland Indians Are Changing Their Name… Eventually

The Cleveland Indians and Owner Paul Dolan announced on Monday that the club has decided to move on from its name of 105 years. But the change is not happening immediately, with the earliest it can come being after the 2021 season.

The change felt inevitable for some time now. The club removed its “Chief Wahoo” logo from all team uniforms prior to the 2019 season. Then in July of this year, the organization announced it would review the team’s status and plan regarding its name. Now, the change is confirmed, but pending a date.

Dolan made it clear that the club is not yet sure what the next name would be, but he was sure that, “we will not have a Native American-themed name.”

The early front-runner based on social media suggestions seems to be the Cleveland Spiders, which was the name of a former professional baseball team in the city, mostly during the 1890’s. But all that is known for certain at the moment is a name change will occur eventually.