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Contrary to popular belief, the team was not named for 19th century Cleveland player Louis Sockalexis when it assumed its current name in 1915. Rather, when the Naps needed a new name after Napoleon Lajoie was sent to the Philadelphia Athletics after the end of the 1914 season, Charles Somers, the team owner, asked the local newspapers to come up with a new name for the team. They chose "Indians" as a play on the name of the 1914 Boston Braves, who were known as the "Miracle Boston Braves" after going from last place on July 4 to a sweep in the World Series. The proponents of the name acknowledged that the Cleveland Spiders of the National League had sometimes been informally called the "Indians" during Sockalexis' short career there, a fact which merely reinforced the new name. In any case, the name change was assumed to be temporary, but it stuck. And 34 years later, the Indians went on to defeat those same Braves, 4 games to 2, in the 1948 World Series -- after winning a one game playoff against Boston's other team, the Red Sox. The victory over the Braves was the franchise's second of two world titles; the Tribe had also won the 1920 World Series, defeating the Brooklyn Robins 5 games to 2. Legend has it that the team honored Louis Sockalexis when it assumed its current name in 1915. The spectacular Sockalexis, a Native American, had played in Cleveland 1897-1899. On the contrary, when the "Naps" sent longtime leader Napoleon Lajoie to the Philadelphia Athletics at the end of the 1914 season, owner Charles Somers asked the local newspapers to come up with a new name for the team. They chose "Indians" as a play on the name of the Boston Braves, then known as the "Miracle Braves" after going from last place on July 4 to a sweep in the 1914 World Series. Proponents of the name acknowledged that the Cleveland Spiders of the National League had sometimes been informally called the "Indians" during Sockalexis' short career there, a fact which merely reinforced the new name. In any case, the name stuck. And 34 years later, the Indians went on to defeat that same Braves franchise, 4 games to 2, in the 1948 World Series -- after first winning a one game playoff against Boston's other team, the Red Sox. The victory over the Braves was the franchise's second of two World Series titles; the Tribe had also won the 1920 World Series, defeating the Brooklyn Robins 5 games to 2. (Pluto, 1999) The name and logo of the Cleveland Indians, in its depiction of a smiling red-faced cartoon character, is considered by many to be racist and highly offensive. Such individuals consider the term "Indians" to be a derogatory characterization of an entire race and the logo to be a highly offensive depiction of the stereotypical "drunk" aboriginal. Similar objections are made with regard to other sports teams that allegedly depict aboriginal people in a racist manner, such as the Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins and Atlanta Braves.

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15y ago
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18y ago

Contrary to popular belief, the team was not named for 19th century Cleveland player Louis Sockalexis when it assumed its current name in 1915. Rather, when the Naps needed a new name after Napoleon Lajoie was sent to the Philadelphia Athletics after the end of the 1914 season, Charles Somers, the team owner, asked the local newspapers to come up with a new name for the team. They chose "Indians" as a play on the name of the 1914 Boston Braves, who were known as the "Miracle Boston Braves" after going from last place on July 4 to a sweep in the World Series. The proponents of the name acknowledged that the Cleveland Spiders of the National League had sometimes been informally called the "Indians" during Sockalexis' short career there, a fact which merely reinforced the new name. In any case, the name change was assumed to be temporary, but it stuck. And 34 years later, the Indians went on to defeat those same Braves, 4 games to 2, in the 1948 World Series -- after winning a one game playoff against Boston's other team, the Red Sox. The victory over the Braves was the franchise's second of two world titles; the Tribe had also won the 1920 World Series, defeating the Brooklyn Robins 5 games to 2.

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13y ago

They were named spiders, blues, bronchos and naps (after nap lajoie). They got the Indians name from chief wahoo. He was a player in the 1880s and used to hit for great average unil he got hur. The name after nap retired was put in chief wahoo's memory.

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15y ago

The Indians nickname started for them on January 17, 1915. On January 17, 2 Cleveland newspapers reported that the Indians had been chosen to replace the previous nickname of "The Cleveland Naps" - Cleveland's Baseball writers were invited to make the selection and they chose the Indians, it having been 1 of the names applied to the old National League club of Cleveland years ago.

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14y ago

clevend naps

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Q: Who named the Cleveland Indians the Indians?
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