Whither the Indians?

I don’t have any allegiance to Chief Wahoo. Removing the logo gets decried as a liberal cause, but Native Americans have always led the charge to remove it.

If anything, the fight provided a huge distraction from baseball. Some fans are more parochial about the logo, but I care solely about winning, not something the Indian do with regularity.

How many World Series trophies did the Indians hoist since Wahoo’s inception in 1947? Only in 1948, one year after the mascot’s introduction. All we have are five World Series appearances across 70 years – the 9148 when my Dad was four months old, two World Series game 7 losses (1997 and 2016), a sweep by the Giants (1954) and a six-game heartbreaking loss to the Braves (1995).

So what about the Cleveland Indians? The name was chosen to honor Louis Sockalexis, a Penobscot Indian who played for the Cleveland Spiders in the 1890.

While the name Indians will stay, I think it could go.I’m not wedded to the name I don't think it's racist given the Sockalexis connection or that it's somewhat generic, one step from the alternate "Tribe" nickname fans use.

But Cleveland sports has a better name lurking in its history. I think Cleveland should switch the name to the Cleveland Spiders.

Spiders fits the “Cleveland against the World” motto adopted by its teams and many current and former residents. Few creatures spur the ugly reception given to spiders. Cleveland deserves some of its bad rap, but I always hear the same refrain from people who visit – amazement at all the attractions, good restaurants and green space.

After Cleveland became an inaugural American League franchise, the club cycled through several names. Before the team became the Indians, they were Blues – meh, besides the name is too tied to St. Louis. The Cleveland ballclub briefly went as the Naps to tout their star player, Napoleon Lajoie – Naps sounds like a team for insomniacs.

Does the Cleveland franchise stand to lose arachnophobe fans? Possibly. But the diehards will stick. The spider silhouette and web logos design themselves. We don’t have to fight other teams of the name – only the University of Richmond has a spider as its mascot.

If the team wants to be alliterative, they could go with the Cleveland Orb Weavers and as the Weavers or Weaves for short. Who doesn’t like orb weavers? That way, we don’t have to include any venomous spiders like the brown recluse or black widow.

Losing does cling to the Spiders franchise. The Spiders were historically terrible in 1899, posting a worse record than any National League team ever - 20–134, with 101 road losses, the latter a feat impossible for any team to ever match. However, the losing team rationale doesn’t hold any water. For much of my life and my parents’ lives, the Indians were terrible, never sniffing the playoffs let alone the World Series. Although those garish red uniforms from the 1970s should have never gone out of style.

Seriously, I’m fine with Indians, but would enjoy a change to the Spiders. I have plenty of shirts, but most bear the Cleveland block-C logo, and the new logo would be added to my wardrobe.

Bring on the Spiders. Maybe the team’s opponents will recoil in fear, or at least minor irritation.