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Why did the Cleveland Guardians change their team name?

Why did the Cleveland Guardians change their team name?

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The 2024 Cleveland Guardians are making a playoff run under first-year manager Stephen Vogt, with star third baseman Jose Ramirez and an elite bullpen doing the heavy lifting to propel them to an ALCS showdown with the mighty New Jerseys York Yankees to lead.

But just a few years ago, the Cleveland MLB team had a different name and logos to match. For more than 100 years, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team used Native American terms and logos.

MLB playoffs: Tickets for Yankees vs. Guardians in the ALCS are expensive. Find out what you have to pay here

But as criticism mounted from Native Americans and elsewhere that using the images as team mascots was offensive and derogatory, Major League Baseball and Cleveland decided to make a change.

Cleveland made the switch to the Guardians in 2021 after initially dropping the mascot and logo but continuing to use the original nickname.

Their first season as Guardians took place the following season in 2022.

Actor and Cleveland baseball fan Tom Hanks was even part of the name change announcement at the time.

What is the origin of the name Cleveland Guardians? What are the Guardians named after?

The Guardians are named after the Art Deco statues on the Hope Memorial Bridge near Progressive Field in Cleveland.

The statues are known as “Guardians of Traffic” or “Guardians of Transportation.”

Some other names that were reportedly controversial included “Spiders” (an earlier team name dating back to the 19th century), “Rockers” and “Blues”.

The Cleveland Guardians were sued over their name change, but not by who you might think

A lawsuit was filed against the Cleveland Guardians over the name change. But they weren’t angry fans.

Instead, it was a local roller derby team.

The two sides have settled the dispute.

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