Potential Name Changes For The Cleveland Indians

The Indians have promised to stop using the face of Chief Wahoo, the primary logo for the Cleveland franchise until 2014, on their uniforms and in any promotional materials. Regardless of where you stand on the subject, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at potential name changes that would mean a lot to Cleveland and soften the blow of a potential name switch in the future. Also, let’s be real, the block C and script I are pretty boring. Cleveland can do better.

Cleveland Fellers, Rapids or Bullets

If the Browns can be named after a person, why not Cleveland’s baseball team? After all, Bob Feller is well-known throughout the MLB for his feats on the mound for the Indians. Feller was also known as “Rapid Robert” or “Bullet Bob” because of his blazing fastball, striking out 15 batters in a single game as a rookie. He is still the all-time leader for the Indians with “shutouts (46), strikeouts (2,581), innings (3,828) and All-Star appearances (8).” Feller is a legend in Cleveland and what better way to honor him (besides the statue in front of the stadium) than coining a new name after him. Bullets have not fared well over the years as a team name (see Washington), but in the frame of “Bullet Bob” maybe it would sit better with the rest of the league. Rapids seems to be the best choice out of these.

Logo options: fiery baseball (potentially with a face),

Colors: Same as current

Cleveland LeBronies (or LeBronalds)

While we’re on names I’ll throw this one out there. On second thought, nope. This one is a bad idea. It may not even be relevant after the 2018 season comes to a close. Forget I said anything. Move along.

Logo options: I said move along, I’m not touching this one.

Cleveland Cy’s

Who better to name the team after than another legendary pitcher, Cy Young. This name even has a double meaning as the homonym for Cy’s becomes “sighs”. Most games started (815), most Complete Games (749), most Batters Faced (29,565) and most Earned Runs (2,147). That last stat doesn’t really support my argument very well, but come on, they named a pitching award after the guy and he’s in the Hall of Fame.

Logo options: the old cap that players wore back in the day, the shrug ASCII art ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Colors: Same with a bit more gray

Cleveland Forest

Cleveland is known to some as the “Forest City” after earning the name in the 1830s. Who exactly said it first is up on the air, but the dense forest that surrounded the city at the time gave the nickname its credibility and was loosely used throughout the rest of the 1800s. This would pay tribute to one of the first baseball teams to ever grace the city, the “Forest Citys” dating back to 1865. In another nod to history, the Forest Citys played the first ever National Association game in 1871. It’s disputed whether the National Association is the original professional league in baseball, but what better way to honor the past than to loosely take the name of the first big team in the city.

Logo options: a tree, several trees, a lumberjack

Colors: green and white

Cleveland Cleavers

This sounds more like an Arena Football or XFL team, but stay with me. If you go with the Cleavers, you can leverage the wicked cutters that are thrown by your pitching staff, the way you carve through your opponents and you could even set up a carvery restaurant all across the park.

Logo options: Butcher block, actual cleaver

Colors: Red and gray

Cleveland Burners or Cleveland Rivers

Who can say something nice about Cleveland without eventually saying “wait, isn’t that the city where the river caught on fire?” It’s the classic joke that isn’t really even a joke any more because it’s become such a part of Cleveland lore (it was over 50 years ago, leave it alone), but let’s take a look at the actual rivers in Cleveland. The river that caught fire was the Cuyahoga, which has caught fire at least 13 times (those are the times it was recorded). Then we’ve got the…oh, the Cuyahoga is it? Well, guess we’ll stop there then. Maybe the joke still stands.

Logo options: raging river rapids, a flame

Colors: Probably more orange/red

User Submitted: Cleveland Steamers

“Cleveland is a historical city with a rich and layered story. Much of that proud history is tied to industry, One of the historic industries closely tied to Cleveland is Great Lakes Shipping. Proud ships taking raw ores and finished goods across the lakes and to ports around the country and the world. For many decades those great lake vessels were huge ships powered by steam, so Steamers makes about as much sense as any other name.”

Hard to argue with the logic.

Logo options: Steam-powered boat

Colors: gray, brown

Pulling From The Past

The Cleveland Indians have had many names over the years, so maybe there’s one on here that they could grab.

1865–1881 Forest Citys

1882–1884 Cleveland Blues

1887–1899 Cleveland Spiders (they still hold the record for worst season, 20 wins, 134 losses)

1900 Cleveland Lake Shores

1901 Cleveland Bluebirds

1902 Cleveland Broncos

1903 Cleveland Napoleons (Naps after Nap Lajoie)

1912 Cleveland Molly Maguires

1915 Cleveland Indians

So, which one is your favorite. Which team would you buy gear for? Which team could you see yourself shouting about when they win a World Series? Let us know and let us know if you have any other suggestions to add.

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