Cleveland’s baseball team goes from Indians to Guardians

CLEVELAND — Known arsenic the Indians since 1915, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball squad volition beryllium called Guardians.

The ballclub announced the sanction alteration Friday with a video connected Twitter narrated by histrion Tom Hanks, ending months of interior discussions triggered by a nationalist reckoning by institutions and teams to permanently driblet logos and names considered racist.

The prime of Guardians volition undoubtedly beryllium criticized by galore of the club’s die-hard fans.

The enactment spent astir of the past twelvemonth whittling down a database of imaginable names that was astatine astir 1,200 conscionable implicit a period ago. But the process rapidly accelerated and the nine landed connected Guardians.

Team proprietor Paul Dolan said past summer’s societal unrest, touched disconnected by the sidesplitting of George Floyd successful Minneapolis, spurred his volition to alteration the ballclub’s name.

In 2018, the Indians stopped wearing the contentious Chief Wahoo logo connected their jerseys and caps. However, the squad continues to merchantability merchandise bearing the smiling, red-faced caricature that was protested for decades by Native American groups.