Well, the MLB regular season is over. The Cleveland Indians didn’t make it, so that means the next time the team from Cleveland takes the field it will be known as the Guardians.

For some one my age, that’s going to take some getting used to. It has been the Indians ever since I’ve been following baseball, and that is a long, long time. For the most part, I’m not opposed to change and why should I care anyway. I have never been an Indians fan. The people in Cleveland can use any name they want. I support the idea of removing the names of sports team’s mascots that are potentially offensive to a particular group of people.

Having said that, I am someone who doesn’t adapt quickly to change, and I may be forever calling the Cleveland team the Indians instead of the Guardians. I have trouble calling the Washington NFL team the Washington Football Team. For that matter I have trouble calling the Chargers the Los Angeles Chargers and really have difficulty in adjusting to the fact that the Raiders are now the Las Vegas Raiders. Change is hard.

I wondered to myself “What the heck does a Guardian do? Where did such a name come from?

Looking it up I discovered that it refers to large landmark stone edifices--referred to as traffic guardians--that flank both ends of the Hope Memorial Bridge in Cleveland. It still doesn’t mean anything to me, but I have never set foot in the city of Cleveland so how would I know?

The process of choosing a new name for the Cleveland team was a lengthy one that got going well about a year ago. There were still 1,200 names in contention as recently as a month ago, but the process really accelerated at that point and after 140 hours of interviews with fans and community leaders and a survey that contacted 40,000 present and past ticket holders, the name was whittled down to “Guardians.” The teams colors will remain the same and the new Guardian logos will incorporate some of the architectural features of the bridge.

Speaking of logos, it was the smiling, red-faced caricature of a Native American (Chief Wahoo), that touched off controversy about the team’s nickname. I remember that logo growing up and I envied the ball cap one of my friends wore that contained that image. I thought it was pretty cool, and had no concept that it had the potential to be offensive. But then I grew up in an era when many of the Native Americans in movies said things like “How,” when spoken to.

Doing some research, the Cleveland team adopted the name “Indians” in 1915. Before that the team was known as the Blues from 1901 to 1902, the Bronchos from 1902 to 1903, the Naps from 1903 to 1911 and the Molly Maguires from 1911 to 1915. The Naps were named in honor of team captain Napoleon “Nap” Lajoie. Fans were unsatisified with the name Bronchos and asked for a change. In a survey, the name “Naps” was the one a majority of fans asked for. Molly Maguires got their name from a 19th Century group of Irish immigrants known for labor rights and activism. That name didn’t really catch on and most folks called the team the Naps. That wasn’t fitting after 1915 when Lajoie was traded to another team. The Indians were chosen because one of the heroes of the old Cleveland Spiders team that existed in the 1890s in the National League was Penobscot Tribal member Louis Sockalexis. Because of Sockalexis’ popularity in Cleveland, the Spiders were often called the Indians.

Team mascots have been of interest to me for a long time. I remember a spell as a kid that the Cincinnati Reds were known as the Redlegs. Cincinnati is a team with a long, proud history and when they were formed, they were known as the “Red Stockings.” Somewhere along the line, the name was shortened to Reds. But along came the Cold War and members of the Communist Party were known as Reds. So the Cincinnati team management decided that Reds wasn’t an appropriate name any longer and decreed that it would change to Redlegs. From 1953, the name “Reds” was expunged from the team’s identity not to be found or heard anywhere. I remember a discussion (maybe Dizzy Dean) about the name “Redleg” in which the speaker said “We can’t see their legs, how do we know what color they are.” My youngster mind thought that was pretty funny. Eventually, the Red scare wore off and the name Redleg was sent to the trash heap.

What is the origin of some other MLB nicknames? I had to find out.

I remember that the Dodgers came from the practice of dodging trolleys on the street of Brooklyn. There was a complex maze of trolley cars that weaved its way through the borough of Brooklyn. The name was then shortened to just “Dodgers.” During the 1890s, other popular nicknames were Ward’s Wonders, Foutz’s Fillies and Hanlon’s Superbas.

I couldn’t help wondering what is a Superba? I found the answer to be somewhat complex. But the owner of the team was Ned Hanlon and he had the same last name as the Hanlon Brothers from England, who wrote an immensely popular vaudeville theatrical production called “Superba.” Some enterprising sports writer attached the name to Hanlon’s baseball team. By the way, many team nicknames came from sportswriters, who took liberty in identifying the competing teams. The Dodgers were known by many names before officially accepting that name in 1931. At one time, my Dad told me once, they were known as the Robins due to their manager, Wilbert Robinson. The team was semiofficially the Robins from 1914 to 1931. Early in the Brooklyn’s team history they were known as the “Bridegrooms,” or “Grooms” because six players got married during the 1888 season. And when I was growing up, even though the team was the Dodgers, fans affectionately called its players the “Bums.”

The New York Yankees were the Highlanders when they joined the American League in 1901. The name came from the location of their park (Hilltop Park) constructed at Upper Manhattan’s highest point. Team president Joseph Gordon was Scottish-Irish and the Gordon Highlanders were a well-known Scottish military unit. Having invaded New York Giant territory, the team was referred to by some sportswriters as the Invaders. Because it was in the American League, the team was also referred to in some newspapers as the “Americans”. Boston’s team was also called the “Americans” so that name soon was dropped. According to one source, New York Press sports editor Jim Price coined the name “Yankees” or “Yanks” in 1904 because it was easier than Highlanders to fit into headlines.

I remember during my growing up years that Washington’s baseball team was referred to as the “Senators” by some and “Nationals” by others. Looking it up I see that the team’s official name was “Senators” from 1901-1904, the Nationals from 1905-1955 and then Senators again from 1956 to 1960. I don’t remember hearing any discussion about the official name. But according to what I have recently read, the name Senators was popularly used most of the time that Nationals was the official name. The change to Senators was an official acknowledgement of what was popularly being used. It is interesting that when Washington joined the National League recently, they were named “Nationals.” It had to do partly with the new league association since the old Senators played in the American League for the duration of their history.

Team nicknames are an interesting study. It will take me a time to adjust to Cleveland Guardians, I can readily assure one and all.