Chief Wahoo logo gone after 2018
Perhaps one of the most recognizable logos in Major League Baseball is nearing its end. Under pressure of Major League Baseball, the Cleveland Indians will get rid of the logo after the 2018 season.
Major League Baseball said the symbol was no longer appropriate. This results in the disappearance of the logo from baseball. You can bet this will lead to a lot of protests by Indians fans which is understandable in a certain way as the Chief Wahoo logo was around for seventy years and is a cherished insignia for the fans of the Indians. On the other hand, the logo was quite controversial as it was a caricature of the stereotype native American, with a deep red skin and a big nose.
The logo appeared for the first time on the front page of the Plain Dealer (the local newspaper in Cleveland) in 1932 as part of a cartoon. By then there was no link to the Indians baseball club yet. That link came fifteen years later when owner Bill Veeck hired someone to create a new logo for the club. The logo that the J.F. Novak Company came up with resembled the cartoonish indian from the 1932 cartoon. The baseball Indians logo had a yellow skin with a prominent nose. The logo would appear on the left sleeve of the Indians jersey in 1947.
By 1951, the logo had changed into the logo we know nowadays.
For those who thought the Chief Wahoo logo was offensive and racist, it was a source of anguish. Even though it is a caricature, it is less offensive than the Redskins moniker of the Washington NFL franchise.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement provided to The New York Times that the Indians organization “ultimately agreed with my position that the logo is no longer appropriate for on-field use in Major League Baseball, and I appreciate Mr. Dolan’s acknowledgment that removing it from the on-field uniform by the start of the 2019 season is the right course.”
In recent years, the Indians have started to use the logo less frequent. Where the Chief Wahoo logo was the main cap logo for decades, the Indians have adopted a block C as main cap logo a few years ago.
“We have consistently maintained that we are cognizant and sensitive to both sides of the discussion,” Dolan said in a statement issued by M.L.B. “While we recognize many of our fans have a longstanding attachment to Chief Wahoo, I’m ultimately in agreement with Commissioner Manfred’s desire to remove the logo from our uniforms in 2019.”
With this news, you may expect a run on the Chief Wahoo merchandise this year.