Thanks to reader Reginald Selkirk, I just learned that Cleveland’s professional baseball team the Indians is getting rid of the Chief Wahoo logo beginning in 2019.
Here is a brief history of the origins of the image.
It appears that the commissioner of Major League Baseball had been leaning on the owner of the team to get rid of it. The team is getting rid of it by stages. It had been slowly downplaying its presence over time, presumably to avoid outrage by the many fans who love that disgusting caricature and manufacture all manner of rationalizations for retaining it. You can expect those fans to go ballistic over the news of this decision.
Chief Wahoo, the longtime logo of the Indians, will be gone after the 2018 season.
The Indians will disassociate themselves with the logo and will no longer wear it on their uniforms or caps following the 2018 season.
…The Indians have been downsizing their use of Chief Wahoo for the last several years. Their more recent primary logo has been the block C. When they conduct spring training in Goodyear, Ariz., Chief Wahoo is nowhere to be found on their uniforms or advertising. The only place it can be found is in the gift shop.
…The Indians will maintain the trademark and retail rights to Chief Wahoo.
…The Cleveland Indians’ longtime Chief Wahoo logo will disappear from Progressive Field after the 2018 season — except for the team shop.
You’ll still be able to buy T-shirts and hats featuring the controversial Native American caricature, though according to the New York Times, Wahoo won’t be sold on Major League Baseball’s website.
…Fans can wear Chief Wahoo items to the games. There will be no Chief Wahoo police harassing fans at Progressive Field.
…This season, there will be no change in the uniforms. The Chief Wahoo logo will remain as a patch on the sleeves. The Indians have been wearing different caps for years — some with Chief Wahoo, most with the block-C.
…In 2019, Chief Wahoo is retired. On the sleeves, there will be a patch for the 2019 All-Star game — which is set for Cleveland.
…In 2020, the Indians have to come up with something for a patch on the sleeves.
I have long railed against this ghastly racist image and promoted the superstition of the ‘Curse of Wahoo’, that as long as the image remained, the Indians would never win a championship. Sports players and fans are notoriously superstitious.
‘Bout fuckin’ time.
Except it’s not actually going away:
Definitely check this out: http://derfcity.blogspot.com/2014/04/wahoo-de-chiefing.html
At a minimum, click and scroll down to see “The City” cartoon drawn by the artist in 1997, turning the situation around with a fictional “Cleveland Christians” crucifix team mascot.
Now all they need to do is change the team name -- oh, and maybe win some games.
jaxkayaker,
Thanks for that link to the Derf cartoon!
If They™ totally changed the team name and mascot to
Cleveland *whatever is our current zeitgeist**with cartoon character*
it would take approximately one season for everyone to accommodate.
And they would sell a bunch of new team log crap.
Shame that Indian motorcycles aren’t Cleveland-made; that’d be a logical and potentially lucrative tie-in.