The Cleveland Major League Baseball team has been known as the Indians since 1915. But after years of protests and after the club dropped its controversial Chief Wahoo logo, the team decided to change to Guardians, a name inspired by eight huge art-deco statues on the Hope Memorial Bridge close to the stadium. The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the Central Division of the American League (AL). Since 1994, they have played at Progressive Field.
Since its establishment as a major league franchise in 1901, the team has won 10 Central Division titles, six American League flags and two World Series championships (in 1920 and 194). The team's World Series championship drought since 1948 is the most active among the current 30 major leagues. teams. The team's name refers to Traffic Wardens, eight monolithic 1932 art deco sculptures by Henry Hering on the city's Hope Memorial Bridge, which is located next to Progressive Field.
The team's mascot is called Slider. The team's spring training center is located at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona. Bill Boldin, a fan of Cleveland's Major League Baseball team for most of his 52 years, conducted an informal poll Friday as he waited to meet friends in the first Cleveland Guardians home game of the season. He counted 38 shirts that featured the word “Indians” for the team's old nickname, before even seeing one with the team's new name, Guardians.
It was a very unbalanced proportion and a non-scientific, but not unexpected, data set. Friday was the first home game for the Cleveland Guardians, a new name chosen, in part, to capture a historic theme centered on Cleveland that is reflected in the Guardians of Traffic statues at the Hope Memorial Bridge, near Progressive Field, where the team plays. The team's center stadium store will exclusively sell Guardians gear before caps, jerseys and more are available at retail outlets in Northeast Ohio in November. At a news conference Friday, Cleveland team owner Paul Dolan said the organization expects the Guardians to divert us from a divisive path and eventually be embraced by the entire fan base and the region.
Despite a strong lineup supported by powerful Lajoie and Shoeless Joe Jackson, poor pitching kept the team below third place for most of the following decade. The franchise adopted the Washington football team on a temporary basis, playing last season under that name. Cleveland's struggles during the 30 years were highlighted in the 1989 film Major League, which comically represented a hapless Cleveland baseball club that went from worst to first at the end of the film. Following Lajoie's departure after the 1914 season, club owner Charles Somers requested that baseball writers choose a new name.
Alomar made an immediate impact, not only by being chosen to the All-Star team, but also by winning the fourth Cleveland Rookie of the Year award and a Gold Glove. Because the inter-league rival designated by the Guardians is the Reds and the opponent designated by the Pirates is the Tigers, the teams have played regularly. The massive stadium, however, allowed the Indians to set then-record for biggest crowd to watch a major league baseball game. Despite this rotation in ownership, a powerful team consisting of Feller, Doby, Minnie Miñoso, Luke Easter, Bobby Avila, Al Rosen, Early Wynn, Bob Lemon and Mike Garcia continued to fight in early 1950s.
