For four seasons now, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team has been playing with the moniker ‘Guardians.’ The franchise formally transitioned to its new name after the 2021 season, completing a process initiated with an announcement in December 2020. It was a move that came after years of controversy and protests regarding the team’s past name, ‘Indians,’ and its ‘Chief Wahoo’ caricature.
The club, which was previously known as the Blues, Bronchos, and Naps before the community adopted the name Indians in 1915, moved forward with the change. To many, the debate over the name seemed settled and finished. But it wasn’t!
On Sunday, July 20, President Donald Trump escalated the conversation. In a post on his Truth Social platform, he urged both the Cleveland Guardians and the Washington Commanders to return to their former names, claiming that Native Americans wanted the change. “The Washington “Whatever’s” should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past,” Trump wrote.
Continuing further, he added, “Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago. We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!
The Guardians organization have now reacted to it. In a press conference, the President of Baseball Operations, Chris Antonetti, looked to defuse the situation with a calm demeanor, labeling the controversy irrelevant to the team’s current focus. According to USA Today, he stated the issue was “not something [he has been] tracking or [has] been paying a lot of attention to.” Antonetti further stated, “We’ve gotten the opportunity to build the brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has waded into the franchise’s business. His involvement with the Cleveland MLB team dates back over four decades. The USA Today noted that “The President even attempted to buy the team back in 1983, but his deal was eventually rejected.”
Trump has always been a vocal critic of the sports franchises changing their name. Back in 2020, when Cleveland was contemplating the decision, DJT was of the view that such decisions are only a means to be “politically correct.” While Cleveland’s leadership remains steadfast, they aren’t the only franchise feeling the heat in this regard.
The Washington Commanders are feeling the heat too
The Washington Commanders, who relocated from Washington D.C. to Landover, Maryland, in 1997, reached an agreement with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in April to bring the team back to the district at the old RFK Memorial Stadium site. President Trump initially supported this deal and even earlier this month, he indicated he’d be willing to assist if the D.C. Council doesn’t approve the deal.
“It’s a great piece of property, so we’ll see. But if I can help them out, I would. …The federal government ultimately controls it,” he said, as quoted by CNN. But now he has threatened to restrict the project if the team does not change its name back.
“I may put a restriction on them that if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders,’” Trump wrote in a follow-up post on Truth Social, before further adding, “I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington. The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone.”
The Commanders have yet to publicly respond, but owner Josh Harris said back in February that the team had embraced the new name.
Though it is rare for a team to return to a former name, it is not unprecedented in American sports. The NBA’s Charlotte Hornets is a prime case in point. The Hornets relocated to New Orleans, and Charlotte was granted an expansion—the Bobcats. But when the New Orleans team became the Pelicans in 2014, the Charlotte franchise seized on its original history and name, renaming itself Charlotte Hornets.
MLB’s Atlanta Braves were also briefly the Boston Bees, from 1936 to 1940, before they returned to their original name in 1941. The NBA’s Washington Bullets changed their name from Bullets to Wizards in 1997 as the “Bullets” had violent overtones. Although fans have, at times, called for a return to the old name, the team has continued with the Wizards moniker, and re-adopted the old color scheme, as a tip of the cap to history.
But will the Cleveland Guardians and the Washington Commanders get back to their old names now? What do you think?
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