The Cleveland Indians Just Picked Their New Name & Had Tom Hanks Announce It
They've been debating the change for months.
Cleveland's Major League Baseball team has a new name, and they've called on Tom Hanks to introduce it to the world.
The team has been known as the Cleveland Indians since 1915, but after months of internal discussions, and following a reckoning by sports teams to drop names considered racist, they have finally settled on their new name — the Guardians.
Together, we are all...pic.twitter.com/R5FnT4kv1I— Cleveland Indians (@Cleveland Indians) 1627047311
In an announcement posted by the team on Twitter on Friday, July 23, narrator Tom Hanks (who spent time in his early days acting in Ohio) explains how Cleveland is "a city on the rise" that is "forging into the future from [its] ironed-out past."
Then, announcing the change, he adds: "It's time to unite as one family, one community, to build the next era for this team and this city."
In 2018, the team decided to stop using the Chief Wahoo logo, which has long offended many Indigenous people and allies alike, on its jerseys and caps.