CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cleveland Indians will rebrand as the Cleveland Guardians following the conclusion of the 2021 MLB season.
The American League charter member founded in 1901 made the announcement in a 2:11 video that was narrated by Tom Hanks and posted on the team’s social media accounts Friday morning.
The name derives inspiration from Cleveland's guardians of traffic statues, a pair of them stand on the east and west ends of the Hope Memorial Bridge connecting the east and west sides of Cleveland just beyond the gates of Progressive Field.
The team's new wordmarks were crafted to retain a similar look to what has been used over the last 75 years while also evoking the architecture of the bridge. The new logo, which includes two G's on each side of a baseball with wings, also was inspired by the helmets on the statues.
A 2 p.m. press conference with team owner Paul Dolan has been scheduled to discuss the selection of Guardians as the franchise's new name.
“We are excited to usher in the next era of the deep history of baseball in Cleveland,” owner and chairman Paul Dolan said. “Cleveland has and always will be the most important part of our identity. Therefore, we wanted a name that strongly represents the pride, resiliency and loyalty of Clevelanders. ‘Guardians’ reflects those attributes that define us while drawing on the iconic Guardians of Traffic just outside the ballpark on the Hope Memorial Bridge. It brings to life the pride Clevelanders take in our city and the way we fight together for all who choose to be part of the Cleveland baseball family. While ‘Indians’ will always be a part of our history, our new name will help unify our fans and city as we are all Cleveland Guardians.”
The Guardians will retain its traditional red, white and blue color scheme.
The franchise had worn the name Indians since 1915 but following social movements across the country and the decision made by Washington’s NFL franchise to drop their name, Redskins, the organization began a review of their brand and ultimately decided it was time for a change.
Since December of 2020 when they announced a change would be made, the organization began vetting potential names.
The Indians dropped their controversial Chief Wahoo logo from their uniforms and team branding at the end of the 2018 season at the behest of Major League Baseball and elevated the ‘block C’ mark to replace it.
“This is a historic moment for our franchise, and we are excited for our players and staff to debut our new team name and look in 2022,” president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said. “We look forward to our team proudly representing the city of Cleveland as the Guardians. Our club will strive to unite and inspire our entire community.”
A total of 1,198 names were considered through 14 rounds of vetting. The organization said that they surveyed 40,000 fans and complied over 140 hours of interviews with fans, influencers, community leaders and front office personnel before ultimately landing on Guardians.