The Cleveland Indians were named in HONOR of Cheif Louis Sockalexis...enough with this PC crap! June 2, 1869 The name of the NL ball club was The Cleveland Forest Citys at the Elysian Fields. From 1891 through 1899 the name was changed to the Spiders Led by Cy Young. The Cleveland Spiders began play at a new ballpark, League Park, located at the corner of East 66th Street and Lexington Avenue, on May 1, 1891. The Spiders began a tradition of championship professional baseball that would be joined by the Indians in 1920 and 1948 and the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro Leagues in 1945. A newsworthy addition to the 1897 Spiders was Louis Sockalexis. Considered a supreme baseball talent, Sockalexis played just 94 games for the Spiders from 1897 through 1899. Louis Francis Sockalexis (October 24, 1871 – December 24, 1913), nicknamed The Deerfoot of the Diamond, was an American baseball player. Sockalexis played professional baseball in the National League for three seasons, spending his entire career (1897-1899) as an outfielder for the Cleveland Spiders. A Native American from the Penobscot tribe, Sockalexis is often identified as the first person of Native American ancestry to play in Major League Baseball. Louis Sockalexis was born on the Penobscot Indian reservation near Old Town, Maine in 1871. His grandfather was Chief of the Bear Clan. In his youth, Sockalexis athletic talents were very noticeable. It was reported that Sockalexis could throw a baseball across the Penobscot River from Indian Island to the shore of Old Town. Additionally, it is said that Sockalexis and his father entertained crowds at the Bangor Race Track by playing catch across the entire track. Initially known as the Blues (1901) and Broncos (1902), Clevelands nickname became Naps, in honor of Lajoie, in 1903. On January 17, 1914 two Cleveland newspapers (The Leader and The Plain Dealer) reported that Indians had been chosen to replace Naps. The Plain Dealer said, President Somers invited the Cleveland baseball writers to make the selection. The title of Indians was their choice, it having been one of the names applied to the old National League club of Cleveland many years ago. When Chief Sockalexis first arrived, baseball in Cleveland suffered an abrupt downturn in fortune. Now, the Indians would rise to glory with a new owner and star player.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 03:51:14 +0000
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