

That's what it means to be Cleveland Guardians." We're resilient, hard working and loyal - to this city and to each other. And if we get knocked down, we pick each other right back up and keep fighting. We fight together for what we believe in. In a post Friday, the team explained the name Guardians: "To protect, to keep watch, to defend. The franchise moved away from its longtime "Chief Wahoo" logo after the 2018 season, with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred saying at the time it was "no longer appropriate for on-field use in Major League Baseball." Protests by Native American activists outside the team's stadium had for years been commonplace, particularly on opening day.

In December, the Cleveland baseball team said it would change its name after the 2021 season, a move seen by some as long overdue. "Those memories do not diminish with a new name," he added. "We acknowledge the name change will be difficult for some of us, and the transition will take time," said Dolan, who noted he grew up in Northeast Ohio and had always rooted for the team under its old moniker. It will continue to be known as the Washington Football Team for the 2021 campaign.Īt a press conference Friday, Cleveland's team owner Paul Dolan said the organization hopes Guardians will "divert us from a divisive path" and eventually be embraced by the entire fanbase and region. The franchise adopted Washington Football Team on a temporary basis, playing last season under that name. The NFL's Washington Football Team last year dropped its former name, which was decried as demeaning to Native Americans, as corporate backlash intensified. The franchise is in second place in the American League Central. However, MLB.com reported that will happen for next season. The announcement did not say when it goes into effect. It had been the baseball club's name since 1915. The franchise, which announced the name change in a tweet Friday morning, had long faced pressure from activists locally and nationally to ditch the name "Indians," which critics said was racist. William Henry Hope was Cleveland-area stonemason.The name Guardians is a reference to well-known art deco statues located on the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge, which spans the Cuyahoga River and connects downtown Cleveland to the city's trendy Ohio City neighborhood. Those statues are known as the "Guardians of Traffic." In the 1980s it was renamed the Hope Memorial Bridge, after the father of legendary funny man Bob Hope. The funding was approved in 1927, before the economy soured, and a lowered level dedicated to commercial traffic was scrapped. They evoke several different styles all at the same time, from the wings of an Assyrian bull, the winged helm of the Greek god Hermes, and the striking angular, art deco fashion that was demanded at the time. They each specify the "spirit of progress through transportation," said the bridge designer, WIlbur Watson. Each of the "Guardians of Traffic" (so they are actually called - I have always mistakenly referred to them as guardians of transportation) hold some wheeled vehicle a car, truck or wagon of some kind. It features fabulous art deco statues, carved from Berea sandstone, and designed by sculptor Henry Hering and architect Frank Walker, facing in both directions at either end of the bridge. The Lorain-Carnegie Bridge was completed in 1932, reaching 5,865 feet across the Cuyahoga River, connecting the east and west sides.
