By Edwin Cooney
Last Friday, the Cleveland Indians of the American Baseball League announced that after much consideration, they will become the Cleveland Guardians at the close of the 2021 baseball season. Many will be pleased to know that Cleveland, Ohio is choosing a name that's inclusive and protective of the entire community that is symbolized in the structure of the bridge just across the street from their new stadium, Progressive Field. Many are pleased that baseball will abandon the too long habit of sports teams naming themselves derisively after Native Americans when so many Americans of past eras have feared and loathed and even admired them for their bravery under great odds.
It all began back in 1897 when the then Cleveland Spiders were in the National League. Suddenly there appeared, seemingly from out of the proverbial blue, an unbelievable rookie outfielder of amazing talent.
His name was Louis Francis Sockalexis. Louis was a member of the Penobscot Tribe from Old Town, Maine. He was fast, often running the 100 yard dash in 10 seconds. Additionally, he was unusually strong. One story has it that Louis Sockalexis once hit a 600 foot home run during the dead ball era when baseballs were often squishy rather than hard and tightly wound as they are today. It was said that he once threw a baseball from the top of Oak Hill on the Old Town Indian Reservation that struck the smokestack of the Jordan Lumber Mill three quarters of a mile away. Louis Sockalexis was 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 185 pounds. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. His baseball fame lasted almost four months between April 22nd, 1897 into the July Fourth weekend of that year. During that all too short time, "the Chief" (as he was naturally called),
hit .338, 9 doubles, 8 triples and 3 home runs. It was eventually observed by some of his teammates that Louis simply became too popular too fast for, without warning, it was suddenly all over.
Sunday, July 4th, 1897, Louis, along with many teammates, began celebrating Independence Day accompanied by an old nemesis — the bottle. Three years earlier, he'd been expelled from Notre Dame for drunkenness despite being a star football player. After the weekend, he couldn't or wouldn't stop drinking even after hurting an ankle while trying to sneak out of a third story hotel window which was being guarded by teammates who were determined to protect him against himself.
Louis's injured ankle slowed him down and he began making fielding errors to the extent that he only played two or three more games in 1897. He would only play 21 games in 1898 and a mere 7 in 1899, finally being released by the Spiders. The Spiders would themselves be banished from the National League at the close of 1899 following a season of 20 wins and 134 losses.But there's more!
Also expelled by the National League along with the Spiders at the close of 1899 were the Washington Nationals. Both teams joined the new American League in 1901. The Washington Nationals or “Nats “became the Washington Senators who would be remembered as "first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League.” Meanwhile, the Cleveland Spiders originally became the “Cleveland Naps” after their newly acquired Hall of Fame star second baseman Napoleon Lajoie. By 1914, Nap Lajoie had retired and Cleveland needed a new name. Hence, a local newspaper ran a contest for Cleveland fans to suggest a new name. The winning entry came from a fan who suggested that the new name be the “Cleveland Indians” after their wonderful 1897 Penobscot Indian star, Louis Francis Sockalexis. Therefore, for the last 106 years, the former Spiders and Naps have been known as the Cleveland Indians. Just five years after becoming the Indians in Louis's name, they won the 1920 World Series and the name “Bill Wambsganss” outshone the name Sockalexis when he made the first and only unassisted triple play in World Series history against the Dodgers. Thirty-three years after 1915, the names of two Black players, Larry Doby and Satchel Paige, became household words in Cleveland, Ohio and all over America as the Indians won the 1948 World Series over the Boston Braves. (Note: Is it significant or merely ironic that the Indians defeated the Braves in a World Series?)
Things continued downhill for Sockalexis once he was back at home in Old Town, Maine following his 1899 release by the Spiders. His body inevitably thickened and his dress was continuously shabby. He was in and out of jail for vagrancy. He became a regular panhandler rather than a laborer. Finally and inevitably, his body wore out on Christmas Eve of 1913. Born on Tuesday, October 24th, 1871, he was 42 years and exactly two months old when he passed away on Wednesday, December 24th 1913.
Alcoholism, we've finally come to realize, is not a measurement of poor character but a physical reaction to alcohol. Louis's natural gift was brilliant athletic ability. He is the only player I know of that, 14 or 15 years following his unconditional release, would have a team named after him, however ironically and indirectly!
As the Indians become the Guardians, the irony is that for the second and final time they are saying: Louis, for all eternity farewell!
It has already been observed that by becoming the Cleveland Guardians (inspired by giant Art Deco statues on the city's Hope Memorial Bridge), the final five letters of their new name continue to be “nians.”
Might the spirit of Louis Sockalexis have something to do with that?
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
No comments:
Post a Comment