The Cleveland Indians’ movement to distance themselves from their racist past will come to Cooperstown this summer.
Jim Thome will enter the Baseball Hall of Fame in July as a member of the Indians, and as is custom, the Hall will unveil a plaque of Thome in an Indians hat. But that hat will feature Cleveland’s new “Block C” logo instead of its old “Chief Wahoo” logo, the Hall of Fame announced Wednesday.
The Hall’s decision comes after Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred revealed in January the Indians will remove the Chief Wahoo logo from their uniforms following the 2018 season due to the offensive and racist connotations it holds for Native Americans. Cleveland first debuted the logo in 1948, and Thome donned the Chief Wahoo logo on his uniform and hat throughout his 13-year tenure with the club.
The Hall of Fame reiterated its support for Manfred’s stance and said in a statement that it “acknowledges the shifting societal view of Native American logos in baseball.”
Visitors to Cooperstown still will find Chief Wahoo in the Hall’s museum: The logo appears in exhibits and on Early Wynn’s 1972 Hall of Fame plaque. But plaques of any future Indians inductees — regardless of what era they played in — will be fastened with the “Block C” logo instead of Chief Wahoo.
