Baseball’s Cleveland Indians change name to… guess what….

Farewell Chief Wahoo.

Today baseball’s Cleveland Indians changed their name.

From 2022 they will be the …

Guardians.

Custodes.

There’s that word again.

Synchronicity.

 

Clevelandensis custodes.

It’s as if the Devil was telling us what he is up to.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Pò sì jiù and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

23 Comments

  1. albinus1 says:

    IIRC, the Guardians—Phylakes in Greek—are the ones who run the very stratified, regimented society Plato describes in his Republic.

  2. Gaetano says:

    Apparently they’re named for the iconic Guardians of Traffic on the Hope Bridge just outside the stadium. You can see one of the statues on the right side of the logo you posted.

    I don’t have a dog in this fight, but it makes some sense.

  3. Fulco One Eye says:

    So. I suppose they will yell from the stands: “TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!”

  4. Mario Bird says:

    ad infinitum et ultra

  5. epr says:

    I was a 40+ year fan. Some of my earliest memories are Indian games. They’re dead to me.

  6. hilltop says:

    What a bunch of babies.

  7. Kathleen10 says:

    Rocky the Raccoon is to be their mascot. Kidding. I read that fans think the name is lame, as do I. Were I an Indian’s fan I would boycott the heck out of them until they changed their name back. We would all respect Cleveland fans if they did. Strike a blow for the un-woke, don’t buy those tickets!
    I saw it suggested they should change their name to the Cleveland Massengills. Yes I know that’s vulgar. But in today’s world one has to find humor where one can.
    Related comment to wokeness, how many complaints did Target have to get to remove a book from ALL their stores?
    One.
    The many Native American names and symbols in this country are an homage to a culture. The names are associated with bravery and toughness, and this has always been admired. They are disappearing Native Americans. Darn fools.

  8. monstrance says:

    The Cleveland Guardians !
    Has a ring to it .
    Not really.

  9. teomatteo says:

    If a team changes its name can i now use the ‘Indians’ name to express my freedom on a t-shirt i have screen printed?

  10. Charivari Rob says:

    They couldn’t get all the rights to use the name Wild Things?

    [Wouldn’t that be something.]

  11. hwriggles4 says:

    I heard this on the news Friday morning. I hope the Braves and the Chiefs keep their names intact.

    The last few years I have said this…

    As a alumnus of the Boy Scouts, I think it is just a matter of time where the Order of the Arrow gets pressure to restructure due to Indian Lore. Several lodges have Indian names, as do some Boy Scout Council camps. The suffix “Reservation” is not derogatory.

    In addition the state of Oklahoma has quite a bit of Indian heritage as well, with several counties having Indian names. Let’s preserve history.

  12. Archicantator says:

    A Latin name for a sports team leaves room for so much greater precision than is possible in English that I’m rather at a loss. Should we translate the city name as a nominative plural participle modifying Custodes, i.e., Custodes Clevelandenses (“Guardians who dwell in Cleveland [but might be guarding something other than Cleveland itself]”)? An objective genitive plural participle, Custodes Clevelandensium (“Guardians of all dwellers-in-Cleveland”)? A nominative plural adjective Custodes Clevelandiani (“Guardians of the ‘Cleveland’ variety”)? A singular objective genitive adjective (with or without substantive), Custodes [urbis] Clevelandiae (“Guardians of/from [the city of] Cleveland”)? Or would an ancient Roman have to express this by a circumlocution, such as Ii qui per sollertiam pilae ludendae urbem Clevelandianam custodiunt (“They who through skill in playing ball guard the city of Cleveland”)? That last one wouldn’t make for much of a cheer. Ite, vos qui…!

  13. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    Thanks, Gaetano! Following up, I see that the current (“25 July 2021, at 15:38 (UTC)”) Wikipedia “Hope Memorial Bridge” article links a 2009 Cleveland Magazine article by Erick Trickey quoting Wilbur Watson, the bridge’s engineer, that they were meant to “typify the spirit of progress in transportation”, but noting he did not say what had inspired them – followed by some interesting speculations. As winged custodes, might they be intended to be (or evoke thoughts of) angels?

    It is pleasant to think these monumental statues were preserved from destruction (ought we to add, ‘so far’?), but reading in the blurb on the logo post, “We’re resilient, hard-working, and loyal” my immediate thought was, ‘not to tradition’ (with, ‘not very resilient, either, where PC bullying is concerned’ coming to mind next).

  14. Semper Gumby says:

    Archicantator: An excellent exposition. To those in Cleveland who caved to the perpetually aggrieved: Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.

    At least Cleveland didn’t go with the 19th century name: the Cleveland Spiders.

    Well…

    On balmy summer evenings while the front porch swing creaks and crickets are in choir with the frogs, on icy winter nights in front of the fireplace, grandpa will gather the young ‘uns for a tale, a tale of the Boys of Summer of 1989: the legendary Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn; Pedro Cerrano’s bat- the Hammer of the Gods- fueled by rum, a snake, and a bucket of fried chicken; and the legendary Willie Mays Hays who stole the ladies’ hearts as often as he stole bases. Baseball. The game God loves best.

    Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
    But he’ll remember with advantages
    What feats he did that day: then shall our names
    Familiar in his mouth as household words:
    Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
    Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
    Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
    This story shall the good man teach his son;
    And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
    From this day to the ending of the world,
    But we in it shall be remember’d.

    Doggone right, Bill Shakespeare.

    …but we draw the line at renaming the Los Angeles Angels to the Los Angeles Wiccans, or the Miami Heat to the Miami Global Warming We’re All Dead In Ten Years, or the Tennessee Titans to the Tennessee Castrati (the Tennessee Chuck Norris is perfectly acceptable), or the New England Patriots to the New England Commies. Them thar’s fightin’ words. God bless ‘Merica.

  15. Semper Gumby says:

    Fulco One Eye* and Mario Bird: Never give up, never surrender.

    * What a great username. To paraphrase Capt. Renault: I like to think you were a pirate, it’s the romantic in me.

    teomatteo: Freeedooom!

    Charivari Rob: The Cleveland Wild Things had potential. Other team names could be: Horde, Clan or the Widowmakers.

    This brings to mind the Great City-State Pizza War:

    https://wdtprs.com/2020/01/urgent-poll-which-pizza-is-better-nyc-or-chicago-style/

    And… apparently someone at the U.S. Army Military History Center is having a slow day and chimes in with several “Special Designations”: the 1032nd Transportation Company (Virginia) is known as the Hillbilly Express, the 7th Cavalry Regiment as Garryowen (Irish folk song*), and the 31st Infantry Regiment as the Polar Bears (in 1918 the 31st was transferred from tropical Manila to Siberia for the Russian Civil War).

    *Garryowen:
    We are the boys who take delight in
    Smashing the Limerick lights when lightning;
    Through the streets like spotters fighting
    And clearing all before us.

    We’ll break windows, we’ll break down doors
    The watch knock down by three and fours;
    Then let the doctors work their cures,
    And tinker up our bruises

  16. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    Semper Gumby,

    You reject “the Tennessee Castrati”, but now you’ve got me wndering what a production of Damn Yankees would be like with counter-tenors…

  17. Semper Gumby says:

    Venerator Sti Lot: Yikes *chuckle*. I’ll stick with the Three Tenors.

    Even better, the Three Tenors announcing a minor league game.

    Every strike results in the Depths of Despair and a booming Lamentation against the Cruel and Fickle Mistress of Fate- accompanied by handkerchiefs vigorously mopping foreheads. Every home run results in a bleacher-rattling bombastic aria blessing the mighty slugger, the home crowd and the hot dog vendor unto the seventh generation, and enthrones the batting coach on Mt. Olympus. The opposing team, of course, would tremble and shake like flea-infested dogs, and fear Ragnarok (“the cataclysmic destruction of the Cosmos and everything in it”) is nigh. Now that’s baseball.

  18. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    I just encountered someone discussing, e.g., Plain Dealer attention to the fact that The Cleveland Guardians is already the name of a roller derby team, quoting the paper that “A spokesman for the Indians said Monday that the team could not comment on trademark issues or on any dealings with the roller derby Guardians at this time.

    “The Cleveland Guardians roller derby team did not respond to requests for comment.”

    The writer attending to this matter noted that Louis Sockalexis, ‘The Deerfoot of the Diamond’, played outfield for 3 seasons for the Cleveland Spiders, making him the first American Indian to play in the major leagues, and that in 1915, the Cleveland baseball team decided to become the Indians in his honor – until, 106 years later, the current management decided to withdraw the honor.

  19. Semper Gumby says:

    Venerator Sti Lot: Moses J. Yellow Horse was no slouch as a ballplayer either. And typical of today’s Maoists- running wildly through the streets lynching the Four Olds- trampling on yet another non-white person. Leftists, not content with merely being Maoists, are also Nazis. Some of them, by the looks of their mugshots, are also Aliens.

    Anyway, if the roller derby refuses to share “Guardians” then Cleveland could go with “Indigenous.” But that’s probably racist. Or maybe sexist. No, wait, it’s ableist. Hmm…ackshually it’s anti-Dentite.

    https://youtu.be/ythrdCsOFJU

  20. IaninEngland says:

    It is sad, not to mention cringeworthy, that a sports team should feel it necessary to kowtow to political correctness like this.
    The irony of such anti-racialist virtue signalling is that they *feel* they can only counter this improperly percieved “racism” by obliterating the reference to the perceived victim. In and of itself, this is a racist act.
    Lenin’s “useful idiots”, I suppose.

  21. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    Semper Gumby,

    Speaking of Moseses, the online Encyclopedia of Cleveland History ‘Cleaveland, Moses’ article says, “When the party arrived at Buffalo Creek, N.Y., Cleaveland met in treaty with Red Jacket, Joseph Brant, Farmer’s Brother, and other Iroquois chiefs, and with gifts and persuasion convinced them their land had already been ceded through Gen. Anthony Wayne’s Treaty of Greenville. Although they had not signed the treaty, the Indians relinquished their claim to the land to the CUYAHOGA RIVER. At the mouth of Conneaut Creek, the party on 27 June 1796 negotiated with the MASSASAGOES tribe, who challenged their claim to their country. Cleaveland described his agreement with the Six Nations, promised not to disturb their people, and gave them trinkets, wampum, and whiskey in exchange for safety to explore to the Cuyahoga River.”

    In light of the reception by “Red Jacket, Joseph Brant, Farmer’s Brother, and other Iroquois chiefs” of the Treaty of Greenville, and the reception by the Massagoes tribe of that Six Nations reception, perhaps the Cleveland ‘Reception Theorists’ might be a good name.

  22. Semper Gumby says:

    Venerator Sti Lot: “Cleveland Reception Theorists” is a good one. That historical period is interesting. Of the Six Nations you mentioned, I think during the War for Independence four sided with the King and two with the Americans. Then there is Fr. Junipero Serra and the Spanish Missions, St. Kateri Tekakwitha and the North American Martyrs. And it’s worth mentioning again that the last Crow war chief was Joe Medicine Crow, who completed the four tasks required of a war chief… in Europe against the National Socialists during WW II.

    Here’s a bit of history about the Six Nations and the “Oneida Carry”:

    “The Oneida Carry was the English name for the portage path between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek. The carry was a part of the major water route between New York City and Canada. It was between one to six miles in length depending on the season of the year.

    “The Six Nations had used it long before any Europeans moved into the area. The carry took on new importance for the Six Nations as they became involved in fur trade. Furs were brought south to trade with the Dutch and English, and northeast to trade with the French.”

    https://www.nps.gov/fost/learn/historyculture/the-oneida-carry-and-its-early-fortifications.htm

    IaninEngland: Good point.

Comments are closed.