The Cleveland Indians are now the Cleveland Guardians
Meet the Cleveland Guardians.
The Cleveland Indians announced Friday it's changing the name of the Major League Baseball team to the Cleveland Guardians.
"There's always been Cleveland," Tom Hanks says in a video shared by the team on Twitter. "That's the best part of our name. And now it's time to unite as one family, one community, to build the next era for this team and this city. To keep watch and guard what makes this game the greatest."
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It was previously reported in December 2020 that the team would be changing its name, which dates back to 1915, after years of criticism that it was racially insensitive. That came after Washington's football team dropped the "Redskins" from its name for the same reason; it's now known as the Washington Football Team, though a new name will reportedly be revealed next year.
The Cleveland baseball team has been reviewing potential new names for the past year and had a list of almost 1,200 of them, The Associated Press reports. The one they selected is a reference to the statues at Cleveland's Hope Memorial Bridge known as the "Guardians of Traffic," CNBC notes. The new name, according to MLB, will take effect after the 2021 season.
