Cleveland Indians to discontinue the use of Chief Wahoo logo

(Image credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

The Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team will change its logo next year after facing mounting pressure over "the most offensive image in sports," The New York Times reports. The cartoonish depiction of a Native American, named "Chief Wahoo," has appeared on the Indians' uniforms since 1948. It will no longer be used on the team's uniforms beginning in the 2019 season, MLB reports.

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The Indians' management "ultimately agreed with my position that the logo is no longer appropriate for on-field use in Major League Baseball," said the commissioner of baseball, Rob Manfred, on Monday. Added Cleveland's chairman and chief executive Paul Dolan: "While we recognize many of our fans have a longstanding attachment to Chief Wahoo, I'm ultimately in agreement with Commissioner Manfred's desire to remove the logo from our uniforms in 2019."

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Items featuring Chief Wahoo will reportedly still be available at the team's store, although not on the MLB website.

Other American sports teams have also faced pressure to change their mascots, including the Atlanta Braves baseball team, the NFL's Washington Redskins, and the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.