Chief Wahoo Departs: Indians remove logo from brand in 2019

[CS85 10,785]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/indians-removing-chief-wahoo-logo-from-uniforms/

 

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians are removing the divisive Chief Wahoo logo from their jerseys and caps starting in the 2019 season.

 

Following numerous discussions with Major League Baseball and Commissioner Rob Manfred, the Indians will no longer wear the big-toothed, smiling, red-faced caricature during games. The iconic logo, which has been used in various expressions by the team since 1947, has been deemed racist and offensive by some.

 

Manfred said the team conveyed to him that some fans have a “long-standing attachment” to the logo, but the Indians agreed that it’s “no longer appropriate for on-field use.”

 

The Indians will wear the Wahoo logo this season and continue to sell merchandise featuring it.

 

Under growing pressure, the team has been transitioning away from Chief Wahoo in recent years. The Indians introduced a block “C” insignia on their caps and have removed stadium signs with the Wahoo logo.

[colortv 2,049]

https://mobile.nytimes.com/redirect?to-mobile=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2018%2F01%2F29%2Fsports%2Fbaseball%2Fcleveland-indians-chief-wahoo-logo.html

[Ark 2,881]

A sad day for baseball.

[EddieJ1984 1,735]

It's the right move, good they are doing it.

I wasn't one of the ones fighting for it to be removed, but yea it's time to move past crappy caricatures that look offensive. 

[SilverBullet1929 3,253]

Interesting note, they say they need to maintain limited use of Wahoo in retail aspects to maintain ownership of the logo so that another party can't eventually claim the logo as their own and thus profit from it. 

 

I interpret that as they'll still use Wahoo on throwback related merchandise. Seems fair and might be good enough for the long time fans who wanted it to stay for historical purposes. 

[SFGiants58 14,558]

5 minutes ago, Ark said:

A sad day for baseball.

 

 

Good f’ing riddance to Little Red Sambo. Now come up with a good replacement Cleveland, and we’re in good shape.

[GottaDeal 23]

 

[SilverBullet1929 3,253]

Coincides with the 2019 All Star Game being in Cleveland... though the Indians say that wasn't the reason it was removed. 

[ozzyman314 299]

Such a shame to see such a unique logo :censored:canned.  

 

At least they are keeping it for Merchandise. 

[Teal 956]

Rebrand incoming I suspect. 

[mjd77 1,564]

3 minutes ago, SFGiants58 said:

 Now come up with a good replacement Cleveland, and we’re in good shape.

 

I wouldn't get your hopes up.  Pathetic as it is, they'll probably use the block C as their only mark.

[DelayedPenalty 156]

18 minutes ago, Ark said:

A sad day for baseball.

 

Is it really, though?

[Sec19Row53 4,068]

1 minute ago, Delayed Penalty said:

 

Is it really, though?

nope.

[henburg 1,654]

It’s about damn time. 

[the admiral 29,095]

Whatever, we'll always have Major League.

 

The Indians' set could use some reorganization anyway, maybe they'll use this time to settle on a color distribution and lose the red home/blue away nonsense that never suits anyone.

[BeerGuyJordan 1,307]

Good riddance. Wahoo can burn in hell.

 

Seriously, though, I hope some sort of rebrand is coming. That block C, as is, is pretty dull.

[OnWis97 4,711]

They'll make a killing selling Wahoo caps and other stuff this year.

 

We'll have to endure whining about how political correctness has destroyed America.  Then we'll move on.

32 minutes ago, SilverBullet1929 said:

Interesting note, they say they need to maintain limited use of Wahoo in retail aspects to maintain ownership of the logo so that another party can't eventually claim the logo as their own and thus profit from it. 

 

I interpret that as they'll still use Wahoo on throwback related merchandise. Seems fair and might be good enough for the long time fans who wanted it to stay for historical purposes. 

Given the statement about fans having long-time attachments, I suppose it looks like it's not quite going away just yet for merchandise.  However, it could fade away through attrition depending on how well it sells in the early years.

 

But taking it off the field is a huge step in the "phasing out" process.  I kinda wish they'd just rip off the Band Aid and we could have one last time to lament political correctness over this ridiculous logo and then move on.

[ozzyman314 299]

18 minutes ago, mjd77 said:

 

I wouldn't get your hopes up.  Pathetic as it is, they'll probably use the block C as their only mark.

That what annoys me most. 

If they at least had an alternative to replace it, I'd be ok with it. 

 

But I 100% know they are going to stick with the bland, boring, unoriginal block letter design. 

[TBGKon 2,683]

3 minutes ago, ozzyman314 said:

That what annoys me most. 

If they at least had an alternative to replace it, I'd be ok with it. 

 

But I 100% know they are going to stick with the bland, boring, unoriginal block letter design. 

With the UnderArmour changeover in 2019, anythings possible I guess.  

[OnWis97 4,711]

I actually like the 1980s block C (https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/blyleven-bert).  I think the white outline is needed because of the way the blue and red play off of each other.  

 

Right now they kind of have two looks.  Hopefully they'll pick a lane.