It’s been clear for more than a year now that Chief Wahoo’s days were numbered. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred had said as much in multiple interviews — in January 2017 when he said he’d had spoken with the Dolans about the racist red Sambo and hoped to continue the conversation, and in April 2017 when he explicitly said he wanted the team to drop the logo. By August, owner Paul Dolan told attendees at an eastside event that the timeline was moving faster than he’d expected though the two sides weren’t yet in total agreement. And in October, Manfred told reporters that he intended to “deal with” the issue this offseason.
Well, the offseason is almost officially over, and while Wahoo will indeed stick around for 2018, it will not be part of the Tribe’s uniforms — caps and jerseys — going forward beginning in 2019, the team announced.
(That’s the same year that Cleveland will host the All Star Game. A source told us last year that the elimination of Wahoo prior to the signature summer weekend of the MLB season was a condition of Cleveland being awarded the game. An MLB spokesperson told us at the time that was not true. Paul Dolan, in an interview with the Plain Dealer on the decision, also denied the Manfred used the midsummer classic as a carrot or stick.)
“Major League Baseball is committed to building a culture of diversity and inclusion throughout the game,” Manfred said in a statement today. “Over the past year, we encouraged dialogue with the Indians organization about the club’s use of the Chief Wahoo logo. During our constructive conversations, Paul Dolan made clear that there are fans who have a longstanding attachment to the logo and its place in the history of the team.
“Nonetheless, the club ultimately agreed with my position that the logo is no longer appropriate for on-field use in Major League Baseball, and I appreciate Mr. Dolan’s acknowledgement that removing it from the on-field uniform by the start of the 2019 season is the right course.”
For his part, Dolan said in a statement: “We have consistently maintained that we are cognizant and sensitive to both sides of the discussion,” Dolan said. “While we recognize many of our fans have a long-standing attachment to Chief Wahoo, I’m ultimately in agreement with Commissioner Manfred’s desire to remove the logo from our uniforms in 2019.”
Dolan took the both-sides tack in the PD interview as well, going above and beyond to convey to Keep the Chiefers just what an allegedly terribly hard time ownership had making the call.
“This is the hardest decision we’ve had to make during our entire ownership,” Dolan told Terry Pluto, who noted that Dolan’s voice “cracked” with emotion during the conversation.
Of course, by using language like that, by laying at least part of the blame at the feet of MLB and Manfred — “I’m ultimately in agreement with Commissioner Manfred’s desire” — Dolan is acting entirely in deference to the Keep the Chief sect, and by design: It’s them that wanted it gone, he’s saying. It’s them that forced our hand.
It was long past time for someone to force the Indians to do something, because they certainly weren’t going to do anything on their own. And even this long overdue move — the simplest and the most obvious one— has to be couched in both-sideisms and overwrought emotions.
Wahoo will get a season-long curtain call, and the Indians will still be able to sell Wahoo merch going forward, though it will not be available on MLB’s site (the merchandising portion will go forward to satisfy legal requirements, so the team maintains the trademark on the garish, racist caricature), but it’s about time we said good fucking riddance.
This article appears in Jan 24-30, 2018.
Oh goodness. What do the whiners have to complain about next? What will all those social justice warriors (aka losers) do with their free time? Make more trouble for everyone, of course. Theres an endless list at the communist party hq, aka the DNC.
Horse feathers, as my Dad would have said! Anything that’s PC is invariably wrong, and this is a perfect case. There was nothing racist about Chief Wahoo. Why is it that the vast majority of Indians (“Native Americans” if you wish) LOVE Chief Wahoo and do not want to get rid of him? But the SJW’s of the coasts rule the day. Sigh.
“It was long past time for someone to force the Indians to do something, because they certainly werent going to do anything on their own.”
Nope, no problems with this quote out of context.
I LOVE the Scene graphic of “Little Wahoo Sambo” Can’t wait to illegally copy and mirror the blackface side into a whole blackface logo and frame it… It will be proudly displayed in my home as a tribute to you liberals.
lol at these sad racists in the comments, so pained to lose a cartoon. their logo is more important than respecting the culture and heritage of others. Sad!
‘… while Wahoo will indeed stick around for 2018, it will not be part of the Tribe’s uniforms caps and jerseys going forward beginning in 2019, the team announced.”
So in 2019 the Chief will not be part of the ON-FIELD UNI…and (I assume) any ballpark signage, scoreboards, and the like. Okay, no big surprise. Most people have probably seen this day coming.
B U T…
Does this also mean that Chief Wahoo will be henceforth and forever BANNED from the stands? Will the Tribe take a page from Disney and refuse admission to anyone wearing “objectionable or obscene” clothing? (That means whatever management wants it to mean…their house…their rules. It’s already in writing…you can look it up in the Fan Guide.).
If the merch is still going to be available for purchase, but it is prohibited in the very venue where it is sold, wouldn’t this move give a whole new meaning to the word “hypocrisy?”
Oh, yeah…The Chief is a racist cartoon and demeaning and a Red Sambo, yadda yadda yadda and blah blah blah, ad nauseum…but please pony up the moolah and plaster it on your head and your body. Anything for a buck in America, folks. Just don’t wear it at our ballpark.
Got a feeling…two feelings, in fact…
First feeling…sales of Wahoo-themed merch are going to go through the roof in 2018. The seventy-eighty-ninety per cent of Clevelanders who don’t object to the Chief are going to be stocking up. Do your Christmas shopping early…the stuff will be flying off the shelves, starting tomorrow.
Second feeling…those purchases are going to assure the continues presence of Wahoo in 2019…2020…2025…and beyond…maybe even into the 2030s. Or at least until the old farts and die-hards finally pass on. Maybe not present in the stands, depending on how hypocritical the Tribe becomes, but certainly on the streets…and elsewhere.
If Eliot Ness and Al Capone were still around, they’d tell you the same thing: Prohibition just fuels the demand for that which is prohibited. Wahoo may be disappearing from between the lines, but the Chief is not going away anytime soon..
“It was long past time for someone to force the Indians to do something, because they certainly werent going to do anything on their own.”
So it’s okay to use Native Americans as mascots for extortion?
There is a “lost” story on the plans of Richard and David Jacobs to completely phase out Chief Wahoo when the club moved from Cleveland Stadium to Jacobs Field — and how it ultimately got derailed.
Did it include a name change as well as a logo change? Maybe we heard different stories.
I think the team should be renamed The Cleveland White Trash and a drunken white hillbilly named Jethro should be the mascot. The team theme song should be the Banjo Duel from Deliverance. Wait, does that bother you?? Hey, I didn’t intend for that to be racist, so it is not racist no matter what you white people think! I AM NOT A SAD RACIST! How dare you! The mascot is not a real person, so it is not racist! So what if it bothers you people. GET OVER IT CRYBABY LIBS! YOU SAD JUSTICE WARRIOR COMMIES need to find something else to whine about! Yaddayaddayadda…blah blah blah.
Thanks for sharing, Octopussy. Feel better now?
this is messed up the reason I was buying their gear is because of the logo now that he will be gone I doubt it if I will buy anymore,
Real Native Americans will tell you that it’s just foolish white people being offended for them. They are not impressed and could care less. Liberals offend me every day and no one cares about my feelings. Bill Glass – North Dakota USA