It was announced this week that after 106 years the Cleveland Indians would be retiring their name following the 2021 season in a trend where professional sports teams with Native American-themed team nicknames are ditching them for something more politically correct. Some like the move,some hate it. I’m not here to take a side, but rather give options as to what they could change their name to going forward in 2022 and beyond. Cleveland Tribe will not be on this list as team owner Paul Dolan said that it will not be considered as an option. Here are a few I like:

Cleveland Rockers

While,yes,it was the name of their one-time WNBA team from 1997 to 2003, it is a pretty good one considering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame calls Cleveland home. I think you could use a guitar as a logo and retain the red and blue colors as well. I also think it would be popular with fans.

Cleveland Unions

This one is a bit odd, but I kinda like it considering Ohio, and more specifically Cleveland, was a major hub for the Union side during the Civil War, especially when it came to building ships. The area boomed during those days and yes,the Union won the War!

Cleveland Spiders

While this was the name of a team that went 20-134 in 1899, I think it’s time for this name to get some redemption. Not only is it an awesome name, but you hardly see any teams named the Spiders outside of the University of Richmond. The same colors the team has can be kept and you can even nickname Progressive Field, “The Web”. How cool would that be?

Cleveland Guardians

This name is gaining popularity in that it has a tie to Cleveland with the Hope Memorial Bridge, which features statues at the end of each viaduct that are named the “Guardians of Traffic”. But when I think of Guardians, I think more along the lines of Guardians of the Galaxy, but that’s just the Disney geek in me.

Former Williamsport Crosscutters logo

Cleveland Lumberjacks

This one has yet to really be mentioned by anyone,but I think Lumberjacks would be a great one to bring back as it was used for a former IHL team in Cleveland in the 1990s and they had a cool beaver mascot which could also be utilized as well as the red and blue color scheme that my former college, American River College uses along with the beaver mascot. Plus lumber is used in baseball and jack is another slang term for home run, what could possibly be better than that?

Cleveland Wild Things

Finally the longshot name that sounds way cool,the Wild Things. From one of my favorite movies ever,1989’s Major League, which is the nickname of Charlie Sheen’s character,Rickey “Wild Thing” Vaughn,in the movie. I think if we’re going for art imitating life,that’s your move! But seriously, how cool would that name be?