[prewarsports]

If you study Sockalexis, it is 100% not a myth and completely true, but you have to understand the context to get how the timeline works. It had nothing to do with honoring his death and it drives me crazy when people say "he died in 1913 and the team changed names in 1915, therefore its a myth."

In a short summation, the Cleveland franchise had a buzz when Sockalexis came up that is impossible to understand today. The story of how he got to Cleveland is even better but I wont go there. It was a Lebron in high school thing, or Jeremy "Linsanity" on a national level, but MORE because baseball was the only sport people cared about. Every team wanted him, everyone knew he was the most talented player in the nation (college or pro at the time) and when Cleveland got him, it was a HUGE national event. For that summer of 1896, Cleveland was the center of the baseball world and it was EXCITING. Reporters came from Europe to do stories on him and his exploits were front page news. The team became known as the "Indians" unofficially the entire year. They sold out to packed stadiums with crowds outside trying to "scalp" tickets!

Fast forward twenty years later, they were the "Naps" and then their leader jumped to the Federal League. Cleveland was in a bad spot and wanted to regain something to be proud of, recapture some sort of buzz about the team again. It was at this time they decided to harken back to the "Indians", back when it was fun and exciting to be a Cleveland baseball fan. It was a nod to Sockalexis' time in Cleveland, but not a direct naming of the franchise after him, which is where people get misguided.