Please Cleveland: go back to Indians?

[rhettyeakley]

Originally Posted by BobC

Rhett,

You are questioning me about the take on Sockalexis and going to give me crap about it? I should be the one asking you - Seriously!?!

Do us both a favor and do a little online research on Sockalexis and his short-lived Cleveland Spiders career. I think you'll quickly discover he was a tad less than stellar. He did start off his 1897 MLB rookie season like a star and helped propel the Spiders to a great start. However, he also apparently liked to drink and carouse quite a bit at night, and was given the nickname "wild bird" by his teammates as a result. Come early July of that rookie season, a foot injury hampered his play, with some sources saying it was the result of his jumping/falling from the second floor window of a brothel, while others claimed he hurt it running the basepaths. Regardless, his drinking apparently caught up to him and by late July of 1897 it was reported in the local Plain Dealer newspaper that team management couldn't control him anymore. He apparently also developed anger issues and became very sullen, to the point where he pretty much spent the rest of the 1897 season on the bench.

He then spent most of the 1898 season on the bench as well. Following that 1898 season the Spiders sold most of their players to St. Louis, but apparently, they didn't want Sockalexis. So, he started the 1899 season with the Spiders playing alongside mostly rejects, prospects, and semi-pro players. Supposedly he started off the season okay, but then his game quickly deteriorated again, to the point where it was reported he fell down drunk playing in the outfield twice during a game on May 13, 1899. He was released by the team soon after that, despite the Spiders only winning 20 games the entire season and being the worst team in MLB that year. Sockalexis was out of MLB for good, even though he was still only 27 years old at the time. I think it's pretty damning when you are so bad, you get cut by the worst team in baseball.

And then over the next couple of years after that he also ended up being arrested and jailed for drunkenness, making a public disturbance, and vagrancy. He ended up dying of a heart attack on December 24, 1913, at the fairly young age off 42.

So, how would you like me to sugar coat the major league baseball part of his career and life, so it is more to your liking?

And this is why I mentioned that the idea of the Indians being named in honor of the very first native American to play in the major leagues may not be as accurate as some would like to hope/think. Though some newspapers apparently made mention of Sockalexis at the time the Indians name was picked, it doesn't make a lot of sense for the team to really have been named in his honor due to his actual history and career with the team being so miserable, and the fact that he apparently lived up to and helped perpetuate the derogatory stereotype of a "drunken Indian".

I had also for years heard, and believed, the story of the Indians being named to honor Sockalexis. But, eventually coming across some contrary statements, I did some research and learned more of the truth about him. If anything, he is a somewhat tragic figure, and the fact that his name was mentioned in the press at the time of the Indians name selection change may have had more to do with it being a better story by which to sell newspapers than anything else.

You've heard the modern saying that if you read it on the internet, it must be true? Well 100+ years ago newspapers were pretty much the equivalent of today's internet for getting one's news.

Not interested in your take. Between my brother Rhys and I you would be hard pressed to find anyone on this planet that knows more about Sockalexis so I will take a hard pass. We both became fascinated by his story as young kids growing up in Old Town, Maine… where Sockalexis is from. You have a very myopic view of him and his accomplishments (or in your view the lack thereof) so I will not be engaging with you further on this.