Chief Wahoo

Chief Wahoo is represented on the Cleveland Indians' logo

Chief Wahoo is the mascot of the Cleveland Indians. He is represented as a cartoonish grinning Native American with a single-feather headdress. His image has graced the team's logo and uniform over the years, even being used on the team's caps some seasons, but it will no longer be used starting in 2019.

The original Chief Wahoo, designed by teenager Walter Goldbach

Chief Wahoo was originally designed by artist Walter Goldbach in 1947, at the urging of owner Bill Veeck, who was looking to add to the sadly-lacking profile of his newly-acquired franchise. At the time, Goldbach was a 17-year old student employed by the J.F. Novak Company, a Cleveland, OH sign-maker. The logo was updated in 1951 and has been unchanged since.

Beginning in the early 1990s, Chief Wahoo became a highly controversial figure, as many Native Americans protested the use of what they saw as a demeaning stereotype to promote the team. These protests culminated when the Indians reached the World Series in 1995 and 1997, providing the team with a level of national media exposure it had not enjoyed since the 1950s. As a result, the figure became much less visible in following years, but the Indians did not give in to demands to either officially retire it or change the team's name. Spokespersons for the team and Mike Veeck, Bill's son, explained that the mascot was designed to promote joy and laughter and that no disrespect was ever intended.

The figure remained very popular among supporters of the team, but a new anti-Chief campaign got under way in early 2014. It gathered new steam when the Indians returned to the World Series in 2016. In particular, at the time of the 2016 ALCS in which Cleveland played the Toronto Blue Jays, a Canadian indigenous rights activist applied to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario seeking to prevent the Cleveland team from using either the logo or the name "Indians" while playing in Toronto. His demand for an immediate injunction was not successful, but the tribunal agreed to hear the case in spite of pleadings from the defendants (which also included Rogers Communications, as the broadcaster of the games, and Major League Baseball) that the court had no standing in the case. One of the promoters of the case was famed architect Douglas Cardinal. For his part, Commissioner Rob Manfred requested that the Indians gradually move away from the logo, something they began to do by using a capital "C" (for Cleveland) as their primary logo, although the Chief remained present on their uniforms. In January of 2018, Indians CEO Paul Dolan announced that they would stop using the logo entirely beginning in 2019, although there would still be merchandise sporting the logo available for sale locally. This was deemed necessary in order for the Indians to maintain copyright ownership over the figure and not have it exploited by others. There was speculation that what finally changed the team's mind were threats to take away the 2019 All-Star Game from Progressive Field if there was no movement.

The Hall of Fame joined the movement, announcing in March of 2018 that it would no longer feature the logo on the plaques of any future inductees from Cleveland. Already, Jim Thome, who was scheduled for induction that summer as part the 2018 Hall of Fame Class, had requested that he be depicted with the Block C logo on his cap.

Further Reading

• Jordan Bastian: "Indians to stop using Wahoo logo starting in '19", mlb.com, January 29, 2018. [1]
• Erik Brady: "Meet the man behind fight to keep Indians logo out of Canada", USA Today Sports, June 28, 2017. [2]
• Anthony Castrovince: "Decision on Indians' logo about bigger picture", mlb.com, January 29, 2018. [3]
• Drew Hayden Taylor: "Chief Wahoo rides off into the sunset – but not soon enough", The Globe and Mail, February 5, 2018, p. A13. [4]
• Gabe Lacques: "Chief Wahoo missing from Cleveland's All-Star Game, but mascot issue endures", USA Today, July 7, 2019. [5]
• Bob Nightengale: "MLB gets Cleveland to drop Chief Wahoo, now can it get the Indians to change nicknames?", USA Today Sports, January 29, 2018. [6]
• A.J. Perez: "Challenge to Indians' Chief Wahoo case moves forward in Toronto", USA Today Sports, June 6, 2017. [7]
• Tim Schad: "Indians to remove Chief Wahoo logo from uniforms in 2019", USA Today Sports, January 29, 2018. [8]
• Gary Twardzik: "Walter Goldbach: The Accidental Marketing Genius", in Brad Sullivan, ed.: Batting Four Thousand: Baseball in the Western Reserve, SABR, Cleveland, OH, 2008, p. 96.