As a historic World Series began this week between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians continues, a major social issue in the sporting world has resurfaced, the use of Native American mascots. This issue is one that has ramifications at all levels of sport from high school to the professional ranks. It is an issue that has divided sports fans for many years with passionate people on both sides of the issue.

The movement of changing names and mascots most notably gained traction in 2005 when the National Collegiate Athletics Association declared that it would sanction schools which continued to use “hostile or abusive” team names and logos. This decision caused changes including Arkansas State University and the University of Louisiana at Monroe both which changed from the Indians to the Red Wolves and War Hawks respectively. The University of Illinois Fighting Illini, Bradley University, and Alcorn State University Braves, as well as the College of William & Mary Tribe, made changes to their logos but were allowed to retain usage of their team name. The Florida State University Seminoles, University of Utah Utes, Central Michigan University Chippewas and the Mississippi College Choctaws were allowed to continue use of their current team name citing strong relationships with local tribes from which the namesake is drawn. The most notable change from this decision just recently came to be involving the University of North Dakota. UND is in their first year transitioning to the Fighting Hawks. The university and outside groups had a long and drawn out ordeal, which was not handled well by most anyone involved. After dropping the Fighting Sioux name and logo in 2012 the University competed with no nickname until adopting the Fighting Hawks name and logo prior to this school year. Despite the change in name and logo remnants of the Fighting Sioux nickname remain inside and around the Universities premier athletic facility Ralph Englestad Arena due to construction specifications set out by Engelstad himself which would not allow for the removal of the logos.

Since this transition at the college level, much of the focus has been on two professional teams, the Washington Redskins (NFL) and the Cleveland Indians (MLB). One team that has avoided such scrutiny about their team name is the Chicago Blackhawks (NHL). The Blackhawks or Hawks for short have a very iconic logo, a profile of a Native American facing to the left with four feathers on the right side and red and white stripes on the cheek and under the lip of the profile. This variation of the logo has been in use since the 1999-2000 season but its roots can clearly be traced back to the logo the team originated with, in 1926. A New York Times article from 2013 “"The Blackhawks’ founder was Major Frederic McLaughlin, whose family owned Manor House Coffee, a popular brand in the first half of the 20th century. McLaughlin named the team after the Blackhawk division, a unit he helped lead as an officer in the Army. It was formed during World War I, but the war ended before the unit or McLaughlin, saw action. The unit was named after a Sauk and Fox American Indian leader who fought against the United States government in the War of 1812 and in 1832."

Much of the name changing coverage has been centered on the football team located in our nation’s capital. In June 2014 a board of the United States Patent Office canceled all of the team's patents on the name calling them “disparaging to Native Americans”. Owner Dan Snyder challenged that ruling and even went as far to list out a series of inappropriate patents given by the office as a defense after a federal judge upheld the ruling that July. Since then Snyder has produced many stats and figures with the legitimacy of all them questioned as well as stood firm in the stance that the name is meant to honor Native Americans. Although the name has not been changed, and likely will not be unless the NFL takes action or Snyder sells the team, other opponents have begun phasing the name out. Multiple Washington opponents have refused to use the Redskin name in any official team context, removing the name from programs, video boards, and even game scripts.

Although they have managed to stay largely out of the national spotlight the local spotlight has been on the Indians name and “Chief Wahoo” logo for some time now. For nearly a quarter of a decade protests have taken place outside of Progressive Field with the largest point of contention between protestors and fans being the logo known as “Chief Wahoo”. After going through four team names since 1900 the team became known as the Indians in 1915. In 1947 then-owner Bill Veeck hired the J.F. Novak Company to create a logo at which time seventeen-year-old Walter Goldbach created the first logo to be known as “Chief Wahoo” which was used until 1951 when the first version of the current logo was released with the logo having bright red skin and a feather of the same color. The logo is akin to a cartoon run in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in the 1930s. Goldbach stated in a 2008 interview that “Chief Wahoo” is in fact not a chief at all, stating that his one feather makes him a Brave, a Chief would have a full headdress.

In 1993, during the teams' last season playing at Cleveland Municipal Stadium the team and Owner Dick Jacobs debated removing the logo and not having it make the journey downtown to the new Jacobs Field (Now Progressive Field), in the end, however, the logo was retained. In 2014 the Indians announced that the red block C would take over as the team’s primary logo but that “Chief Wahoo” would remain as a secondary logo. The logo has still been very prominent in this World Series, although it is not used as a broadcast graphic it is on the team’s alternate caps as well as a side patch on some of the jerseys worn by the team. Although the NFL has not stepped in to speak on the Redskin name controversy it appears that the MLB will begin discussions with Cleveland Ownership about the use of the “Chief Wahoo” logo moving forward. The second year Commissioner Rob Manfred stated that he would meet with team ownership in the near future to discuss the use of the logo moving forward. Manfred stated “I know that that particular logo is offensive to some people, and all of us at Major League Baseball understand why, Logos are, however, primarily a local matter. The local club makes decisions about its logos. Fans get attached to logos. They become part of a team’s history. So it’s not easy as coming to the conclusion and realizing that the logo is offensive to some segment.

As we have seen history does not necessarily mean holding onto certain logos or names as multiple colleges and universities can tell you. We must look at the toll holding onto these things can have, change can be good. This would not be the first time that a “Chief” was taken out of the MLB, “Chief Noc-A-Homa” a mascot of the Atlanta Braves from before the team moved to Atlanta as well as the name of the Native American depicted in the team logos until both became a part of history in the mid to late 1980s. It is nearing the end of the year 2016 and although this controversy is likely far from over it is a step in the right direction for “Chief Wahoo” to become a part of the past.