Cleveland Indians Begin New Name Discussions
By Daniel Hahn
Cleveland Spiders
This is one of the more popular options when scrolling around social media. The Spiders were a major league baseball team in Cleveland from 1887-1899. Personally, this one should be one of the top considerations for a few reasons. First, it has historical context within the city, and possible logos could be referenced for throwbacks and other forms of sales.
Second (and this is a big one), you could get some amazing uniforms, merchandise, and themes at the ballpark to really emphasize the Spider. Would I be a little afraid to go to a ballpark that has spiders coming down the video board, webs on the concourses, and spider mascots walking around? Hopefully!
This has the potential to make the team unique, and inject some fresh colors and merchandise into the franchise.
My biggest concern with this one is I do not know how to get naming rights if ‘Cleveland Spiders’ is still franchised somewhere. Also, what will superfan John Adams do at the ball games? If he isn’t banging the drum, can he play a string instrument and make it look like a web?
Cleveland Lakers
When it comes to logos and names, there just isn’t a lot of creativity, or really sticking your neck out to try something new. How original is that block C? Definitely not any other MLB teams using a C as a logo.
Oh … wait. So let’s think of one that is used in sports, but applies to Cleveland.
Cleveland is on Lake Erie, so we’ll jump to the NBA and duplicate the Lakers.
The Lakers are the NBA franchise known for championships and high entertainment value. These are two things this franchise could try to leverage in an effort to finally win a World Series. Only there would be some irony in the fact that this version of the Lakers wouldn’t be about big spending, while the NBA team is about Hollywood lifestyles.
Yet unlike the Los Angeles Lakers (who moved from Minnesota), Cleveland is actually on a lake, so the name applies better.
You can make a decent logo, it wouldn’t be purple and gold, probably keep the team’s blue colors, and potentially sprinkle in some greens.