3 Fun Facts About the Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians were formed in 1901. That was an interesting year. That year Pope Leo XIII published an official church document called Graves De Communi Re which said golfers could no longer use the Lord’s name in vain…after missing a 2-foot putt.
The Indians took on that name in 1914. Just before that, they were called the Cleveland Naps, named after player Napoleon “Nap” Lajoie. They almost changed the Indians name back to Naps in the mid 1980s, because the whole team seemed to be asleep at the wheel.
Anncr: “It’s a long fly ball”
Outfielder: “Zzzzzzzzzz….”
Anncr: “It’s going, going…”
Outfielder: “Zzzzzzzzzz….”
Anncr: “Oh! Off the fence and bounces into center field.”
Outfielder: “Zzzzzzzzzz….”
The Indians conduct spring training in Goodyear, Arizona. Yes, it is a town named after a tire company. An Indians spokesperson explained: “Yes, we also looked at Perelli, Texas; Michelin, Florida; and Bridgestone, California. We went with Goodyear because they made us some special baseball caps made out of a small tire. Small snow tires. It’s an all weather baseball cap.”
