Terry Francona, who grew up in the Cleveland organization with his father and managed the club the past eight years, certainly understands the emotional tug-of-war among their longtime fans.
He grew up with Cleveland having a Chief Wahoo mascot, players wearing the “Indians’’ nickname across their jerseys, and the proud tradition of the organization, but Cleveland officials announced this week that their nickname will be put to rest.
And Francona, 61, during a conference call Friday, says he is proud to be on the right side of history.
“The organization has done many, many things to listen to people and to try to understand,’’ Francona said, “which I think we all said early on what we needed to do.