A name change for the Cleveland Indians is coming, and could be announced as soon as this coming week, according to a report from the New York Times.
When the Cleveland club initially entered the American League, they were known as the Cleveland Bluebirds. In 1903, after acquiring star second baseman Napoleon Lajoie, the team became known as the Cleveland Naps. After the 1915 season, with Lajoie having been gone for several years, the team re-branded as the Cleveland Indians.
It has become part of baseball lore that the club adopted that name to honor Lou Sockalexis, a Native American who played parts of the 1897-99 seasons for the Cleveland Spiders (a National League team that was contracted after their infamous 20-134 season in 1899), and who died in 1913.