This felt like an inevitable outcome for years and for whatever I felt about Bud Selig, from the day that Rob Manfred took over the commissioner's duties, one of the targets in the sights of Manfred was Wahoo and no matter how much the Indians tried to fight it off ( and I do believe that the team gamely tried to do so as long as possible), as long as Manfred was running MLB and that appears to be the case for a long time, this was going to happen sooner or later.
It appears (no matter how much each side denies this) that MLB (and Manfred) finally was able to strongarm the Indians with the 2019 All-Star Game-as in this "we wouldn't want to have any reason to have to take that game somewhere else. Not that we would be doing it for any particular reason, mind you".
Hopefully, the compromise can be the return of the 1970's "crooked" C, which brings the Indians name more to mind than the bland and seemingly overwhelmingly disliked on social media current "Block C".
Here is where MLB smacks of hypocrisy, (I blame MLB because I truly believe that the team was forced to do this and did not want to make this move), the team and MLB will still sell Chief Wahoo hats and shirts, so if you prefer Wahoo, you can still wear his items, it's just that the Indians won't be after 2018.
The argument from baseball is that they have to sell items or the trademark on Wahoo will expire and others can claim and "use it in ways that MLB won't be able to control".
How noble.
It wouldn't have anything to do with being able to continue to rake in dollars from the more popular logo while being able to look politically correct and appearing to take the moral high road, now, could it??
Nah...
As for me, personally, I have mixed feelings.
I always liked Chief Wahoo and considered him the face of the franchise, which might be why so many people were bothered by him now that I think about it, and my generation's Wahoo isn't nearly as bad as the original Wahoo, which even I have to admit is pretty offensive to almost anyone that even has a hint of an open mind.
Wahoo was a part of my childhood and on that summer day in 1979 when my dad pulled up to Cleveland Municipal Stadium and saw the huge Chief Wahoo sign on top of the Stadium leaning on his back foot, getting ready to pull a fastball into Lake Erie, it was one of the great thrills of my childhood.
Wahoo has also meant Cleveland baseball in other ways.
When I was a kid and only was able to see the Tribe when I visited Ashland for games on WUAB (Lorain Cleveland of course) along with their games against the Orioles back in the days when the televised games meant the Orioles TV games were only the road games, I have two Wahoo memories.
One was from the local TV guide when the Orioles were on the road and the TV guide would have an ad for that night game it would have the Oriole bird fighting in some manner in a cartoon against that night's opponent and I remember quite a few times seeing Wahoo leaping off the point of the Oriole bird's bat in the TV guide!
The other was from those summer trips to Banning Avenue in Ashland for those few cherished Tribe games with my grandfather.
I didn't always get lucky because we had to come out on a weekend when the Indians were on the road in order for those games to be on television in those days before regional sports network days that televised all the home games.
There were the WUAB commercials with the catchy "Indian Fever" jingle that the Indians would take over for themselves down the road with a few changes and the intro as well with the always present smiling Wahoo with those Indians teams that were a .500 team that finished in 6th in the brutal A.L. East in a good year and dead last with close to 100 losses in a bad one.
However, there was always Wahoo in good times or bad, whether he's on the cap and jersey or not, those memories don't go away.
I wish he would stay, but I understand the wave against him.
Things could be far worse- he could have been the laughing Brave...
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