After being called the Naps since 1903, Cleveland’s American League ballclub, plays its first game known as the Indians, a moniker selected from a contest to re-name the team run by a local newspaper. The franchise’s former name, which honored their once-popular player-manager Nap Lajoie, needed to be changed when the 40 year-old second baseman is sold back to A’s, after feuding the team’s current skipper, Joe Birmingham.
After being called the Naps since 1903, Cleveland’s American League ballclub, plays its first game known as the Indians, a moniker selected from a contest to re-name the team run by a local newspaper. The franchise’s former name, which honored their once-popular player-manager Nap Lajoie, needed to be changed when the 40 year-old second baseman is sold back to A’s, after feuding the team’s current skipper, Joe Birmingham.