"There was Louis Sockalexis, for instance. He was a Penobscot Indian who played baseball for the Cleveland Spiders before the turn of the century. A real slugger. Later, they gave the Cleveland Indians their name in honor of Sockalexis. He had a brother who was a wonderful runner...." (The Bell, the Book, and the Spellbinder)
As noted, Sockalexis played professional baseball in the National League for three seasons, spending his entire career (1897-1899) as an outfielder for the Cleveland Spiders. He is also often identified as the first person of Native American ancestry to play in Major League Baseball as a member of the Penobscot tribe. Sockalexis briefly played baseball at John Bellairs's alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, before signing a major league contract with the Cleveland Spiders. In April of 1897 he made his major league debut. In his first season with the Spiders, Sockalexis hit for a .338 batting average with three home runs and 42 RBIs. In 66 games he also had 16 stolen bases. Sockalexis played just two more seasons of major league baseball and died on Christmas Eve, 1913. When the Cleveland Naps changed their name to the Indians in 1915, the franchise reportedly did so to honor Sockalexis.
News came this week the Cleveland team looks to rebrand and drop the Indians name after the 2021 season.
Oh, for record: Andrew Sockalexis was Louis's cousin and finished second in the 1912 and 1913 Boston Marathons and in fourth place at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm.
No comments:
Post a Comment