Baseball Hall Of Fame Retires Chief Wahoo Before The Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians legend Jim Thome got a well-deserved first-ballot Hall of Fame nod this year, and after some apparent discussion, as well as a specific request by Thome, the slugger will go in on a plaque bearing the Cleveland “Block C” logo, rather than the “Chief Wahoo” Native American caricature that Thome wore on his cap for most of his games with Cleveland.

In officially retiring the Wahoo logo ahead of the 2018 season, the Hall of Fame beats the actual owners of that trademark, the Cleveland Indians. Despite lying at the beginning of 2016 by stating that the franchise would move away from Chief Wahoo, owner Paul Dolan has kept the logo on his team’s uniforms. MLB, however, says that the logo will be gone in 2019, reportedly as a condition of Cleveland hosting the All-Star Game that year.