(CLEVELAND) — The Cleveland Indians have finally announced their team’s new name, one team owner Paul Dolan says is meant to strongly represent the pride, resiliency and loyalty of Clevelanders.

The Cleveland Guardians.

‘Guardians’ reflects those attributes that define us while drawing on the iconic Guardians of Traffic just outside the ballpark on the Hope Memorial Bridge,” Dolan said. “It brings to life the pride Clevelanders take in our city and the way we fight together for all who choose to be part of the Cleveland baseball family. While ‘Indians’ will always be a part of our history, our new name will help unify our fans and city as we are all Cleveland Guardians.” 

According to a release from the team, Guardians will be the fifth name in franchise history. joining the Blues (1901), Bronchos (1902), Naps (1903-1914) and Indians (1915-2021).

When will the name change go into effect?

The club will finish the 2021 season as the Cleveland Indians and will launch as the Cleveland Guardians at the conclusion of the season.

How will the logo/uniforms change?

• Colors will remain the same. “Our team colors will remain the same scheme that has been part of our organization for more than 80 years to honor our rich baseball heritage as well as the tradition of baseball as America’s pastime,” the release states.
• Script wordmark returns. The new Guardians wordmark will have a familiar script style of the last 75 years while evoking the structural architecture of the Hope Memorial Bridge, mimicking the trusses of the bridge’s underside.
• Home/road uniforms: The club will continue to wear CLEVELAND on the road uniforms, featuring the Bridge Print alphabet derived from the Diamond C, and the Guardians script wordmark on the home uniforms.

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According to the team, the new “Diamand C” will be an evolution of the Block C and “respects the tradition and heritage of Cleveland Baseball. The new C stands tall – just as the Guardians of Traffic stand watch over our ballpark and city – and draws from the ascending diamond motifs at the top of each Guardian pylon. The weight of the C is bold and its tapered shape is inspired by letterforms from the 1920 and 1948 World Series clubs.”

There’s also a new logomark.

“The Guardian’s Fastball embodies what it means to be a Cleveland Guardian in its strong, yet simple design,” according to the release. “It is inspired by the helmets and wings of the Hope Memorial Bridge’s Guardian statues and the G purposefully wraps around and guards the baseball. The split-finger design is a tribute to our strong pitching heritage.”

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How was this decision made?

The name change process began in 2020, following years of controversy and recent pressure from Major League Baseball. In December, the team said it would be changing the name for the first time since 1915. It’s been a slow process, involving hundreds of interviews and a list of nearly 1,200 suggestions.

“Since the announcement to change the name in December, our team has been hard at work to ensure we pick a name that our community, fans, partners, employees and players will be proud to have represent Cleveland Baseball,” President of Business Operations, Brian Barren said in the release. “Through our research and discussions, we identified a few key themes that were most important to fans – connect to the city of Cleveland, honor our rich baseball history and unite our community – and we believe Guardians upholds all three of those pillars.”

The team said the Guardians name was a top contender from fans.

It was whittled down from nearly 2,000 name options.

The team spent about 140 hours interviewing fans, community leaders and front office personnel and surveyed more than 40,000 fans. An additional 4,000 fans signed up to participate in the research.