Is Louis Sockalexis related to Chief Wahoo?

by David Fleitz 

I got a call a few weeks ago about Louis Sockalexis, the first Native American to play major league baseball, and Chief Wahoo, the grinning pseudo-Indian mascot and symbol of the Cleveland Indians.  The caller, not knowing much about baseball, wanted to know if Chief Wahoo was in fact a representation of Sockalexis, and did they name the team "Indians" because of him.

The answer to the first question is "No," and the second rates a qualified "Yes."

I tried to explain that Sockalexis played for the National League Cleveland team, the Spiders, long before the American League team that exists to this day used the name "Indians," but it was hard to get the point across.  Few people, besides baseball historians, have heard of the Spiders, or know that Cleveland was a member of the National League more than a decade before the American League was formed.

In response, I created a timeline that puts Sockalexis, the Spiders, the Indians, and Chief Wahoo in prespective.  This should straighten out any confusion about the matter, or at least I hope so.

1889 – Cleveland gains a team in the National League.  The team adopts the nickname “Spiders,” reportedly because many of the players were tall and thin.

1895 – The Cleveland Spiders finish second in the 12-team league, but win the post-season Temple Cup series, a precursor to the present annual World Series.

1897 – Louis Sockalexis, a Penobscot Indian from the state of Maine, joins the Spiders after a successful college career at Holy Cross.  He makes such an impression that he is christened the “Cleveland Indian” by the local sportswriters, and soon the writers start calling the team the Indians.  When he starts the season with the team, he becomes the first Native American to play major league ball, and the first minority of any kind in the National League.

Sockalexis plays sensationally for the first few months of the 1897 season, but a sprained ankle, reportedly suffered due to a drunken fall out a window, puts him on the sidelines.  His drinking problem flares up and causes the team to suspend him in July.  He plays little for the rest of the season, finishing 1897 with a .338 batting average.

1898 – Sockalexis stays out of trouble, but plays little.  He participates in only 21 games, batting .224 with no home runs.  Still, most sportswriters nationwide still refer to the team as the Indians. 

1899 - In March, the Cleveland team owners buy the St. Louis club (the one now known as the Cardinals) and move all of the best Cleveland players to St. Louis.  Sockalexis remains in Cleveland with the other second-stringers.

Sockalexis’ career is cut short due to drinking, and he is released in May after playing only seven games.  Without Sockalexis, the team once again becomes the Spiders.  They finish 1899 with a 20-134 record, the worst in the history of baseball, and the team is disbanded at season’s end.

1900 – A new league, the American, is formed, and Cleveland receives a franchise.  The team is originally called the Blues after their uniform color.  The league becomes a major circuit in 1901.

1903 – Napoleon (Nap) Lajoie, a three-time batting champion, becomes the manager of the Cleveland club, and the writers start calling the team the Naps in his honor.  Lajoie steps down as manager in 1909, but remains as a player, and the nickname stays.

1913 – Louis Sockalexis, who played minor league ball for a few years after leaving Cleveland in 1899, suffers a heart attack on December 24 while working as a logger in the Maine woods.  He dies at age 42 and is buried on the Penobscot reservation.

1914 – The Cleveland Naps finish last in the American League.  Napoleon Lajoie is sold to the Philadelphia Athletics at season’s end, and a new nickname is needed.  In the meantime, the Boston Braves stun the baseball world by rising from last place in July to win the National League pennant, then sweeping Philadelphia in the World Series.

1915 – The Cleveland team owners select “Indians” as the new nickname, after canvassing the local sportswriters for suggestions.  The reasons are probably these:

• Sockalexis had passed away shortly before, and his story was still fresh in people’s minds.
• Another Native American-themed team, the Braves, were world champions.
• The older writers remembered the excitement that Sockalexis brought to the National League team in 1897.

1920 – The Cleveland Indians win their first World Series over the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1946 – Bill Veeck buys the team and introduces “Chief Wahoo,” a grinning cartoon Indian with a big nose.  Chief Wahoo becomes ubiquitous, appearing on trading cards, schedules, and many other giveaway items as Veeck works hard to promote the team.

1948 - The Cleveland Indians win their second, and last, World Series over the Boston Braves.

1950 – Veeck sells the Indians, and the new owners redesign Chief Wahoo.  This design, with a bright red face and prominent teeth, is largely unchanged to this day.