Donald Trump criticized the Dolan family, owners of the Cleveland baseball team, for changing its name from the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians.
The 2024 GOP presidential candidate delivered a brief speech about the team’s name change, which was approved just a month before he leaves office in January 2021, as he addressed voters at his last campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday.
“I love sport and I love tradition. So you have a team called the Cleveland Indians. Indians. They are Indians. And they took the Cleveland Indians team and got to the Cleveland Guardians. It’s almost as if they were at the head of a trust fund,” the 45th American president, 77, first declared, before repeating the name of the team again, totally incredulous.
He then took aim at Matt Dolan, who represents Ohio’s 24th District in the state Senate and once ran as the only Republican candidate not to fully support Trump in Ohio’s 2022 U.S. Senate elections . Dolan also owns a partial stake in the Guardians.
“And my attitude is that anyone who changes the name of the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians should not be a senator.” He shouldn’t be governor, Trump said, adding: “I don’t know Matt Dolan, but just know that he’s the one who I assume owns the team one way or another and that he was responsible for changing the name.”
Donald Trump addressed the Cleveland Guardians’ name change at a rally in Ohio on Saturday.
Formerly known as the Indians for over a decade, Cleveland’s MLB team became the Guardians at the start of the 2022 season.
A young Indians fan in the stands holds up a foam Chief Wahoo and a Slider doll in 2018
In the first two seasons that Cleveland’s Major League Baseball franchise played under the Guardians name, the team made the playoffs once, finishing third in the AL Central last year.
Known as the Indians for over a decade (1915-2021), Cleveland changed its name after the team received backlash from some fans who felt that the team’s primary owner, Larry Dolan – now 93 and Matt’s father – and another of his sons, Paul, who has served as CEO/President of the team since 2011, gave in to the wishes of a vocal minority.
Dolan has repeatedly stated that his decision to distance himself from the Indians was driven by a reaction to the national reckoning with racist names and symbols.
The team wanted to find a name that fit the community and history of Cleveland, and after a year-long process that included surveys and interviews with fans, area leaders and members of the front office , the team chose Guardians, a name inspired by eight massive works of art. -deco statues on the Hope Memorial Bridge, near the baseball stadium.
Trump criticized Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Dolan for instigating the name change
Dolan is the son of the Guardians’ principal owner, Larry Dolan, 93, who purchased the team in 2005. Another of his sons, Paul, is now the team’s president and CEO.
However, there was a legal problem along the way when a local roller derby team called the Cleveland Guardians filed a lawsuit against the team, alleging trademark infringement.
But ultimately, the two parties reached an “amicable resolution,” which allowed both teams to continue using the name.
It was the final hurdle in renaming the AL franchise, which is scheduled to play its first game of the 2024-25 season on March 28 against another team facing a name change, the Oakland Athletics.
Since the ball club moved from Columbus to Cleveland in 1900, there have been six name changes: Cleveland Lake Shores (1900), Bluebirds (1901), Bronchos (1902), Naps (1903-1914), Indians (1902). 1915-2021). , and Watchmen (2021-now).
The Guardians will play their home opener against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field on April 8.