Cleveland baseball team changes name from Indians to Guardians

Ohio MLB team’s name change comes after decades of protests by Native American groups calling it a harmful stereotype.

Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team will change its name to the Guardians from the Indians starting next season, it said on Twitter on Friday, after having promised to give up a name that Native Americans view as disparaging. The ballclub announced the name change with a video on Twitter narrated by actor Tom Hanks. The decision ends months of internal discussions triggered by a national reckoning by institutions and teams to permanently drop logos and names considered racist. The team, called the Indians for more than 100 years, started a search for a new name in December.