Pages

▼

October 13, 2007

Cleveland Spiders

The 1999 article I cited in the Sockalexis post mentioned that team nicknames were much more fluid and interchangeable during the early 20th Century, and some sportswriters occasionally referred to the Cleveland Bronchos/Blues/Naps/Indians as the Spiders.

The actual Spiders began life in the American Association in 1887 and moved over to the National League two years later. The 1899 team is infamous for its 20-134 (.130) record.

Anyway, since I would like to use a non-racist nickname when writing about Cleveland's baseball team, Spiders seems like a good choice.
at

10 comments:

  1. AmyOctober 13, 2007 at 5:46 AM

    I can't seem to open the Schadenfreude entry for today. Any clues?

    ReplyDelete
  2. allanOctober 13, 2007 at 5:52 AM

    It's the same post as First Might. I decided to retitle it -- and save Schadenfreudes for strictly NYY stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  3. accudartOctober 13, 2007 at 6:00 AM

    Awesome game last night, Manny and Papi are just sick right now.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AmyOctober 13, 2007 at 6:04 AM

    That's cool. I don't really enjoy the pain of the other teams or their fans. (And I don't enjoy the pain of certain Yankee fans either, but I do enjoy the pain of certain Yankee players and owners.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. allanOctober 13, 2007 at 6:36 AM

    In the four playoff games, Ortiz has reached base in 16 of 18 plate appearances.

    OBP: .889!

    ReplyDelete
  6. GKOctober 13, 2007 at 7:54 AM

    A question for RS......
    If Cleveland's baseball team gets rid of its racist logo, and the organization expresses genuine remorse at having it for so long. Then would it be okay
    Publish Your Commentay for them to be called Indians without being labeled racist ?

    ReplyDelete
  7. allanOctober 13, 2007 at 8:04 AM

    If Cleveland's baseball team gets rid of its racist logo, and the organization expresses genuine remorse at having it for so long. Then would it be okay ... for them to be called Indians without being labeled racist?

    Not for me. The name and logo go hand in hand.

    (Dumping the logo and keeping the name doesn't constitute genuine remorse to me.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. GKOctober 13, 2007 at 8:42 AM

    RS...
    Thanks for the reply.
    They asked LBJ questions about his perceptions of the logo etc, when they were thinking of drafting him. I guess there will be a day when the fans will realize that it is racist and demand that name/logo be dropped,

    ReplyDelete
  9. UnknownOctober 13, 2007 at 3:38 PM

    Let's just call them the Deer and be done with it

    http://www.survivinggrady.com/uploaded_images/beckett-738296.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  10. TimOctober 13, 2007 at 10:26 PM

    See, I like the name Spiders. I think it'd be a good nickname for any team.

    However, I don't like this 3-run lead and I don't like Eric Gagne.

    ReplyDelete