Earlier this week Major League Baseball and the Cleveland Indians announced the team will remove the controversial Chief Wahoo logo from their uniforms starting with the 2019 season. The team will still sell select merchandise with the logo to retain the trademark, however.
Longtime Indians slugger Jim Thome, one of baseball's four new Hall of Famers, said Friday he does not want the Chief Wahoo logo to appear on his Hall of Fame plaque in Cooperstown. He would prefer the team's block "C" logo. Thome was speaking at an event in Cleveland.
Joe Noga of Cleveland.com has more:
"I know my decision would be to wear the 'C' because I think it's the right thing to do," Thome said. "I think I need to have a conversation with the Hall of Fame because of all the history and everything involved. I just think that's the right thing to do."
...
"I fully support the way the Indians, through this week, have made the decision that they've made," he said. "And that's what I support."
Technically the Hall of Fame has final say on the cap each player will wear on his plaque, though it is a collaborative process, and they'll work with Thome. Also, as noted by Andrew Mearns on Twitter, there are currently 14 Indians players in the Hall of Fame, and only one (Early Wynn) has the Chief Wahoo logo on his plaque. The rest all have some form of block "C" or no logo at all.
Put it this way: Only one of Cleveland's 14 other Hall of Famers even has any form of Wahoo on his hat in the first place. Who needs Thome to add to it? pic.twitter.com/sxKgOQf5JU
— Andrew Mearns (@MearnsPSA) February 3, 2018
Thome played for the Indians from 1991-2002 and again briefly in 2011, and he wore the Chief Wahoo logo on his uniform in some form in each of those seasons. According to Noga, the Thome statue in Progressive Field's Heritage Park has a Chief Wahoo logo on the batting helmet.
