1948 broadcast proves mascots' racism

"Tribal Warfare": Listen To The 1948 Radio Broadcasts Of The Cleveland Indians-Boston Braves World Series

By Doug BrownThe Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Braves to win their last World Series in 1948 and, man, the radio broadcaster had a field day with the matchup of two teams with Native American-themed names. The series was "tribal warfare," their stadiums were "wigwams," and Cleveland would be "smoking the peace pipe" if they keep Boston "penned up in the reservation" unless their "chief medicine man" comes up with the "proper potion" prior to game five, according to announcer Mel Allen. Broadcasting standards really were different 65 years ago.

Audio from two games of the 1948 World Series--games one and five, the two games the Indians lost in the six-game series--popped up on YouTube today and they're well-worth a listen for nostalgic Cleveland sports fans, and those interested in some good ole' fashion racial stereotyping. And while you're listening, open this recent story about the Indians phasing out Chief Wahoo, and Scene's takedown of the racist logo.Comment:  Mascot lovers are the ones being politically correct when they claim they're "honoring" Indians. Until recently, every mascot was a savage on the warpath. As this posting suggests.

This is what Indian mascots are: a compendium of mistakes and stereotypes that homogenize hundreds of diverse cultures into a mass of savage warriors. There's no honor in any of this stereotyping; it's pure racism.

Every mascot from the first part of the 20th century has a history like this. This history is usually 50-75 years of ugly mockery--of faux "Indians" gyrating, whooping, and chopping like crazed killers.

Only recently have professional and college teams wised up and realized their mascots were racist. Only then did they make up the "honoring" argument and try to sell it.

But no sensible person is buying it. A dignified and noble Indian is a PR person's spin on the real mascot, who is a savage through and through.

Review of Houdini Pie

Back in 2010, the author of the novel Houdini Pie sent me a copy to review. I previewed it and read it, but I didn't have time to post about it until now.

The book is based on the legend of the "Lizard People" of Los Angeles. Which is why I posted something about that subject recently.

Houdini PieBook Description

BOOTLEGGING, BARNSTORMING and a Hard-Rock BOONDOOGLE. Los Angeles, 1934: Based on a true chapter of California history, Houdini Pie explores the depths to which a family, and a city, will sink when hard luck comes knocking and there's nothing left to lose. Young Hal Gates is a celebrated pitcher for an upstart rural ball club, and the son of a notorious booze smuggler who vanished at the end of Prohibition. At his lonely mother's urging, and with the desperate backing of the municipal powers-that-be, he teams up with a crackpot geologist to mine for a mythical Hopi treasure trove buried miles beneath the downtown streets. The deeper they tunnel the more Hal learns about loyalty, treachery, hunger and hope, and mostly--in ways he never would have imagined--about love.

Editorial Reviews

Michel's narrative voice [is] a perfect and enlightening use of 30's slang and patois, a condensation of all those movies we've all watched. This is a funny funny book--exhilirating and smart and sophisticated. Michel is a born storyteller, and lord knows, we need more writers like that. A guaranteed pleasure. --Lewis Buzbee

Michel successfully captured the era in his story and was studious enough to insert historical events that would help to mesh the story with the time period. --Bookventures Book Club

Witty, whimsical, wonderfully unpredictable, Paul Michel's wildly entertaining first novel simply shines. Houdini Pie is a fat, succulent slice of story-telling at its best. --A. Manette Ansay, author of Blue Water and Good Things I Wish You

Paul Michel's Houdini Pie is an old fashioned romp filled with colorful characters, an implausibly plausible plot and sheer story-telling verve. Think Treasure of the Sierra Madre grafted onto Chinatown grafted onto The Natural, and the fruits are a rich, and entertaining, Houdini pie. --C.J. Hribal, author of The Company Car and The Clouds in MemphisThe author's take

Michel's own site gives you another take on the book:

Houdini Pie“Houdini Pie” is a novel based on historical facts, about the efforts of a group of hapless entrepreneurs to mine for the mythical treasure of a tribe of ancient Hopi Indians under the streets of urban Los Angeles during the Great Depression. The city was in such dire straits that the City actually granted permits for the exercise, which was covered in the press—a mine shaft hundreds of feet deep right in the downtown core. The story’s real life ending is incomplete, as the project was abruptly stopped, and its chief architect essentially disappeared without (presumably) finding a lick of treasure. So go the news accounts.

The novel picks up where the historical record leaves off. It's a tale of desperation, loyalty and love among a group of mostly fictional figures who populate the more-or-less factual tale. It follows particularly the family of Halley (“Hal”) Gates, a young man named after the comet that filled the sky at the time of his birth in 1910. Hal’s deadbeat father Charlie is a successful bootlegger during the 1920s. He leaves Hal’s home town of Oxnard when Prohibition ends. In Charlie’s absence Hal becomes a reluctant accomplice to the treasure hunt, in fulfillment of a promise to his abandoned and unbalanced mother. He also becomes a successful baseball player on a rag-tag barnstorming team that takes on the more legitimate clubs of the popular Pacific Coast League, and he falls in love with the daughter of a psychic who becomes a focus of the treasure-hunters’ desperation as the plot unfolds. Eventually competing crews are hunting for the gold, and Hal and his family are caught in the middle, along with a host of characters that includes a peripatetic Hopi chief and his mysterious trouble-making daughter, who have their own interest in the myth of the buried treasure.This summary is revealing. I kind of expected the story to be focused on the search for the Hopi treasure (first paragraph). But it's really about a sprawling set of characters for whom the treasure is only a plot device (second paragraph).

So it's not really a Native-themed novel, except tangentially. But a few points are worth mentioning.

The Native aspects

As Michel's site notes, there are two Native characters: "a peripatetic Hopi chief and his mysterious trouble-making daughter."

Chief Greenleaf is the more interesting of the two. He shows up mysteriously and does little besides sit and smoke. It's a welcome change from the usual wise elder who spouts greeting-card platitudes.

Of course, the Hopi tribe, a collection of independent villages, never had a single chief. Even now, their Westernized tribal government is led by a chairperson, not a chief.

Also, "Greenleaf" isn't a Hopi name.

If I were Michel, I would've explained that "Chief" was an honorary title or a nickname. I also would've given him a real Hopi name and said "Greenleaf" was a translation or a nickname.

Greenleaf's daughter is more two-dimensional--a sexy Indian temptress who seduces Hal. Given that the Hopi were traditionally conservative and isolationist, this character is highly implausible. It would be like an Amish woman leaving her farming community, moving to New York City, and sleeping her way to the top. It could happen, but it's extremely unlikely.

In short, she's more of a stereotypical Indian princess than anything else. She's one of the book's weaker elements.

Typical Hopi woman from the early 20th century (photo by Edward S. Curtis):



My impression of the chief's daughter:



Greenleaf doesn't offer many details about the "Lizard People" or their underground lair. He does say they were people who could change shape. This is more plausible than talking lizard-men, and it's consistent with Native legends.

I won't say how Houdini Pie ends, but it's a bit unsatisfactory. I guess there was no good way to end the book without a major rewrite of Los Angeles history. And that would've turned the book into science fiction, not a rogue's tale.

Still, it's a good book, if not a great one. Rob's rating: 8.0 of 10. Check it out if you're curious.

Mets favor Braves over Indians

Mets Alter Event, Upsetting American Indian Group

By Scott CacciolaIt has not been an easy season for the Mets, who are lurching toward the All-Star break with a losing record. Opposition has come in the form of hard-throwing pitchers, mounting injuries and marathon-length games, but the team suddenly finds itself facing heat from an unexpected source: an American Indian organization.

When the Mets approached the American Indian Community House, a New York-based nonprofit organization, in March about helping to organize a Native American Heritage Day, the proposal struck members of the group as a good opportunity to celebrate their involvement in the community. A date was selected—July 25—and they began to plan pregame festivities that would include traditional dancing and singing outside Citi Field.

But there was a glitch, as far as the Mets were concerned: they were scheduled to host the Atlanta Braves that day. So in the past week, concerned that such activities might be interpreted by the Braves organization as a form of protest over its nickname, the Mets drastically reduced the day’s activities: no singing, no dancing. And now there won’t be any American Indians, either.

On Monday, the A.I.C.H. pulled out of the event, citing frustration with the Mets for thwarting months of planning. The team has removed the event from its online schedule of activities.And:As for the game, the A.I.C.H. began to promote it in early April. In an e-mail to the Indian Country Today Media Network, the group pitched the event as a “great opportunity to educate the public about the stereotypes professional sports teams continue to promote through logos, mascots and fan traditions, such as the ‘tomahawk chop.’” But if Mets officials harbored concerns with that type of language over the coming months, they chose not to express them publicly.

It was not until July 1 that the Mets contacted the A.I.C.H. to inform the group of significant changes to Native American Heritage Day: no public-service announcements of any kind, and no pregame festivities outside the stadium. The group could still attend the game and do some fund-raising, but that would be the extent of its involvement.

The Mets, Osborn said, suddenly seemed “only to be interested in holding a Native American Heritage Day without the culture.”

Last Wednesday, a member of the Mets’ group sales department e-mailed the A.I.C.H. in response to a series of questions from the group, which sought an explanation.

“It was brought to my attention that we need to be sensitive to the Braves being a partner MLB team and can’t put them in a situation for a potentially negative environment to be brought upon them,” the Mets official wrote. “I know this is not the plan, but sometimes people come to events under different agendas than expected. I’m not referring to [A.I.C.H.] or any of the organizations involved, but more about unknown groups that may want to change the perception of the event.”Indians screwed over again

People around the blogosphere quickly recognized the Mets' action as a craven cave-in:

Mets Try To Honor American Indian Culture, Upset American Indians

By Tom Ley[T]he Mets went and fucked everything up. You see, they are set to play the Atlanta Braves on July 25, and the Mets suddenly became worried that the visiting team might see the planned festivities as an anti-Braves protest and get offended. So what did the Mets do? They went full chickenshit, cancelling the singing and dancing portions of the event out of deference to the Braves.

[H]ere we may have the lowlight of the Mets' season: Citing sensitivity when choosing to spurn a group of American Indians in favor of a baseball team that routinely offends American Indians.Another Error at Citi Field

By Caitlin Kelly[W]hen the team decided that it would be a nice gesture to organize game-day festivities with the local American Indian community, it took months for someone to realize the potentially problematic scheduling of Native American Heritage Day on July 25th, when the Atlanta Braves were in town. Faced with the prospect of embarrassing their guests, and not wanting to appear insensitive, the Mets followed centuries of American tradition and shafted the Native Americans.

While the nature of this snafu is particularly Mets-ian in its clumsiness, the underlying discomfort with Native American heritage is common enough in the sports world.New York Mets offend Native American Indians

By Matt MullinOn Monday, according to Cacciola, they called the whole thing off and decided to ask the Mets for a refund. The cancellation of the event--which stemmed from the Mets' self-serving need to protect themselves, the Braves and MLB from potential protests--is more than that, however.

The decision clearly showed that the Mets value the Braves more than the people their mascot represents.New York Mets Cancel Native American Heritage Night So They Didn’t Offend The Atlanta Braves

By Travis Waldron[T]his night wasn’t about the Atlanta Braves. It was about actually honoring Native Americans, their heritage, and their culture, something the sports world often professes to do through logos and imagery but rarely ever goes out of its way to actually accomplish. It is, I suppose, understandable that the Mets wanted the night to be about that honor and not about political statements. But if anyone felt awkward about the juxtaposition of an actual honor and logos and cheers that purport to honor, it should be the Braves and Major League Baseball, not the Mets and most certainly not Native Americans. The Mets had a chance to get one right in a sports world that rarely does. Instead, they failed because they worried that the mere presence of a group of people so few in sports care about offending might make the offenders feel a little shame.Comment:  Here's a great example of what I've said many times. Indian mascots exist to "honor" the phony, romanticized Indians of history, not real Indians. The sports teams and leagues that supposedly admire Indians don't. Rather, they admire their ability to inflate a sports team into a historical symbol they can exploit. If they have to choose between profits and people, they'll choose the almighty buck every time.

For more on the Atlanta Braves, see Braves Reject "Screaming Indian" Cap and Braves Bring Back "Screaming Savage."

Below:  Atlanta Braves fans "honor" Indians by demonstrating how savage they supposedly were.

Yucatec Mayas crazy about baseball

Maya Bring Baseball Passions to U.S.

By Jonah HarrisIn Mexico, the Mayas are a people apart. Half a millennium since Spanish conquistadors set foot in Mesoamerica, their numbers stand in the millions and they remain racially, linguistically and culturally distinct from their non-indigenous countrymen. While most Mexicans are bursting with national pride, Mayas are Yucatecos first (the greatest concentration of Maya are in the Mexican state of Yucatán) and Mexicans second. Most Mexicans speak only Spanish, while most Mayas can speak both Spanish and Maya. And while soccer is practically akin to religion across much of Mexico, for Yucatec Mayas, baseball is life.

Baseball is so popular among Yucatec Mayas (almost all Mayas in Yucatán are either players or fans) and their love of the sport so unique in their country, that it has become a self-identifier, a point of pride and an integral part of what it means to be Maya--right up there with poc-chuc (traditional grilled pork), jarana yucateca (traditional dance) and colorful huipiles (traditional clothing).

"Baseball is an important element of Mayan culture," says Alberto Perez, director of Asociación MAYAB, a Bay Area Yucatec Maya organization. It’s a culture that is becoming increasingly visible in the United States, where hundreds of thousands of Mayas now live. Baseball, says Perez, provides a way for Maya immigrants in the U.S. to stay connected with community, display cultural pride and establish their unique place within the Latino Diaspora. “It is almost like an underground movement.” Today, a growing but untold number of Yucateco baseball teams are scattered across the state of California - there are even whole leagues here whose rosters are mostly made up of Yucatecos.

The sport came to Yucatan from baseball-mad Cuba, a mere 128 miles away. "Mérida (the capital of Yucatán) had more cultural and political exchange with Cuba than with Mexico City," explains Perez. “That's how we got this special love of baseball." Today, Yucatec Mayas, or Yucatecos, may love baseball even more than the Cubans who introduced them to the sport. "They say a Sunday in Oxkutzcab without baseball is not a Sunday," says Alberto Gómez, a 42-year old Yucateco who once played there professionally. Oxkutzcab is a municipality in Yucatan.Comment:  Another report contradicts the popular notions that the Maya are 1) extinct and 2) fanatical cultists eager to sacrifice people to satiate their blood lust.

For more on the Maya, see Guatemalan Strongman Charged with Genocide and NMAI Launches Maya Website.

Below:  "San Francisco-based Club Yucatan’s bench. At the game, players on the same team wear the various uniforms of their other teams in both Mexico and the United States." (Jonah Harris)

Baseball team abandons "Tomahawks" name

Ottawa’s first professional basketball team will be called the Tomahawks

By Farhan DevjiOttawa’s first-ever professional basketball franchise will be called the Tomahawks.

The expansion National Basketball League of Canada team’s name and logo was unveiled at a 3 p.m. press conference Tuesday at city hall.

The name was one of 10 possibilities that had been listed on the team’s “Guess the Name” Facebook contest.

The team is set to begin play this year as the ninth team in the NBL, which launched in 2011.Mayor says he warned Ottawa TomaHawks about name

New team announces it's changing its name after public outcryOttawa Mayor Jim Watson says he warned the city's new basketball team about the controversial TomaHawks name and advised them to consult with the First Nations community.

"Obviously they did not do the kind of consultation that they should have done, and they certainly spoke with me and spoke with my office before the launch, and I strongly suggested that they have proper consultations with First Nations, and particularly the Algonquins of Ontario," said Watson.

"That didn't happen, and the issue blew up on them, and I'm glad they made a decision as quickly as they did to reverse themselves," he said.

Watson's comments came the same day the basketball team's co-owner announced on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning that the name TomaHawks will be changed after an outcry from Ottawa's aboriginal community.

The new basketball franchise had unveiled its team name and logo Tuesday but withdrew the name after criticism.

Bytown Sports and Entertainment president Gus Takkale told Robyn Bresnahan he wants his fledgling sports team to respect the community they represent.

"Yes, we are changing the name," said Takkale. "At the end of the day, we want to do the right thing for our community."And:Takkale had defended the name, saying it was not meant to appropriate First Nations culture. He said they took the name from a type of slam dunk in basketball, not from the axe used by First Nations people, and noted that the logo was a basketball with wings.

Takkale said he had consulted with aboriginal groups before unveiling the logo and name, but declined to specify on Ottawa Morning with whom he had consulted.Comment:  It's pretty damn stupid to think people would associate "Tomahawks" with a little-known type of slam dunk and not with the world-famous Native weapon.

It's also pretty damn stupid not to anticipate a public outcry over this stereotypical name. Activists didn't even have time to organize a social-media protest before the owner realized his mistake.

And it would good to know which "aboriginal groups" approved the name. Something about "Uncle Tomahawks" comes to mind.

For more on Indian mascots and tomahawks, see Hockey Team Chooses "Tomahawks" Name and Origin of the Tomahawk Chop.

Jacoby Ellsbury's Native baseball camp

A day with Jacoby

Boston Red Sox centerfielder hosts baseball camp for Native youth

By Quentin JodieThe plush manicured grounds inside the Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Ariz., was overrun with Native American kids between the ages of 8 to 16 on Saturday.

They took part in the Second Annual N7 Jacoby Ellsbury Baseball Camp on the same complex that is used by the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies during the spring training session in Major League Baseball.

Ellsbury, who is a registered member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes and centerfielder for the Boston Red Sox, conducted his baseball camp to the tune of 130-plus kids, which included a few athletes from the Navajo reservation.

"It's great to see the kids' faces light up," Ellsbury said. "Last year we started out with 60 kids and this year we had 130 of them."Comment:  For more on Jacoby Ellsbury, see Ellsbury Finishes 2nd for MVP Award and Ellsbury Wins Golden Glove.

Below:  "Boston Red Sox centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, center, poses with a group of kids before the start of the Second Annual N7 Jacoby Ellsbury Baseball Camp on Saturday at the Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Ariz. Over 130 kids attended the camp." (Donovan Quintero)

The most racist pro sports logo

A long article covers the Chief Wahoo issue well:

The Curse of Chief Wahoo

Are we paying the price for embracing America's last acceptable racist symbol?

By Peter PattakosIn 1991, the Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance was formed in response to the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Western Hemisphere. Its purpose was to educate the public on "the truth about Columbus" from the perspective of Native Americans. Today, the Cleveland-based organization's focus is decidedly more narrow: They're committed to seeing Cleveland's Major League Baseball club drop the use of Chief Wahoo and its 97-year-old nickname.

It's not the most visible of movements, and it seeps into the public consciousness only for one afternoon each year. This time, a group of about 20 took part in the protest, marching outside Progressive Field and bellowing slogans like "Enjoy the Game, Change the Logo." Some placed pieces of Easter candy where arriving fans could find them; attached to each marshmallow Peep was one in a series of fortune-cookie messages: "Would Jesus Wear Wahoo?" "People, Not Mascots." "The Louis Sockalexis Myth Is a Lie."

The ballclub—and most of its fans—is not hearing any of it.

"I love Chief Wahoo," Diane McMaster-Murphy exclaims, smacking a Peep off the post where a protester had placed it. "I'm an American," adds the 57-year old white lady from Akron, adding a twist of patriotism to an otherwise indiscernible molecule of logic.

Six and a half decades after its creation, the Chief remains the only professional sports logo in the Western world that caricaturizes a race of people. But in the land of Wahoo, no reason is still reason enough.And:[T]o Dr. David Pilgrim, an expert in racial imagery, the symbol is a "red Sambo" that hardly differs from the caricatures of blacks popular in the Jim Crow era in which Wahoo was created—a time when such depictions of minority races were popularly used to inflame prejudice and justify discriminatory laws and behavior.

A sociology professor at Ferris State University in Michigan, Pilgrim is also the founder and curator of the school's Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. There, an astonishing 7,000 piece (and growing) collection of artifacts depicts the history of racist portrayals of minorities in American popular culture.

"These were caricatures with a purpose: to legitimize patterns of prejudice, discrimination, and segregation," says Pilgrim. "These caricatures don't just exist to exist; they both reflect and shape attitudes toward a group."

Pilgrim explains how the exaggerated features serve their discriminatory purpose by emphasizing the differences of the depicted race, thereby reinforcing the idea that the caricaturized race is inferior. He cites a passage from renowned author Julius Lester that gets right to the point, underscoring Wahoo protester Villafane's concern for her grandchildren:

"When I read Little Black Sambo as a child," Lester wrote, "I had no choice but to identify with him because I am black and so was he ... [With this image], society had made it clear to me [that the exaggerated features] represented my racial inferiority—the black, black skin, the eyes shining white, the red protruding lips. I did not feel good about myself as a black child looking at those pictures."

A researcher discusses the origin of the Cleveland Indians name:He presents evidence that the franchise was renamed the Indians by sportswriters—not to honor Sockalexis, but to recall the sensational "fun" that he would inspire in crowds some 15 years earlier, when newspapermen would jokingly refer to the club as the "Cleveland Indians," even though it was formally named the Spiders.

Of course, it didn't hurt that the new name also happened to reinforce the image of Natives as anachronistic savages, the ballclub a fearsome force to be reckoned with. "In place of the Naps, we'll have the Indians, on the warpath all the time, and eager for scalps to dangle at their belts," wrote the Cleveland Leader in announcing the name change on January 17, 1915. In fact, none of the reports from the four daily Cleveland newspapers even mentions Sockalexis, but each is replete with negative stereotypes.

The Plain Dealer of the same day included a cartoon titled "Ki Yi Waugh Woop! They're Indians." The panel depicts, among other things, a frowning umpire scolding a Native American who says to him, "WUKWOG-O."

"When you talk to me, talk English, you wukoig," the ump replies. (The cartoon helpfully explains of "wukoig": "That last word is in Indian.")Recall that this was only 25 years after Wounded Knee. It's obvious the Cleveland team wanted to memorialize the destruction of the Indians. So did other American institutions.

"We won, they lost," the thinking went. "We were the good guys, they were the bad guys. They got what they deserved for being un-Christian and un-American. Now we can laugh at them like we laugh at unruly children and pets."

So there was no "honor" or "respect" in the name or mascot. The so-called honor people talk about now was a recent invention to erase the team's racist history. It's a blatant "cover your ass" move. "Let's make up something about respect," the owners tell themselves, "to divert attention from our Sambo-like mascot."

Other mascots are disappearing from the landscape, but not Chief Wahoo:So why no traction with Wahoo, a symbol arguably much more offensive than any of the rest? Call it a unique inertia, created by a combination of Native Americans' status as a tiny, relatively invisible minority; the traditional "cowboys and Indians" view of Natives' status as an enemy of American civilization; the innocent, if ignorant, elements of Cleveland's attachment to Wahoo as a symbol of a beloved baseball team; and a relative lack of awareness of the symbol's racist origins. Of course, there's also the fact that professional teams, unlike colleges and high schools, are owned by private individuals, most of whom happen to be white.

David Currie, a 73-year-old Euclid resident who identifies himself as "a WASP through and through," joins the Wahoo protesters every year because he believes the symbol is an embarrassment to his hometown. You'd never see a team called the Cleveland Negros or the Cleveland Jews, accompanied by a caricature of the race, he says. "There's no difference between blackface and redface. One is just as wrong as the other. It's just that here there's nobody to beat you up for wearing the redface."

Wahoo, incidentally, is all but nonexistent in the Indians' spring-training home of Goodyear, Arizona, where the Native American population is significantly higher than it is on the modern-day shores of Lake Erie.Gee, I wonder why the team doesn't use Chief Wahoo in Indian country? Talk about your tacit admission that the mascot is racist and stereotypical.

Why don't the cowardly team officials just say what they're thinking? "We know Chief Wahoo is a racist affront to Indians, but there aren't enough Indians in Cleveland to matter. As long as they don't have the numbers to shut us down, we'll continue to offend them."

Then there's the infamous Sports Illustrated poll, which I and others have lambasted:"Eighty-three percent of Indians on reservations said leave it alone, so leave it alone!" Booms shouted during a recent radio debate on the issue. To Booms, opposition to Chief Wahoo is "liberal nonsense."

Yet others are less convinced by the SI poll. "If you're going to trust a Sports Illustrated report on Native American issues, you might as well have Redbook report on the logging industry," says Farrar.

A group of 34 sociologists who organized to immediately challenge the survey pointed to other studies that reached opposite results. They also note that SI never disclosed how the poll was conducted, how participants were recruited, or what questions were asked. And more pertinent to Wahoo: There's nothing contained in the SI report to suggest its poll results distinguished between team names and symbols, nor between caricatures like Wahoo and more realistic representations. In fact, the report's penultimate paragraph concludes by noting that "many Native Americans find the mascots and imagery more offensive than the names."

Many anti-Wahoo activists are loath to engage any evidence of Native support for symbols like Wahoo. Andy Baskin, a morning personality at 92.3 and sports director at Cleveland's NewsNet5, recently spoke on his radio show about visiting a reservation in the Southwest and seeing children wearing Chief Wahoo hats.

"There were African Americans who were OK with sitting on the back of the bus too," Farrar responds.Comment:  Any Indians who support Chief Wahoo or other stereotypical mascots are ignoramuses. They're literally ignorant of the documented harm of Native stereotyping.

The Jim Crow comparison is an apt one. These people are apparently content to be mindless savages in the eyes of most Americans.

Anyway, good article. For more on Chief Wahoo, see 40th Annual Chief Wahoo Protest and Gaillard's Use of Chief Wahoo.

Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark

Naming Rights Report: Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark

Outcry forces minor league baseball team to quickly change casino-linked name

By Alfred BranchFacing mounting criticism of the local AAA baseball park bearing the name of a gambling casino, it took only a day for the Chickasaw Nation, one of Oklahoma’s leading Native American tribes, to reverse course.

The Nation, owners of the Newcastle Casino outside of Oklahoma City, announced it acquired the naming rights to the Oklahoma City RedHawks’ ballpark on April 4 and planned to call it Newcastle Field at Bricktown. On signage that was to be erected at the park in the coming weeks, the word “Casino” was going to be featured in small, faint letters to the right just under the word “Newcastle.”

Bill Anoatubby, governor of Chickasaw Nation, said in a statement last week that the tribe jumped at the chance to build on the already two-year-old relationship between the team and the Nation.

Despite the good intentions, criticism of the new name came swiftly.

City officials were briefed on the proposed name in the weeks leading up to the announcement, Shadrick told Venues Today. But that did not stop some from complaining.

They questioned why a baseball stadium would be named after a gambling entity, considering the sport’s checkered past with Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson receiving lifetime bans for alleged involvement with illegal wagering.

Additionally, others criticized the use of Newcastle in the name because it did not have anything to do with promoting the city. Newcastle is the small suburb where the casino is located outside of Oklahoma City, and it has a population of less than 8,000.The outcome:Shadrick said the Nation listened to the public outcry and quickly decided to change the name to Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Nation will still hold casino-related promotions in the ballpark, which it has for the last two seasons, and Shadrick added that the relationship between the Nation and the team remains strong.Comment:  For more on Indians and naming rights, see San Manuel Partners with Local Ballclub and Foxwoods Partners with Mystic Aquarium.

Below:  "The newly-named Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City."

San Manuel partners with local ballclub

San Manuels get naming rights at 66ers Stadium

By Andrews EdwardsThe Inland Empire 66ers' home stadium will be renamed as San Manuel Stadium, according to an announcement of a "major new partnership" between the Single A ballclub and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.

A news release revealed the new name by announcing a media conference is scheduled to take place at the downtown San Bernardino stadium on Thursday.And:The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which operates San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino near Highland, currently holds naming rights to San Manuel Amphitheater at Glen Helen Regional Park in Devore.

The tribe has also made sports a focal point of its casino advertisements and non-gaming enterprises, such as the Sportswatch Bar & Grill in Highland. The tribe also advertises at Dodger Stadium and Staples Center, home to the Lakers, Clippers and Kings.Comment:  For more on naming rights, see Foxwoods Bets on Spider-Man.

Below:  "The Inland Empire 66ers' home stadium in San Bernardino on Monday, March 19, 2012. Arrowhead Credit Union Ballpark will be renamed to San Manuel Stadium." (Rachel Luna/Staff Photographer)

Savage Indians on Braves patches

Braves ditch insensitive patch on new throwbacks

By 'DukIt was a complete no-brainer, but props to the Atlanta Braves for placing a new crossed tomahawk logo on the sleeve of their new weekend alternates. The cream-colored throwbacks—which the baseball world learned about a few weeks ago—are based on the uniforms that the team first wore after moving to Atlanta in the 1960s.

The jerseys of those less-enlightened times featured a savage on the sleeve and it's a wonder that anyone ever thought the image was OK. The logo strips Native Americans of any humanity and turns them into a one-dimensional character devoid of any sympathy or tribute. It honestly might be the only defense that the few defenders of Cleveland's Chief Wahoo have left. ("Well, it's not as bad as what Atlanta used to have.")

Thankfully the current Braves brass made the necessary alterations before the retro resurrection so that paying tribute to the franchise's history is possible without alienating a group of people in the process.

Comment:  A no-brainer...because the crossed tomahawks are so much more sensitive than the leering, shark-toothed savage. Gee, thanks for your sensitivity.

Someone on Facebook said the second patch is more sensitive, to which I responded:

With the emphasis on "more" sensitive. As in slightly more sensitive.

Alternate headline: "Braves replace one insensitive patch with another."

For the double implication that Indians were killers and evildoers, the Braves get a Stereotype of the Month entry.

For more on the Atlanta Braves, see Braves Haven't Helped Choctaws and Former Noc-A-Homa = (Oxy)Moron.

Chamberlain joins Oneida Thanksgiving float

The Yankees’ Joba Chamberlain Will Join Oneida Indian Nation’s “True Spirit of Thanksgiving” Float in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day ParadeNew York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain, Winnebago, will be joining the Oneida Indian Nation’s spectacular True Spirit of Thanksgiving float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this Thursday. Chamberlain, who Indian Country Today Media Network interviewed for a feature article this past April, is a man who knows all about being thankful. As we reported in our piece, Joba’s father, Harlan, was born on the Winnebago reservation in Nebraska and contracted polio as a baby, which forced him into long hospital stays. Still, despite the crippling disease that left him unable to walk, deaf in one ear and with diminished use of his left arm, he raised Joba and Tasha (Joba’s sister) as a single parent. Joba has told of his dad still playing catch with him—with one arm—and of the entire neighborhood playing baseball at the Chamberlains’ home.

This marks the fourth year that the Oneida Indian Nation’s float, True Spirit of Thanksgiving, will be making its way from Central Park to Macy’s Herald Square in Manhattan. This year marks the 85th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which will be broadcast nationally on NBC, per usual, with the parade starting at 9am.Comment:  For more on Joba Chamberlain, see Chamberlain Pleads Guilty to DUI and Joba Goes to Disney World.

Ellsbury finishes 2nd for MVP award

Navajo Jacoby Ellsbury Finishes 2nd in American League MVP ContestRed Sox centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury finished second in the overall voting for baseball's Most Valuable Player in American League. Jacoby is the first Navajo baseball player to reach Major League Baseball.

Ellsbury finished second to Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers, who became the first starting pitcher to receive the honor since 1986. Verlander won with 280 total points. Ellsbury was second with 242 points.Comment:  For more on Jacoby Ellsbury, see Ellsbury Wins Golden Glove and ZinfandEllsbury Wine.

Ellsbury wins Golden Glove

Historic Season Continues, Jacoby Ellsbury Wins 2011 Gold Glove AwardJacoby Ellsbury, the first major league baseball player of Navajo descent, and a member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, has won the 2011 Rawlings American League (AL) Gold Glove Award for best defensive center fielder in the league. The Boston Red Sox was already named Comeback Player of the Year, is also a finalist for the AL MVP award, to be awarded November 21.

Additionally, he won esteemed Player of the Week honors twice during the 2011 season, mostly for his work with the lumber, but his glovework has set him apart.

An Oregon native, Ellsbury is the first American Indian to win a Gold Glove Award, and the first Red Sox outfielder to earn the honor since Ellis Burks in 1990. In his entire career, Ellsbury has committed only two errors over five seasons, which began in late June 2007, the year the Red Sox won their second World Series title since 1918. Both errors were committed in 2009.Comment:  For more on Jacoby Ellsbury, see ZinfandEllsbury Wine and Ellsbury Blogs About Losing.

Braves haven't helped Choctaws

Mississippi Choctaw Sponsorship of Atlanta Braves Not Paying OffThe Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has spent millions to sponsor the Atlanta Braves since 2008, reported The Clarion-Ledger. And the payoff has proven minimal: less than 4 percent of customers are making the trip from Atlanta, Georgia to play their luck at the tribal casinos in northern Mississippi.

“That surprises me,” Beverly Martin, commissioner with the Harrison County Tourism Commission, told The Clarion-Ledger.And:The Choctaw tribe inked the deal with the Braves in 2008, and at the time Denson said revenue from the casino had leveled off and he hoped advertising with the Braves would spike its attendance—an idea from the Titan Agency.

The Choctaws spent “eight figures” to sponsor Turner Field, said a business newspaper in Atlanta, according to the Ledger. Thus, “The Lexus Level” was renamed “The Golden Moon Casino Level.”Comment:  Many Braves fans are conservative Christians who think it's okay to stereotype Indians as tomahawk-wielding savages. That they might not be fans of Indian casinos doesn't surprise me.

For more on the subject, see Potawatomi Casino vs. Atlanta Braves and Former Noc-A-Homa = (Oxy)Moron.

Tiguas buy El Paso Diablos

Tiguas buy El Paso Diablos:  Tribe, LaBranche own 59% stake in team

By Bret BloomquistFor 12 years, one of the biggest complaints about the El Paso Diablos baseball organization was that it was controlled by out-of-town interests.

When the American Association approached General Manager Matt LaBranche about assembling an ownership group to buy out the Wisconsin-based Ventura Sports Group Inc., his goal was to find a group native to El Paso.

He did, in the most profound sense of the word "native."

The Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, or Tiguas, and LaBranche bought a 59 percent share of the Diablos franchise, and LaBranche is now the managing partner and club president.Comment:  For more on Native sports team owners, see Akwesasne Warriors in Federal Hockey League and First Native Team Owner.

"The Cadillac of spring training venues"

The Impulsive Traveler:  Spring training in Arizona, on Native American land

By Charlie VascellaroSalt River Fields, the new spring home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies, is the first major league facility to be built on Native American land--the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC), which borders Scottsdale and is just across the 101 freeway from the community's six-month-old Talking Stick Resort. The teams haven't just moved out of Tucson--they've moved to a whole other nation. But it's a nation right next door to Scottsdale's tourism and entertainment district. So if you get tired of baseball (I never do), you won't lack for other things to keep you occupied.

From the balcony of my room on the sixth floor of the Talking Stick Resort, I could see the new ballpark in the distance. Illuminated by light towers on the eve of spring training's opening day, the traffic buzzing by on the freeway looked like one of those time-lapse photography sequences.

Both Salt River Fields and Talking Stick are grounded in Native American roots. At Talking Stick, the sense of where I was was evident in the slightest details, from the slate-tiled bathroom wall to the toiletries infused with such indigenous scents as cholla bud, mission fig and mesquite bean, all prevalent in native culture. Not only did I ask the housekeeper for a couple of extra soaps and shampoos, but I also bought larger sizes in the spa gift shop.Some background:Salt River Fields may be modern Native America's first foray into baseball, but ball and stick games have been played on the American continent for more than 2,000 years. Arizona's indigenous peoples created ball courts within a few square miles of where the new ballpark stands today.

The architects at Dallas-based firm HKS incorporated elements from other ballparks as well as from historic Native American architecture in creating Salt River Fields. Preliminary research took the designers to the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in Casa Grande (home to the ancient civilization of the Hohokam people), about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson. One of the state's most prominent prehistoric ball courts was unearthed here in 1918, although archaeologists didn't at first realize what purpose the hard surface they'd uncovered served. It wasn't until a much larger court with definitive markers was discovered at Snaketown on the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix during an excavation in the 1930s that the ball courts were recognized for what they are.

Archaeologist Doug Craig, who gave me a personal tour at Casa Grande, told me that more than 240 prehistoric ball courts have been discovered across Arizona. To see more of them, I made my way to the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park, right near Sky Harbor Airport in the middle of Phoenix, the spot where another significant ball court was unearthed. Though I'd lived in the greater Phoenix area for 20 years, I'd never been to one of its authentic wonders. The oval ball court in the archaeological park at Pueblo Grande has been carefully preserved and is so well defined that it looks like a re-creation, not an artifact from thousands of years ago. It seemed amazing that remnants of an ancient settlement could be found so remarkably preserved in the middle of today's bustling metropolis.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.

Review of Jim Thorpe: World's Greatest Athlete

Last year I reported on the new Jim Thorpe documentary. Last week I finally watched it on PBS as part of Native American Heritage Month. Here's a synopsis:

Jim Thorpe--About the FilmJim Thorpe, The World’s Greatest Athlete is a biography of the Native American athlete who became a sports icon in the first half of the 20th century. Beginning with Thorpe’s boyhood in Indian Territory it chronicles his rise to athletic stardom at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, winning two gold medals at the 1912 Summer Olympics, his fall from grace in the eyes of the amateur athletic establishment, and his rebound in professional baseball and football. Thorpe retired from pro sports at age 41 just before the stock market crash of ’29. He worked as a construction laborer before getting work in Hollywood as a bit part player. He became a representative for Indian extras in Hollywood, fighting for equal pay for Native Americans in the movies. In the 1940s he crisscrossed the nation as a public speaker advocating for Indian self-determination.

This is a film about a man who used his amazing physical prowess as a way to affirm his American Indian identity in the face of unrelenting efforts to eradicate Native American culture. It is the first documentary film to tell the story of Thorpe’s life outside of his well-known athletic victories.The film uses in-depth interviews with Thorpe’s surviving children, some simple recreations and images culled from over seventy-five archive sources, both stills and motion picture.

Presented by Native American Public Television, the film will air on U.S. public television stations in fall 2009 and winter 2010.

Comment:  The summary pretty much sums it up. The documentary is a bit on the glowing side; it begins with the omnipresent flute music and glosses over Thorpe's drinking and spendthrift ways. But Jim Thorpe is a solid look at the athlete's life.

A few things I learned about Thorpe:

He played against Dwight Eisenhower in the Army-Carlisle football game.

He spoke out for Indian land rights and oil royalties.

He was an extra in Errol Flynn's They Died with Their Boots On, one of the few Westerns in which Indians won. He later punched Flynn in a bar after Flynn taunted him.

He lectured in a stereotypical Plains chief outfit under the name "Bright Path."

The movie doesn't mention Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, or the controversy over Thorpe's burial place. That may be for the best.

Rob's rating: 8.0 of 10. Check it out if you get the chance.

For more on Thorpe, see Three Native Olympic Gold Medalists and The NFL's Oorang Indians.

Ethier is part Cherokee

Hard work pays off for Andre Ethier

By Wesley MahanMany people probably didn’t realize it, but a Cherokee played in Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game July 13 in Anaheim, Calif., when Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier started in center field for the National League.

Ethier traces his Cherokee heritage through his father’s family. His father Byron, of Glendale, Ariz., is a CN citizen who traces his tribal lineage to Dawes Roll enrollee Nancy Downing, a full blood.

“My grandmother, of course, who is the Cherokee side, grew up there in Oklahoma,” the 28-year-old in a phone interview said. “She was born and raised early in life in Arkansas. They moved to Peggs in Oklahoma, right outside of Tahlequah.”

Ethier said he remembers visiting Peggs as a youth and being introduced to Cherokee culture.

“When I was younger, when my great grandmother, my grandmother’s mother, was still alive she was a big influence. She would tell stories about the Cherokee Indian side,” he said. “I can remember going back to Peggs and hanging out with family and talking to them. I still have quite a few family members that still live there in eastern and southeastern Oklahoma.”Comment:  For more on Native baseball players, see 3rd Indian Baseball Player in Majors, Chamberlain Pleads Guilty to DUI, and Ellsbury Blogs About Losing.

Below:  "Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier follows through on a swing against the Chicago Cubs July 11 in Los Angeles." (Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers)

Salt River Fields at Talking Stick

Rockies and D-backs move spring training to Phoenix area

By Babette HerrmannThis coming spring, the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks baseball teams will move spring training to the newly constructed and recently named, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, located on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.

The name of the stadium and logo was unveiled to the public June 4, more than six months after the tribe broke ground on the $100 million project. Both teams, part of the Cactus League, were training in Tucson.

SRPMIC Vice President Martin Harvier said coming up with a name was a collaborative effort, shaped by community members. “It was very important to work on coming up with a name and a lot of work went into it, and everybody’s really pleased so far with the naming of the stadium.”

The name “Salt River Fields” reflects the tribe and lets visitors to the stadium know they are in the Pima-Maricopa community. “Talking Stick” represents Pima tradition. Carvers used a calendar stick to record important events and milestones.Comment:  Perhaps coincidentally, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community also operates the Talking Stick Resort & Spa. It's nice that they named the stadium for their calendar stick and not for their casino.

For more on the subject, see Gila River Woos Cubs and Spring-Training Stadium at Salt River.

Preview of Houdini Pie

We get e-mail:Dear Mr. Schmidt,

I read your piece from last August about Warren Schufelt and the Lizard People in L.A., and thought you might like to know about my new novel Houdini Pie, which is based precisely on that very weird chapter of Los Angeles history. First to introduce myself: I'm a writer in Seattle. I've been publishing short fiction for about fifteen years, in journals including Glimmer Train, New South, Fiction, the Southern Indiana Review, Harpur Palate and lots of others, and I've been fortunate to have won several national writing awards. My first novel, Houdini Pie, was released in April by Bennett & Hastings Publishers Publishing. I'd be delighted if you would consider mentioning it or even reviewing it in on your site.

A quick synopsis:

Houdini Pie is an outlandish, historic and essentially comic novel that draws on a true chapter from the dark days of Los Angeles during the Great Depression—an officially sanctioned hunt for mythical treasure supposedly buried deep beneath the City by an ancient tribe of Hopi lizard people. It follows the fortunes of a rag-tag assortment of would-be gold diggers including an out-sized semi-pro baseball player, his spiritualist mother, an unrepentant bootlegger, a reluctant psychic, a grandiose geologist, a greedy attorney and an ageless Hopi shaman. It is set amidst the bread lines and beet fields of the Los Angeles Valley and Ventura County, in the halls and haunts of the young City itself, beneath the bright lights of barnstorming baseball at its best and shoulder-to-shoulder with the inglorious poverty of 1930s America. With its roots in fact as much as folklore, it is a tall but plausible tale of greed, loyalty, mystery, deception and love.

I'd be happy to send you a copy if you'd like to have a look at it, or it's available from Amazon (what isn't?), from www.houdinipie.com, or from your local bookseller.

All best,

Paul MichelComment:  Judging by the color scheme, a Houdini pie is something like a key lime or mint pie. <g>

I don't think the Hopi have shamans, ageless or otherwise. But this could be interesting. I'll have to check it out.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Books.