#Shortstops: Cleveland Connection

From the modern game of baseball we see today to stick and ball games played throughout tribes in the continental U.S. as well as Alaska and Hawaii, there has been an ever-present connection between Native Americans and the game of baseball. And, symbolically, a photo in the Hall of Fame collection of a smiling Tris Speaker, a member of the Cleveland Indians shown shaking hands with two Native American men, aptly showcases this link.

Famously, Jackie Robinson re-integrated the National League in 1947, allowing greats like Ken Griffey Jr. and Fred McGriff to follow in his path. However, unlike Black Americans or players of Asian descent, Native Americans have been a constant force in the modern major leagues, dating back to Louis Sockalexis of the Cleveland Spiders in 1897.

While Native Americans have populated the modern major leagues for over a century, it hasn’t come without its struggles. In the early-to-mid 20th century, players of Native American descent were often inherently subject to the nickname “Chief” (such as John Myers or Charles Bender). Of the more than 23,000 total Major League ballplayers, only a handful have been Native Americans.

Playing for 22 total seasons in the big leagues, Tris Speaker stands with two Native American men sporting traditional folk costumes with each man wearing a war bonnet, tunic, leggings and moccasins. The three men are pictured in front of a tipi, a common living structure for many Plains Indians, sometime between 1916-1926, the duration of Speaker’s time with the Cleveland Indians. During his time in Cleveland, Speaker enjoyed great success, leading the league in doubles six times, finishing seven of his 11 seasons with a batting average above .350, and leading the Indians to their first World Series title in 1920 as a player-manager. For his accomplishments both with the Indians and elsewhere, Speaker was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of the 1937 class.

Tynan Weathers was a 2024 programming intern in the Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Leadership Development