Jim Edmonds dredges up old argument about Native American team names

Jim Edmonds, the four-time MLB All-Star and current color commentator for the St. Louis Cardinals on Bally Sports Midwest, has some opinions on teams changing their names. And late in Thursday night’s game between the Cardinals and Houston Astros, he made those feelings known.

It started rather benignly. The Cardinals were getting drubbed 9-0 in the seventh inning. And as announcers will frequently do during blowout games, Edmonds and Chip Caray took some focus away from what was happening on the field.

Edmonds started talking about messages he receives from fans of different teams.

“I actually got quite a few messages on social media about some of the teams and then, you know it’s really funny when people reach out to you and say, ‘Hey, I’m from this area and we really love our baseball here,’ Edmonds said. “And somebody else will say ‘Yeah, I wish they had the old name that they used to have.’ It’s just funny to hear everyone’s opinion.”

Caray then asked Edmonds the natural follow up.

“What were some of the ones that you’ve gotten inquiries on?”

“The Spokane one,” Edmonds replied. “I got a couple of people reaching out and said they’re from Spokane — with the Indians. And I thought it was cool.”

For anyone who may not know, the Spokane Indians are a High-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. Much like the Indianapolis Indians, the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, those teams have not changed their name in recent seasons.

But Edmonds then transitioned into talking about two teams that notably have changed their names.

“I’m still shocked that we’ve changed so much as a whole that we’re not allowed to have the Cleveland Indians anymore — the Guardians. And I’m saying that, too because my wife is partial Native American, Indian and, you know, I just, I always thought it was kind of a cool thing. Not a bad thing to have a team named after, the Indians or vice versa, whatever, the Washington Redskins. All that stuff.”

We don’t know what Caray was thinking when Edmonds was talking. But as Edmonds was finishing his thought, Nolan Gorman hit what we can only guess Caray thought was the most beautifully timed groundout in MLB history.

“On the ground to second,” Caray said, dragging the word “on” for a little longer than normal. Houston second baseman Mauricio Dubón fielded the ball cleanly and threw to first to retire the side, sending the broadcast to a commercial.

"I always thought it was kind of a cool thing, not a bad thing, to have a team named after the Indians or vice versa, whatever, the Washington Redskins."

Yep, Jim Edmonds went there. pic.twitter.com/fKSapGUOkc

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 30, 2023

The discussion on the team names is definitely more complicated than it was frequently made out to be. While there was clearly a large portion of people offended by the name, research often showed that people in the supposedly “offended” groups either didn’t care or in some cases, completely supported the name in question.

But that’s kind of old news at this point. Washington’s NFL team dropped the “Redskins” before the 2020 season. Cleveland’s MLB got rid of the “Indians” after the 2021 season. The decisions were made. Even to the people who may agree with Edmonds’ point, what good does drudging it up now do?