词汇 | cleveland indians |
词源 | Cleveland Indians. There has been controversy recently over whether sports teams should be given Indian names, which has been a practice for over a century. One of the oldest was the name Cleveland Indians, the winning entry in a 1915 newspa- per contest to rename the team. (It was formerly known as the Naps, in honor of star second baseman Napoleon Lajoie, who had just retired.) The team’s new name honored Louis Socka- lexis, a Penonscot Indian from Old Town, Maine, who had played college ball at Holy Cross and Notre Dame before sign- ing with Cleveland in 1897 to become the first American Indian to play in the majors. After an excellent rookie year in which he batted .338 and was known for his power hitting and strong throwing arm, Sockalexis apparently succumbed to the pres- sures of his situation, which included loud war whoops from the fans when he came to bat. He began drinking heavily, and his playing deteriorated until he was dropped from the club in 1899. Although he played only 94 games, he remains the only person after whom an existing major league baseball team was named. Football’s Kansas City Chiefs were named after the mayor of Kansas City, who was instrumental in bringing the franchise from Dallas to Missouri and was popularly nick- named “the Chief.” Other teams bearing “Indian” related desig- nations include football’s Washington Redskins and basketball’s Golden State Warriors. Baseball’s Atlanta Braves took the name of their predecessor, the Boston Braves, who were named not for any American Indians but for the emblem (an Indian brave) of New York City’s Tammany Hall political machine—mem- bers of which had invested in the team. See indian. |
随便看 |
英语词源词典收录了13259条英语词源词条,基本涵盖了全部常用英语词汇的起源、历史,是研究英语词汇或通过词源学英语的必备工具。