Russell A. Carleton

Author of "The New Ballgame" out now from @TriumphBooks. ( Contributor to @baseballpro. Quad-A Sabermetrician. He/Him.

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

It's release day for "The New Ballgame: The Not-So-Hidden-Forces Shaping Modern Baseball"

I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. Thanks @TriumphBooks for going on this journey with me.

https://t.co/hWkVrqaQCC

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

@2daysprospects Thorpe never played for the Cleveland Indians baseball team. In 1921, he signed with a football team in Cleveland also called Indians, which had its roots in (and got its name from) an Akron team formed in 1908.

By 1915, there were a lot of teams around called "Indians."

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

1/ (THREAD) A couple of years ago, I wrote a thread about the "Sockalexis Myth", the idea that the name "Cleveland Indians" had been taken to honor Louis Sockalexis. It's time for an update with some more details.

Short version: There's little evidence for the idea.

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

1/ (THREAD) Now that @CleGuardians are playing real games under their new name, you're going to see the "Sockalexis Myth" going around again, that the team's former name was a "tribute" to Louis Sockalexis.

Let's put this to bed.

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

@2daysprospects In that 1912 Olympiad, Andrew Sockalexis (Louis's cousin) finished fourth in the marathon race.

Carlisle was probably part of it. There were other teams called Indians around, including a semi-pro football team in Cleveland.

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

Shameless self-promotion: This is my favorite column to write every year. It's the one where we talk about things in baseball that exist, but don't have names yet. @baseballpro

https://t.co/LsWc0tipVJ

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

!

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

It will always be my first fact.

[MLB @MLB]

LANE THOMAS GRAND SLAM!!!!

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

@MATrueblood That one wasn't me. I wish it had been. It was brilliant work.

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

@BMMillsy It's going to take something like that.

[Rob Mains @Cran_Boy]

Hoy @bpespanol: Participa en todos los juegos del bullpen, por @pizzacutter4, traducción de @Battfer. ¡Para leer todo nuestro contenido en español, ve a https://t.co/8GOkwFaiav! https://t.co/h0TIX7KVT1

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

Shameless self-promotion: What if we changed one a rule so fundamental to the game, they wrote a song about it? @baseballpro

https://t.co/f09oghLLcb

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

@YankeesFiles I will add to this that you don't want your scrubs to be too scrub-y, for the obvious reason. This is a "ceteris paribus" type effect. If you had to choose between two sets of players each with equal aggregate talent, but had to apportion talent equally or S&S, pick S&S.

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

@YankeesFiles This is ten years old, but I would very much put my quarter down on the "stars and scrubs" approach. Run production in baseball works on a compounding basis. It usually requires that hits/walks be bunched together within the space of three being put out.

https://t.co/egqfQd6APa

[Rob Mains @Cran_Boy]

Hoy @bpespanol: ¿Quién tiene el control?—segunda parte, por @pizzacutter4, traducción de @chilango2. ¡Para leer todo nuestro contenido en español, ve a https://t.co/8GOkwF9KkX! https://t.co/zbtpJjv7K7

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

Shameless self-promotion: Is MLB making changes to the game to make it better or to keep it the same as it used to be. There's a difference and it's important. @baseballpro

https://t.co/w4kPpPUnLT

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

@WrexhamATX Seven. Three.

[John Thorn @thorn_john]

Possibly direct origin for the Cleveland Indians name, from 1896: Native Americans on the Public Square during the city's centennial celebration. I agree: forget Sockalexis as the inspiration. @pizzacutter4

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

@thorn_john There was an organization of Native Americans in Cleveland that put on an annual "war dance" (poking through newspapers, I saw a lot of the notices of the event.)

[John Thorn @thorn_john]

@pizzacutter4 1/2 The NY Mets of 1886 were called, after the owner, “Wiman’s Indians.” His Staten Island Amusement Company leased the ball grounds for lacrosse games, including those played by the St. Regis Indians; the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show also played on those grounds. (In mid-1887...

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

73/ It never was. What developed was a fan culture of Chief Wahoo and fans wearing red face and bad stereotype puns and "teepees and tomahawks."

I grew up with it. I participated in it. I am left only with the regret that I didn't realize my error sooner.

/fin

[Russell A. Carleton @pizzacutter4]

72/ I believe that even a bad origin story can be redeemed. Whether they took the name knowing full well what Sockalexis went through or whether it was just a cynical cash grab, the name could have become a way to bring legitimate honor to Sockalexis and Native Americans.