Editing Cleveland Guardians (section)

===1896–1935: Columbus, Grand Rapids, and the early Cleveland years===
The origins of the Cleveland Guardians date back to 1896, when the team was founded as the '''Columbus Buckeyes''', a team based in [[Columbus, Ohio]] and competing in the [[Western League (1885–1899)|Western League]]. The club was owned by [[Tom Loftus]], a close friend of both league president [[Ban Johnson]] and [[Charlie Comiskey]], owner of the league's [[St. Paul Saints]].<ref name="ALEvolution" />  In July 1899, the franchise swapped cities and names midseason with the Grand Rapids franchise of the Interstate League, becoming the '''Grand Rapids Prodigals''' while remaining in the Western League.<ref name="IndyJournal">{{cite news |title=WILL CHANGE PLACES. Dons to Go to Grand Rapids and Latter Team to Columbus |work=The Indianapolis Journal |date=July 15, 1899 |page=2}}</ref><ref name="nomad" /> 

[[File:1899 Columbus Senators Grand Rapids Furniture Makers.jpg|thumb|The 1899 Columbus/Grand Rapids team. Hall of Famer [[Rube Waddell]] is back row, second from the left. ]]

In 1900, the team moved to Cleveland and was named the Cleveland Lake Shores, coinciding with Ban Johnson's change of the league name from the Western League to the American League.<ref name="CLEownerhist">{{cite web |last1=Bohmer |first1=David |title=Cleveland Guardians team ownership history |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/cleveland-guardians-team-ownership-history/ |website=sabr.org |access-date=March 9, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240911201222/https://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/cleveland-guardians-team-ownership-history/ |archive-date=September 11, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1900, the American League was still considered a minor league. In 1901, the team was called the Cleveland Bluebirds or Blues when the American League broke with the National Agreement and declared itself a competing Major League. The Cleveland franchise was among its eight charter members, and is one of four teams that remain in its original city, along with [[Boston Red Sox|Boston]], [[Chicago White Sox|Chicago]], and [[Detroit Tigers|Detroit]].

The new team was owned by coal magnate [[Charles Somers]] and tailor Jack Kilfoyl. Somers, a wealthy industrialist and also co-owner of the [[Boston Americans]], lent money to other team owners, including [[Connie Mack]]'s [[Philadelphia Athletics]], to keep them and the new league afloat. Players did not think the name "Bluebirds" was suitable for a baseball team.<ref name="TBT">{{cite book |title=The Team-by-Team Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball |last=Purdy |first=Dennis |year=2006 |publisher=[[Workman Publishing Company|Workman]] |location=New York City |isbn=0-7611-3943-5 }}</ref> Writers frequently shortened it to Cleveland Blues due to the players' all-blue uniforms,<ref>{{cite book | last =Schneider | first = Russell | title = Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia | publisher = Sports Publishing LLC | year = 2001 | page =11 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9jkqN0qu-fcC 
 | isbn = 1-58261-376-1}}</ref> but the players did not like this unofficial name either.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Posnanski|first=Joe|date=October 14, 2016|title=What's in a name?|url=https://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/cleveland-indians-nickname-sockalexis/|access-date=October 8, 2021|website=NBC SportsWorld|language=en-US}}</ref> The players themselves tried to change the name to Cleveland Bronchos in {{baseball year|1902}}, but this name never caught on.<ref name="TBT"/>

[[File:Nap Lajoie 1913.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[Nap Lajoie]], who won the 1903 American League Batting Championship with the Cleveland Naps, was the team's namesake from 1903 to 1915, and is an [[MLB Hall of Fame]]r.]]

Cleveland suffered from financial problems in their first two seasons. This led Somers to seriously consider moving to either [[Pittsburgh]] or [[Cincinnati]]. Relief came in 1902 as a result of the conflict between the National and American Leagues. In 1901, [[Nap Lajoie|Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie]], the [[Philadelphia Phillies]]' star second baseman, jumped to the A's after his contract was capped at $2,400 per year—one of the highest-profile players to jump to the upstart AL. The Phillies subsequently filed an injunction to force Lajoie's return, which was granted by the [[Pennsylvania Supreme Court]]. The injunction appeared to doom any hopes of an early settlement between the warring leagues. However, a lawyer discovered that the injunction was only enforceable in the state of Pennsylvania.<ref name="TBT"/> Mack, partly to thank Somers for his past financial support, agreed to trade Lajoie to the then-moribund Blues, who offered $25,000 salary over three years.<ref>{{cite book | last =Schneider | first = Russell | title = Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia | publisher = Sports Publishing LLC | year = 2001 | pages =12–13 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9jkqN0qu-fcC | isbn = 1-58261-376-1}}</ref> Due to the injunction, however, Lajoie had to sit out any games played against the A's in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite book | last =Seymour | first = Harold | title = Baseball | publisher = Oxford University Press, US | year =1960 | pages=214–215 | isbn =0-19-500100-1}}</ref> Lajoie arrived in Cleveland on June 4 and was an immediate hit, drawing 10,000 fans to League Park. Soon afterward, he was named team captain, and in 1903 the team was called the Cleveland Napoleons or Naps after a newspaper conducted a write-in contest.<ref name="TBT"/>

Lajoie was named manager in {{MLBy|1905}}, and the team's fortunes improved somewhat. They finished half a game short of the pennant in 1908.<ref name="1908AL">{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1908.shtml |title=1908 American League Standings |access-date=June 19, 2008 |work=Baseball-Reference.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215121155/http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1908.shtml |archive-date=February 15, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, the success did not last and Lajoie resigned during the 1909 season as manager but remained on as a player.<ref>{{cite book | last =Schneider | first = Russell | title = Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia | publisher = Sports Publishing LLC | year = 2001 | page =319 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9jkqN0qu-fcC | isbn = 1-58261-376-1}}</ref>

[[File:1909 Cleveland Naps.jpg|thumb|right|[[1909 Cleveland Naps season|1909 Cleveland Naps]]]]
After that, the team began to unravel, leading Kilfoyl to sell his share of the team to Somers. [[Cy Young]], who returned to Cleveland in 1909, was ineffective for most of his three remaining years<ref>{{cite book | last =Schneider | first = Russell | title = Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia | publisher = Sports Publishing LLC | year = 2001 | page =413 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9jkqN0qu-fcC | isbn = 1-58261-376-1}}</ref> and [[Addie Joss]] died from tubercular meningitis prior to the 1911 season.<ref>{{cite news |title=Obituary, Pitcher Joss Dead: Ill Only Few Days |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/04/15/104862167.pdf |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 15, 1911 |access-date=June 20, 2008 |archive-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201214154308/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/04/15/104862167.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Despite a strong lineup anchored by the potent Lajoie and [[Shoeless Joe Jackson]], poor pitching kept the team below third place for most of the next decade. One reporter referred to the team as the Napkins, "because they fold up so easily". The team hit bottom in 1914 and 1915, finishing last place both years.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1914.shtml |title=1914 American League Standings |access-date=June 27, 2008 |work=Baseball-Reference.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704131724/http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1914.shtml |archive-date=July 4, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1915.shtml |title=1915 American League Standings |access-date=June 27, 2008 |work=Baseball-Reference.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622121215/http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1915.shtml |archive-date=June 22, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

1915 brought significant changes to the team. Lajoie, nearly 40 years old, was no longer a top hitter in the league, batting only .258 in 1914. With Lajoie engaged in a feud with manager [[Joe Birmingham]], the team sold Lajoie back to the A's.<ref>{{cite book | last =Schneider | first = Russell | title = Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia | publisher = Sports Publishing LLC | year = 2001 | page =321 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9jkqN0qu-fcC | isbn = 1-58261-376-1}}</ref>

With Lajoie gone, the club needed a new name. Somers asked the local baseball writers to come up with a new name, and based on their input, the team was renamed the Cleveland Indians.<ref>"Baseball writers select 'Indians' as the best name to apply to the former Naps" ''[[The Plain Dealer]]'' January 17, 1915: 15</ref> The name referred to the nickname "Indians" that was applied to the [[Cleveland Spiders]] baseball club during the time when [[Louis Sockalexis]], a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]], played in Cleveland (1897–1899).<ref>"Looking Backwards" ''The Plain Dealer'' January 18, 1915: 8</ref>

At the same time, Somers' business ventures began to fail, leaving him deeply in debt. With the Indians playing poorly, attendance and revenue suffered.<ref name="Somers">{{cite book| author=Lewis, Franklin| title=The Cleveland Indians | publisher=Kent State University Press reprint from Putnam| isbn= 978-0-87338-885-6
| year=2006| pages=76–77}}</ref> Somers decided to trade Jackson midway through the 1915 season for two players and $31,500, one of the largest sums paid for a player at the time.<ref>{{cite book| author=Ratajczak, Kenneth| title=The Wrong Man Out| publisher=AuthorHouse |year=2008 | isbn= 978-1-4343-5678-9| pages=[https://archive.org/details/wrongmanout0000rata/page/76 76]–77| url=https://archive.org/details/wrongmanout0000rata| url-access=registration}}</ref>

By 1916, Somers was at the end of his tether, and sold the team to a syndicate headed by Chicago railroad contractor [[Jim Dunn (baseball owner)|James C. "Jack" Dunn]].<ref name=Somers/> Manager Lee Fohl, who had taken over in early 1915, acquired two minor league pitchers, [[Stan Coveleski]] and [[Jim Bagby, Sr.|Jim Bagby]] and traded for center fielder [[Tris Speaker]], who was engaged in a salary dispute with the [[Boston Red Sox|Red Sox]].<ref>{{cite book | last =Schneider | first = Russell | title = Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia | publisher = Sports Publishing LLC | year = 2001 | pages =23–24 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9jkqN0qu-fcC | isbn = 1-58261-376-1}}</ref> All three would ultimately become key players in bringing a championship to Cleveland.

{{Wide image|1920 Cleveland Indians Pano.jpg|800px|The 1920 Indians, who won the first World Series Championship in team history|right}}
Speaker took over the reins as [[player-manager]] in {{MLBy|1919}}, and led the team to a championship in 1920. On August 16, 1920, the Indians were playing the [[1920 New York Yankees season|Yankees]] at the [[Polo Grounds]] in New York. Shortstop [[Ray Chapman]], who often crowded the plate, was batting against [[Carl Mays]], who had an unusual underhand delivery. It was also late in the afternoon and the infield was completely shaded with the center field area (the batters' background) bathed in sunlight. As well, at the time, "part of every pitcher's job was to dirty up a new ball the moment it was thrown onto the field. By turns, they smeared it with dirt, licorice, tobacco juice; it was deliberately scuffed, sandpapered, scarred, cut, even spiked. The result was a misshapen, earth-colored ball that traveled through the air erratically, tended to soften in the later innings, and as it came over the plate, was very hard to see."<ref>{{cite book|last=Ward|first=Geoffrey C. |author2=Burns, Ken|title=Baseball: An Illustrated History|publisher=Knopf |year=1996|page=153|isbn=0-679-76541-7}}</ref>

In any case, Chapman did not move reflexively when Mays' pitch came his way. The pitch hit Chapman in the head, fracturing his skull. Chapman died the next day, becoming the only player to sustain a fatal injury from a pitched ball.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/year_in_sports/08.17.html|title=Report of Chapman's Death|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 1, 1920|access-date=September 14, 2014|archive-date=October 9, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009025423/http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/year_in_sports/08.17.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The Indians, who at the time were locked in a tight three-way pennant race with the Yankees and [[1920 Chicago White Sox season|White Sox]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Standings&nbsp;– Monday, Aug 16, 1920 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/games/standings.cgi?date=1920-08-16 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |access-date=March 27, 2018 |archive-date=February 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205091817/http://www.baseball-reference.com/games/standings.cgi?date=1920-08-16 |url-status=live }}</ref> were not slowed down by the death of their teammate. Rookie [[Joe Sewell]] hit .329 after replacing Chapman in the lineup.<ref>{{cite news |first=Ira |last=Berkow |title=SPORTS OF THE TIMES; When Sewell Replaced Ray Chapman |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/13/sports/sports-of-the-times-when-sewell-replaced-ray-chapman.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 13, 1989 |access-date=June 27, 2008 |archive-date=April 13, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413022816/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/13/sports/sports-of-the-times-when-sewell-replaced-ray-chapman.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:TrisSpeakerGoudeycard.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Tris Speaker]] on a 1933 baseball card]]
In September 1920, the [[Black Sox Scandal]] came to a boil. With just a few games left in the season, and Cleveland and Chicago neck-and-neck for first place at 94–54 and 95–56 respectively,<ref>{{cite web |title=CLE 1920 Cleveland Indians Schedule |url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1920&t=CLE |work=Baseball Almanac |access-date=February 17, 2009 |archive-date=April 5, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090405231756/http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1920&t=CLE |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=1920 Chicago White Sox Schedule |url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1920&t=CHA |publisher=Baseball Almanac |access-date=February 17, 2009 |archive-date=December 6, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206193916/http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1920&t=CHA |url-status=live }}</ref> the Chicago owner suspended eight players. The White Sox lost two of three in their final series, while Cleveland won four and lost two in their final two series. Cleveland finished two games ahead of Chicago and three games ahead of the Yankees to win its first pennant, led by Speaker's .388 hitting, Jim Bagby's 30 victories and solid performances from [[Steve O'Neill]] and Stan Coveleski. Cleveland went on to defeat the [[1920 Brooklyn Robins season|Brooklyn Robins]] 5–2 in the [[1920 World Series|World Series]] for their first title, winning four games in a row after the Robins took a 2–1 Series lead. The Series included three memorable "firsts", all of them in Game 5 at Cleveland, and all by the home team. In the first inning, right fielder [[Elmer Smith (20th century outfielder)|Elmer Smith]] hit the first Series grand slam. In the fourth inning, [[Jim Bagby, Sr.|Jim Bagby]] hit the first Series home run by a pitcher. In the top of the fifth inning, second baseman [[Bill Wambsganss]] executed the first (and only, so far) unassisted triple play in World Series history, in fact, the only Series triple play of any kind.

The team would not reach the heights of 1920 again for 28 years. Speaker and Coveleski were aging and the Yankees were rising with a new weapon: [[Babe Ruth]] and the home run. They managed two second-place finishes but spent much of the decade in last place. In 1927 Dunn's widow, Mrs. George Pross (Dunn had died in 1922), sold the team to a syndicate headed by [[Alva Bradley]].