Cleveland Baseball Team Changes Name with Help from Tom Hanks and the Black Keys

They're now called the Cleveland Guardians

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jul 23, 2021

The Cleveland baseball team have finally changed their name, and the announcement came from an unlikely source: Tom Hanks and the Black Keys.

The team formerly known as the Cleveland Indians are now called the Cleveland Guardians. There had been widespread calls for the team to change their racially insensitive former name; they previously retired the mascot Chief Wahoo following the 2018 season.

The Cleveland Guardians announced the news with a two-minute video, narrated by Tom Hanks and soundtracked by the Black Keys. Hanks doesn't come from Cleveland, although he did intern at the city's Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in his early 20s. The Black Keys come from Akron, located less than an hour's drive away from Cleveland.

In the video, Hanks says, "It has always been 'Cleveland' that's the best part of our name. And now it's time to unite as one family. One community. To build the next era for this team and this city. To keep watch and guard what makes this game the greatest."

The first half of the video features orchestral music, but the second half features the Black Keys' signature bluesy rock.

Watch it down below.

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