| Birth: | Oct. 24, 1871
Old Town
Maine | | Death: | Dec. 24, 1913
Burlington
Maine | 
Professional baseball player. He played for the Cleveland Spiders. Many people believe he was the inspiration for the team's name change to the "Indians". However, In 1915, when the current baseball franchise changed its name to the "Indians," there was no mention in the press about Louis Sockalexis nor was any notice ever sent to the Sockalexis family nor the Penobscot nation informing them of any correlation between the naming of the team and Sockalexis. In other words, the team was not named "in his honor"; the fact that he was Penobscot is often cited as the reason for the name of the team, but it serves as merely a convenience excuse. Sockalexis played less than three seasons for the Cleveland team who, at the time, were called the Spiders. He played the full season in 1897, 21 games in 1898 and only 6 games in 1899. His initial success and subsequent failure were both attributed to his race. He was repeatedly subjected to taunts, yells of derision and all that comes with it both at home games and across the country. It is believed that this contributed to his alcoholism and early death. The present name was chosen by a group of sports writers in 1915--over 15 years after Sockalexis had left his short and unfortunate term with the team. If it were a namesake they could have called it something like the "Socks" just as the team was called the "Naps" after its owner, Napoleon Lajoie, just prior to its present name. Beginning in 1901 the team went through several names in this order: Blues, Broncos, Naps and its present name.
Search Amazon for Louis Sockalexis | | | Burial:
Old Town Cemetery
Old Town
Penobscot County
Maine, USA |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Jan 01, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 1607 |
|
|
|
|
(4.1 after 34 votes)
