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Cleveland Baseball Team Reveals New Name in Tom Hanks-Narrated TV Spot

Onetime Rockford Peaches manager Tom Hanks is here to introduce you to the Cleveland baseball team’s new name — the Cleveland Guardians.

The Academy Award-winning actor narrates a two-minute promotional spot that was released by the MLB club on Friday morning when the name became official, to be used starting at the end of the 2021 season. The Guardians will be the fifth name in franchise history, joining the Blues (1901), Bronchos (1902), Naps (1903-1914) and Indians (1915-2021).

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Regarding the Guardians’ logos and marks, the team’s website states that “our team colors will remain the same scheme that has been part of our organization for more than 80 years to honor our rich baseball heritage as well as the tradition of baseball as America’s pastime.” The Guardians wordmark uses a familiar script style of the last 75 years, “while evoking the structural architecture of the Hope Memorial Bridge”; the new “Diamond C” is seen as “an evolution of the Block C” that “stands tall – just as the Guardians of Traffic stand watch over our ballpark and city.”

The Guardian’s Fastball logo, meanwhile, “embodies what it means to be a Cleveland Guardian in its strong, yet simple design” and is “inspired by the helmets and wings of the Hope Memorial Bridge’s Guardian statues,” while the G wraps around and “guards” the baseball.

As the Guardians, the team will continue to wear CLEVELAND on the road uniforms (featuring an alphabet derived from the “Diamond C”), and the script Guardians wordmark on home uniforms.

“We are excited to usher in the next era of the deep history of baseball in Cleveland,” team owner and chairman Paul Dolan said in a statement. “Cleveland has and always will be the most important part of our identity. Therefore, we wanted a name that strongly represents the pride, resiliency and loyalty of Clevelanders. ‘Guardians’ reflects those attributes that define us while drawing on the iconic Guardians of Traffic just outside the ballpark on the Hope Memorial Bridge. It brings to life the pride Clevelanders take in our city and the way we fight together for all who choose to be part of the Cleveland baseball family. While ‘Indians’ will always be a part of our history, our new name will help unify our fans and city as we are all Cleveland Guardians.”

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