The Cleveland Indians team is one of only four in the American League to play continuously in one city, and Indians fans have known the thrill of victory and several agonies of defeat.

Officially becoming part of the American League in 1901, the Indians had their start in 1869, morphing through a variety of leagues, players and names. Finally, the team got its act together and started its career in League Park. This is the same park where famed pitcher Cy Young played for the Cleveland Spiders. The team’s early names included the Blues and the Broncos. It became known as the Naps in 1903 in honor of player-manager Napoleon Lajoie. In 1915, after Lajoie left the team, the area newspapers picked a new name for the team, choosing the Indians, which had been one of the nicknames used by earlier incarnations of the team.

Known as the Tribe in their hometown, the Indians became a major contender in the 1920’s. In fact, 1920 saw them win the World Series with some fabulous plays. Elmer Smith hit the first World Series grand slam, Jim Bagby became the first pitcher in World Series history to hit a home run, and Bill Wambsganss made the only World Series unassisted triple play.

In 1932, the team got a new ballpark, the Cleveland Municipal Stadium, but for a variety of reasons (mostly involving money), they played both there and at League Park until 1946. In 1947, new owner Bill Veeck put the Indians at Cleveland Municipal Stadium and helped spark increased sales of baseball tickets. His leadership took them to another Series win in 1948. Though Veeck left the team in 1949, his legacy placed the Indians as regular pennant contenders until 1960.

In 1960, the Tribe traded away Rocky Colavito, a hometown favorite. His departure seemed to spark a sudden downturn in the team’s luck. Indians tickets sales slumped along with the team’s record. In 1964, the Indians brought Colavito back. While the team seemed to do better for a bit, the Indians just couldn’t bring themselves back into serious contention.

1994 brought a new stadium for the team, new ownership and management and a renewed fan base, evidenced by the rising baseball tickets sales. Jacobs Field was state of the art and saw the formation of a powerhouse team that included Sandy Alomar Jr., Carlos Baerga and Orel Hershiser. 1996 ushered in an unprecedented year, with the team’s second straight offensive domination of the AL Central and selling out the entire season of Indians tickets prior to opening day.

While the team saw a small slump at the beginning of this century, rebuilding efforts seem to be going well and fans look forward to rallying behind their Tribe.