The Blue Jays Play-By-Play Guy Refuses To Say 'Indians' On The Broadcast
(The Star) — Don’t expect to hear the word “Indian” when Jerry Howarth calls the play-by-play in the Blue Jays’ American League Championship Series against Cleveland starting Friday. The longtime Blue Jays announcer said on The Jeff Blair radio show Tuesday that he made a decision more than two decades ago never to use the term because it is found offensive by many First Nations people. Howarth told Blair that he has also made it a practice to not use “Braves” for the Atlanta baseball team, or phrases like “a powwow on the mound” for talks between coaches and pitchers. Howarth said he made the decision back after the 1992 series, when the Blue Jays won their first World Series against Atlanta. Howarth told Blair he was touched deeply by an off-season letter that year from a listener in Northern Ontario.
“For the rest of my career I will not say ‘Indian’ or ‘Brave’ and if I was in the NFL I would not say ‘Redskins,’” Howarth said, referring to the Washington football team.
Nothing fires me the fuck up for postseason baseball quite like political statements. Honestly, I get it. I’d be an asshole if I said something like, “Oh, shut the fuck up and just call the Indians the Indians, even though Native Americans told you that they’re offended by it.” The Redskins is one thing. That’s a straight up slur. But I’ve honestly never known the word “indian” to be offensive.
I’m not saying it isn’t — I honestly have no idea — but I’ve just never known it to be. Digging deep into the vault of my brain from what I was taught in middle school, they were historically referred to as indians. We were never taught that “indians” was an off-limits term for Native Americans. Now, if you side with Bomani Jones and think that the team logo is one big, racist stereotype, then yeah. You’re not wrong. It totally is. But the team name? I feel like that’s a stretch to go out of your way to not say “The Indians” on the air, in reference to the baseball team. Does that mean he can’t call them The Tribe, either? I would assume so, right?
Here’s why I’m confused. Apparently the individual who reached out to broadcaster Jerry Howarth was offended by the Indians’ logo, not the team name. Or, at least that’s how it comes across.
“He said, ‘Jerry, I appreciate your work, but in the World Series, it was so offensive to have the tomahawk chop and to have people talk about the ‘powwows on the mound’ and then the Cleveland Indians logo and the Washington Redskins,’” Howarth told The Jeff Blair Show. “He just wrote it in such a loving, kind way. He said, ‘I would really appreciate it if you would think about what you say with those teams.’”
He said the logo. Nothing about the team name. I don’t wanna feel like I’m offending an entire group of people when I write about the ALCS this year, so I’m just gonna go with logo = offensive. Team name = not offensive enough to omit from blogs.
UPDATE: A Canadian Stoolie came through in the clutch with an explanation as to why I wasn’t under the impression that “indian” was an offensive term, but it is to a Canadian broadcaster.
