Manfred Echoes Support For Atlanta Team Name and Chop Celebration
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred defended the Atlanta Braves team name and fan celebration known as “the chop” while speaking with reporters prior to the start of the World Series.
“It’s important to understand that we have 30 markets around the country. They aren’t all the same. The Braves have done a phenomenal job with the Native American Community,” Manfred said. “The Native American community in that region is wholly supportive of the Braves program, including the Chop. For me, that’s kind of the end of the story. In that market, we’re taking into account the Native American community.”
The Braves’ team name and “The Chop” have been called inappropriate by Georgian Native American Tribes. In 2019, the head of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Principal Chief James Floyd said “it reduced Native Americans to a caricature and minimizes the contributions of Native peoples as equal citizens and human beings.”
The Cleveland Indians announced in July they would be changing their name to the Guardians following the 2021 season. Cleveland owner Paul Dolan called the name no longer acceptable.
Manfred further explained why it’s acceptable.
“We don’t market our game on a nationwide basis. Ours is an everyday game,” Manfred said. “You’ve gotta sell tickets every single day to the fans in that market. And there are all sorts of differences between the regions in terms of how the teams are marketed.”
In the World Series, the Braves are playing to a national market, just how Cleveland was in 2016. St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley – a member of the Cherokee Nation – said he found the chanting and arm-motions insulting in 2019. It depicts natives “in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren’t intellectual.”
Helsley made those comments prior to Game 2 of the NLDS in 2019. In Game 5, when the series returned to SunTrust Park, the Braves stopped handing out foam tomahawks, playing the chop music, or showing the chop graphic. From Manfred’s support, it seems Atlanta won’t be making those adjustments when the World Series heads there in Game 3.
In between, Manfred touched upon the looming CBA expiration on Dec. 1. Getting a deal done prior is his “number one priority.”
“The most important thing is not one paragraph, two paragraphs in the agreement. The most important thing – the win in collective bargaining is you make an agreement,” Manfred said.
Atlanta and Houston will resume their series for “a piece of metal” tonight.
The post Manfred Echoes Support For Atlanta Team Name and Chop Celebration first appeared on Metsmerized Online.