Baseball commissioner Manfred OK with Braves nickname and the use of tomahawk chop

While the Cleveland Indians are changing their name to the Guardians for 2022 and the Washington NFL team dropped Redskins in July 2020, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is comfortable with the Braves’ organization’s decision to keep the team’s name.

“It’s important to understand that we have 30 markets around the country. They’re not all the same,” Manfred said from Game 1 of the World Series in Houston. “The Braves have done a phenomenal job with the Native American community. The Native American community in that region is wholly supportive of the Braves program, including the chop. And for me that’s kind of the end of the story. In that market, taking into account the Native American community, it works.”

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While opinions of the Braves name and their use of the tomahawk chop are varied within Native American communities, the National Council of American Indians have called for the franchise to drop the name and chant.

Meanwhile, the World Series will be played at Truist Park this weekend after Manfred moved the 2021 All-Star game from Atlanta to Denver over the league’s objections to sweeping changes to Georgia voting laws that critics condemned as being too restrictive.

“Atlanta played great down the stretch, did a tremendous job in the playoffs,” he said. “They earned their right in the World Series, and we’re looking forward to being back in Atlanta.”

“We always have tried to be apolitical. Obviously, there was a notable exception this year,” he added. “I think our desire is to try to avoid another exception to that general rule. We have a fan base that’s diverse, has different points of view, and we’d like to keep the focus on the field in the game.”

He also admitted: “Let me say this: It’s harder than it used to be.”

ExploreIndepth from the AJC: Tomahawk chop, Braves nickname are complex and personal issues for Native Americans