361. Pensacola's Cleveland Indians 1913

Updated: Mar 23, 2022

Most Pensacolians know about the spring training exhibition game of March 31, 1929 between Baby Ruth's New York Yankees and our Pensacola Fliers at Legion Field (Maxent Field). But most are unaware that our fair city was once the spring training location for the Cleveland Naps in 1913, later renamed the Cleveland Indians. The Indians were a charter member of the American Baseball League, founded in 1901, and originally called the Bluebirds or Blues because of the color of their uniforms. In 1902, they became the "Broncos" and from 1903-1911 they were called the "Naps" after their manager Napoleon Lajoie. After Napoleon's departure in 1914, they were finally renamed the "Indians" in honor of player Louis "Chief" Sockalexis, a Native American.

Because of Pensacola's ardent support of area sports, it was decided to build a state of the art field that would serve both professional baseball and high school football. The contract was given to the C. H. Turner Construction Company, a group that had built so many of our fine local homes and buildings. The new stadium would boast a capacity of 1,000 fans that crowded into the park for their first game on June 16, 1911. The battle was fought between the Pensacolas versus the sailors from the battleship USS Idaho (Navy won 4-1). Three months later, the stadium was given the name of Maxent Field. Destroyed by fire in 1915 it was rebuilt and sold to the City of Pensacola four years later. In 1927, it was patriotically renamed the American Legion Field and remodeled for a capacity of 4,000.

Pensacola made multiple attempts to establish local teams from 1913-1950 with such names as the Pensacola Fliers and the Pensacola Pilots (after all we are a Naval Aviation town!).

But in the meantime, Pensacola had their Nappers to keep the fans happy and the local tongues wagging. Their presence also kept the reporters writing and typing like crazy to keep up with the likes of Shoeless Joe Jackson and his gang from Cleveland! Below is just a sample of the many articles written of the team during their first year in Pensacola!