Hank Aaron’s death on Friday prompted calls for the Atlanta Braves to change their names in his honor.
As Aaron was known as “Hammerin ‘Hank” when he was hitting dingers during his illustrious career, fans started asking Braves to change their name to Hammers.
An online petition on Change.org started circulating online after Aaron’s death.
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“The renaming serves two important purposes: 1) to honor an icon that has represented our city with grace and dignity for more than half a century, and 2) to remove the stain in the city from having a team name that dishonors Indians and Indians, especially due to one of the greatest tragedies in American history, the Trail of Tears, started in the region that the team calls home, “said the petition.
The petition was close to 100 signatures on Saturday night.
The MLB team was called upon to change its name – a Native American nickname – in light of the change in Washington’s football team last summer and the upcoming change of the Cleveland Indians.
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“There is no better time to do that, given the trend initiated by the Washington Football Team, which will soon be renamed the Cleveland Indians, and with the Major League Baseball All-Star game coming to Atlanta later this year. Please, change the name to honor a person and player that Atlanteans and Americans can be proud of, “said the petition.
There was no indication that the name would be changed. Braves have been around for over 100 years.
“We are very proud of the name of our team and our expectation is that we will always be the Atlanta Braves,” Braves President Terry McGuirk told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in December.
“I would say unequivocally that the Atlanta Braves name will continue to be Atlanta Braves. We came to this position as a result of … listening to our fans a lot, the Native American community. We have spent the past six months trying to make sure that we are firm whatever we say going forward, then I’ll answer the question again: Yes, we’ll be the Atlanta Braves. “
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The Braves said that during the summer they would try to distance themselves from the movement and chant of “ax hatch” used by the spectators when the fans could return to the stadium.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.