Louis Sockalexis

Louis "Chief" Sockalexis (born October 24, 1871 on a Penobscot Indian reservation outside Old Town, Maine) was an early Major League Baseball player of Native American descent, having a short three-year career with the Cleveland Spiders.

Sockalexis attended Holy Cross University before transferring to Notre Dame University, where he would eventually be expelled. A highly talented athlete, Sockalexis would develop a problem with alcoholism that would stay with him the rest of his life.

After being expelled in 1897 he signed a major league contract with the Cleveland Spiders. He posted a .338 batting average and became a fan favorite in Cleveland, although his heritage made him a target of racist derision in other cities. However, Sockalexis's alcoholism got him in trouble frequently, and he would play only sporadically over the next two seasons. After leaving baseball, what happened to Sockalexis is unclear; some think he taught baseball to boys on his old reservation, but some think he roamed New England as a transient. He died in 1913 at age 42 of heart failure.

He is commonly believed to be the first Native American player in the majors, but he was actually predated by the American Association's James Toy. It is also commonly believed that his popularity led to the Spiders being renamed the Cleveland Indians, but this was a controversial belief and eventually refuted by the Indians. The name had actually been chosen by retiring team captain Napoleon Lajoie and the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1915.

External Links

• Baseball Reference Profile