When baseball maverick Bill Veeck purchased the Cleveland Indians in mid-1946, he needed to appeal favorably to the Tribe’s fans, who hadn’t won anything since 1920, and by all accounts was very successful, improving the Indians’ fortunes greatly in 1947, including immediately getting all home games on radio, signing Larry Doby to break the AL color barrier, and then winning in all in 1948, still the Tribe’s last championship.

In purchasing the club, Veeck promptly published ads in the local Plain Dealer to assure the fans that they were committed to building a winner for Cleveland, two of which are shown below. Although painfully racist now (with mention of wigwams, papooses, and most offensive, injuns), the ads were good natured for the time and well received by the faithful. Definitely a time capsule from an age long gone.

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