Name drop: Guardians’ launch starts with store sign smashing

By TOM WITHERS
AP Sports Writer

CLEVELAND (AP) — A special opening day for the newly named Cleveland Guardians began with a bang. As fans were buying the first available Guardians merchandise as the team officially transitioned from Indians after 106 years, a sign installed outside the team store at Progressive Field broke free from its mount and crashed to the sidewalk. A worker was on a ladder checking bolts when the sign snapped a small section of the ballpark’s stone exterior, fell about 15 feet and smashed into pieces. No one was injured. Fans began lining up early in the morning to buy new caps, sweatshirts and other gear bearing the Guardians’ logos.