3 Stories: Chief Wahoo, Sports Innovation, A Four-Goal Debut

Four teams remain in the MLB postseason — the LA Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Cleveland Indians. The last of those teams is up first on this week's 3 Stories You Should Know.

Nancy Armour of USA Today and Mike Pesca of the Slate podcast The Gist joined Bill Littlefield.

1. Nancy On Native American Mascots

With the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS, Nancy Armour is thinking about the team's Chief Wahoo logo. Armour believes it's time for him to be retired.

It's 2016, people. Let's ditch the racist names, the racist mascots. I just don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand that it's not cool to be making fun of or demeaning or denigrating an entire class of people for a sports team.

2. Mike On Strategic Innovation In Sports

Mike Pesca has been reading Steve Young's new autobiography, "QB: My Life Behind The Spiral." In the book, Young, a lefty, describes the uphill battle he faced to play quarterback in college. Back then, many thought righties were better-suited for the position. Mike Pesca has an idea why it's hard to break with tradition in sports.

I have a little sympathy for sports. Because in sports, there is, in fact, a right way of doing so many physical motions. I mean there are different batting stances you could take, but you still have to put your back elbow up. And you still have to not bail your head out. And it is maybe hard for people in the world of sports to think a little creatively and get out of their ruts and get out of their routines.

3. Bill On Auston Matthews And Impressive Debuts

On Wednesday night, Auston Matthews scored four goals for the Toronto Maple Leafs in his first NHL game. This led Bill Littlefield to recall other impressive first-time performances.

Wilt Chamberlain scored 43 points and had 28 rebounds in his first game as a pro with the Warriors — pretty good week for a lot of veteran players. In his first game with the San Francisco Giants, Willie McCovey went four-for-four and hit two triples, had two RBIs. And it wasn't like he was hitting against second-line pitching. The guy on the mound was Robin Roberts, who eventually made it to the Hall of Fame.

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