Indians remove Chief Wahoo from jersey during series in Toronto

When the Cleveland Indians took the field at Rogers Centre to begin their four-game series in Toronto against the Blue Jays on Thursday, a familiar face did not accompany the team.

That's because Cleveland removed its controversial Chief Wahoo logo from its jersey sleeves for their set in Canada.

During the 2016 American League Championship Series between the Blue Jays and Indians, Canadian architect and indigenous activist Douglas Cardinal sought to bar Cleveland from wearing any on-field clothing with Chief Wahoo on it because the caricature was discriminatory under the Ontario Human Rights Code. A Canadian judge dismissed the case.

The controversy resurfaced in summer 2017, when an adjudicator for Ontario's Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Cardinal's case should be allowed to move forward.

Major League Baseball and both teams involved appealed, arguing separately that the court had no standing to hear the case since Chief Wahoo is a trademarked logo.

In January, MLB announced that Cleveland would begin phasing out Chief Wahoo, and the team would enter the 2019 season without the logo on any uniforms or caps. "(Chairman and CEO Paul Dolan) ultimately agreed with my position that the logo is no longer appropriate for on-field use," commissioner Rob Manfred's statement read.

The team has used some form of the cartoonish logo since 1947. It has usually depicted a smiling, red-faced man with triangular eyes and a feather sticking out of his headband.