![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zuni-strider.jpg\")
McKeffe Chapella (Zuni Pueblo) poses near his daughter during a performance break at the Albuquerque Isotopes Native American Heritage Night on August 8, 2026. Credit: Shaun Griswold \/ Native News Online<\/p>\nMcKeffe Chapella wore a traditional headdress as the leader for the K\u2019yan\u2019asdeb\u2019i Odi:wokkwinne and sang songs about Zuni Pueblo water striders, the graceful animal that the dance group is named for, and held a booming presence at the third base concourse above Rio Grande Credit Field, where the MiLB Albuquerque Isotopes asked the group to perform for its Native American Heritage Night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was excited to share our culture, our heritage and just our blessings with all the people because it\u2019s very rare you get invited to something like this,\u201d Chapella said between songs in the first inning. \u201cWe can share how we grew up, how we\u2019re supposed to be. How far love, blessings, prayers can go. How far we can live with all these blessings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly after, Zac Veen hit a two-run home run to give the Albuquerque Isotopes an early lead that established a 10-1 win over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys on a warm August night in front of the 9,676 fans that arrived for minor league baseball and cultural heritage.<\/p>\n
In nearly every detail\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 from the fan entertainment to the game jerseys and giveaway \u2014 Albuquerque demonstrated how Native American imagery and professional baseball can take steps to move forward from the harmful mascot history plagued by stereotypes and backward insistence from knuckledraggers.<\/p>\n
McKeffe Chapella (Zuni Pueblo) poses near his daughter during a performance break at the Albuquerque Isotopes Native American Heritage Night on August 8, 2026. Credit: Shaun Griswold \/ Native News Online<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels good to look around at all these people,\u201d Chapella said before Veen\u2019s home run. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna be cool when we do our next dance to show a little bit of our expressions, our feelings to come over here and get dressed. We still say to this day that our ancestors are still with us. They are still here. Everything that we\u2019re doing brings them, what we\u2019re wearing, is living, and they\u2019re still with us at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Chapella\u2019s drum echoed inside the stadium during the second inning for the last Zuni Water Stridents song<\/a>, Adael Amador hit a two-run home run followed by another two-run homer by Veen. The good vibes that engulfed the entire stadium channeled to Veen, who had one of the greatest games ever for the Albuquerque Isotopes, hitting 5-5 with three home runs, seven RBIs and a single short of the cycle.<\/p>\n The good feelings held on long after post-game fireworks that were accompanied, nearly in beat at times, by recordings of traditional drums.<\/p>\n The Albuquerque Isotopes organization, the AAA affiliate for the Colorado Rockies, took a pretty straightforward approach to the Native American Heritage Night game.<\/p>\n \u201cWe listened,\u201d said Isotopes GM Chrissy Baines. \u201cThis has been a long time coming.\u201d<\/p>\n Baines, who has worked with the club since 2004, said the team took about four years to organize the event. They started with existing community partners like the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center<\/a>, who advised on the game-worn jersey design and other cultural details for the night. The game was scheduled on the weekend that celebrates the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, a historical rebellion against Spanish colonialists that is credited as the first successful revolution in North America, and a harbinger to Pueblo tribal sovereignty<\/a> and self-governance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe just asked for guidance,\u201d Baines said. \u201cHow do we do this? How do we come across as being super authentic in creating this partnership?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a question other professional baseball teams are trying to answer after Cleveland retired the Chief Wahoo<\/a> caricature from the active mascot roster in 2018, and then in 2021 changed its name from the \u201cIndians\u201d to the Cleveland Guardians.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think Guardians is unique and authentic to Cleveland,\u201d Cleveland\u2019s president of business operations Brian Barren said after the historic name change in 2021.<\/a> \u201cI know some people disagree, but if anything, I\u2019ve gotten more and more comfortable that we\u2019re headed in the right direction. And actually, the selection of the name solidifies that feeling because of the values that the name represents. We feel very, very good about that part.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2010, the San Francisco Giants hosted the first Native American Heritage Night at a professional baseball game, and have continued to host a night with cultural events and product giveaways to the Native population in the Bay Area, which includes people from New Mexico who moved to California as part of federal Indian relocation programs. Other teams like the Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox also have similar heritage nights planned this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the minor league level, the Buffalo Bisons had their first-ever heritage night in June. For their heritage night on August 28, the Indianapolis Indians, the AAA affiliate for the Pittsburgh Pirates, produced a five-part documentar<\/a>y about the team\u2019s history with the mascot. It identified harm the stereotype caused Native American populations, and how the team moved forward with a rebrand in partnership with the Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana.<\/p>\n Back in Albuquerque, the Isotopes stomped the team from Texas while wearing custom jerseys designed by Evone Martinez, a famous potter from the Pueblos of San Ildefonso and Cochiti. She curated the designs from distinct Pueblo Indian pottery designs that are almost like family brands and shared through generations.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to actually capture a lot of my ancestors\u2019 and relatives\u2019 designs. I keep telling everybody, \u2018it wasn\u2019t about me. It was about my people.\u2019 Especially those who already left us,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cI thought about my grandpa, or my Aunt Rose, or Aunt Sita, because this is their design, and it just took me back to when I was little, growing up, and all the advice they gave me.\u201d<\/p>\n Players wore hats with a brim that had a design from Acoma Pueblo. The team gave away 2,500 hats to fans who arrived early enough to snag one.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jersey-back.jpg\")
Yvonne Martinez stands in front of the dugout wearing a jersey she designed for the Albuquerque Isotopes Native American Heritage Night on August 8, 2026. Credit: Shaun Griswold \/ Native News Online<\/p>\n![\"After](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/yvonee-ball.jpg\")
After she tossed the first pitch, Yvonne Martinez and her grandson received an autograph from Charlie Condon before the Albuquerque Isotopes Native American Heritage Night on August 8, 2026. Credit: Shaun Griswold \/ Native News Online<\/p>\n