Cardinals' Ryan Helsley, Cherokee Member: Braves' Tomahawk Chop 'Disrespectful'

St. Louis Cardinals rookie relief pitcher Ryan Helsley does not appreciate the Atlanta Braves fans' traditional Tomahawk chop chant. 

Helsley, a member of the Cherokee Nation, commented on "The Chop" chant Friday afternoon to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold: 

"I think it's a misrepresentation of the Cherokee people or Native Americans in general. Just depicts them in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren't intellectual. They are a lot of more than that. It's not me being offended by the whole mascot thing. It's not. It's about the misconception of us, the Native Americans, and it devalues us and how we're perceived in that way, or used as mascots. The [Washington] Redskins and stuff like that.

"That's the disappointing part. That stuff like this still goes on. It's just disrespectful, I think." 

Helsley made an eighth-inning appearance during the Cardinals' 7-6 win Thursday night in Game 1 of the National League Division Series Thursday night, and SunTrust Park filled with the chant while a pitching change was being made.

It should be noted that the chant is done throughout the season during pitching changes and wasn't directed specifically at Helsley. 

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred commented on derogatory nicknames in the league with the Washington Post in February (NBC Sports): 

"There is still a matter of erasing the nickname Indians from the Cleveland club. And there is baseball's Atlanta club, which has been fighting to get its fans to stop cheering the team by employing the so-called Tomahawk chop—an invention of those who colonized and all but exterminated native people that purports native people as violent.

"The Braves have taken steps to take out the Tomahawk chop. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that."