The official Cleveland Indians colors are navy blue, red and white. The primary color is navy blue (#0C2340), paired with red (#E31937) and white (#FFFFFF). These three appeared across the team’s logo, uniforms and merchandise until the franchise became the Cleveland Guardians in 2022, which kept the same palette.
Cleveland Indians Color Codes
| Color | Swatch | HEX | RGB | CMYK | Pantone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Navy Blue | #0C2340 | 12, 35, 64 | 100, 75, 20, 75 | PMS 289 C | |
| Red | #E31937 | 227, 25, 55 | 0, 100, 65, 0 | PMS 199 C | |
| White | #FFFFFF | 255, 255, 255 | 0, 0, 0, 0 | n/a (paper white) |
A note on accuracy. The Pantone values above are the ones most commonly cited for the Indians-era identity, and PMS 289 C / PMS 199 C are the standard MLB navy and red pair. Some color databases list the Cleveland set as #00385D navy and #E50022 red instead. Both circulate. The #0C2340 / #E31937 pair matches the SVG assets the club used on its own site, so that is what I trust here. If you are producing licensed merchandise, pull the values from the current MLB style guide rather than any web page, mine included.
Per-Color Breakdown
Navy blue in the Cleveland Indians palette
Navy (#0C2340) carries the structural weight. It fills the wordmark on road jerseys, outlines the block C, and covers the crown of the cap. This is a deep, cool navy that sits right up against midnight blue on screen, which is why cheap prints of the logo often look almost black.
Cleveland’s relationship with this shade goes back further than most people assume. The franchise entered the American League in 1901 as the Cleveland Blues. Blue never really left. If you want the broader background on the shade itself, the navy blue reference page covers its behavior in print and on screen.
Red in the Cleveland Indians palette
Red (#E31937) is the accent that does most of the visual work. It fills the block C that became the primary logo on April 2, 2014, and it was the skin tone on Chief Wahoo before that. It shows up in cap bills, jersey piping, and number outlines.
A bright, slightly cool red. Not a brick. Not a burgundy. Get the hue wrong and the whole identity reads as a different team.
White in the Cleveland Indians palette
White (#FFFFFF) is the base of the home uniform and the outline color that separates navy from red so the two do not muddy together. Look at the block C: the white keyline is doing real work, because a red mark on a navy cap without separation loses its edge from thirty rows up. Standard sports design practice, and white earns its spot on the official list for exactly that reason.
Uniform Colors: Home, Away, Alternate
Home: white jersey with the script “Indians” wordmark in navy, red trim, paired with the navy cap and red bill introduced for 2019.
Away: road gray with “Cleveland” across the chest, plus a navy alternate top that moved to road-only duty in the 2019 set.
Alternate: a red jersey with a navy script and white outline arrived for the 2019 season. That was only the second time in franchise history the club wore red as an official uniform. The first run was 1975 through 1977, and those were, well, loud.
History and Rebranding
1901: the club joins the American League as the Cleveland Blues, then cycles through Bronchos and Naps before landing on Indians in 1915.
1948: Chief Wahoo, drawn the previous year by a teenage draftsman named Walter Goldbach at the J.F. Novak Company, appears on the uniform as a sleeve patch. In 1951 his skin tone shifts from orange to red and the hooked nose goes away.
1975 to 1977: the all-red experiment. Cap, jersey, pants. Fans still argue about it.
1994: the team leaves Cleveland Municipal Stadium for Jacobs Field, later renamed Progressive Field. The 28-foot neon Wahoo sign that stood above the old ballpark does not make the trip.
2014: the block C becomes the primary logo, echoing a mark the franchise used back in 1904.
2018: on January 29, the club and MLB announce that Chief Wahoo comes off all on-field uniforms after the season. Commissioner Rob Manfred said it was no longer appropriate for on-field use.
2021 to 2022: the name change to Cleveland Guardians. Navy, red and white survive the rebrand untouched, which tells you how settled the palette was.
How to Use the Colors
Digital and web: use the HEX or RGB values. Print: use CMYK, or the Pantone codes if you need a spot color to hold across substrates. Navy at 100/75/20/75 will drift toward black on uncoated stock, so proof it.
Copy-ready CSS:
“ :root { --cleveland-navy: #0C2340; --cleveland-red: #E31937; --cleveland-white: #FFFFFF; } `
One thing I would flag
Do not put the red directly on the navy without the white keyline. The contrast ratio between #E31937 and #0C2340 is around 3.1:1, which fails WCAG AA for body text. Fine for a logo mark. Not fine for a nav bar.
Related Resources
The full baseball team color codes hub lists every MLB club with HEX, RGB and Pantone values in one place.
Around the AL Central, compare with the Detroit Tigers colors, the Minnesota Twins colors, the Chicago White Sox colors, and the Kansas City Royals colors. In-state, the Cincinnati Reds colors lean on a hotter red for contrast.
Building something around this scheme? The red color palettes collection and a set of dark color palettes both pair well with a navy-dominant base.
FAQ on The Cleveland Indians Colors
What are the Cleveland Indians colors?
The Cleveland Indians colors are navy blue, red and white. Navy (#0C2340) is the primary, red (#E31937) is the accent that fills the block C, and white anchors the home jersey and every outline.
What are the Cleveland Indians color codes in HEX and RGB?
Navy blue: #0C2340, RGB (12, 35, 64). Red: #E31937, RGB (227, 25, 55). White: #FFFFFF, RGB (255, 255, 255).
Some databases list #00385D and #E50022 instead. Both sets circulate online.
What is the Cleveland Indians Pantone color?
The navy is PMS 289 C and the red is PMS 199 C, the same pairing several MLB clubs use. Treat these as the working values for print, and confirm against the current league style guide before any licensed run.
What is the primary color of the Cleveland Indians?
Navy blue. It covers the cap crown, the road wordmark, jersey numbers and every logo outline. Red gets the attention, but navy carries the identity. Strip the navy out and the whole thing collapses.
Are the Cleveland Indians colors the same as the Boston Red Sox?
No. Both use navy, red and white, but Boston’s red is warmer and dominant, worn on caps and the primary mark. Compare the Boston Red Sox colors side by side and the difference is obvious.
Did the Cleveland Guardians change the colors after the rebrand?
No. The 2022 rebrand from Indians to Guardians replaced the name and the block C with a winged G, but navy, red and white survived untouched. Same color palette, new marks. Rare in sports branding, honestly.
When did the Cleveland Indians adopt navy and red?
Blue traces back to 1901, when the franchise entered the American League as the Cleveland Blues. Red and navy settled into their modern roles by the mid-20th century, though the exact shades shifted several times before 1994.
What color are the Cleveland Indians road uniforms?
Road grays with “Cleveland” in navy block lettering. From 2019, the navy alternate top became road-only, and the team wore white and red at home. Standard away uniform logic across Major League Baseball.
Did the Cleveland Indians ever wear red jerseys?
Twice. The first was 1975 to 1977, an all-red set that fans either love or refuse to discuss. The second arrived in 2019 as a red alternate with a navy script and white outline.
How do the Indians colors compare to other MLB navy teams?
Plenty of clubs run navy-heavy schemes. The New York Yankees colors skip red entirely, while the Atlanta Braves colors and the Texas Rangers colors use a similar navy-red-white split with different weighting.
Conclusion
The Cleveland Indians colors come down to three values you can copy and go: navy #0C2340, red #E31937, white #FFFFFF.
Keep the Pantone pair (289 C and 199 C) handy for print, and remember the white keyline exists for a reason.
The Guardians rebrand changed the marks, not the palette. Which, for anyone matching merchandise or building a fan site, is the good news.
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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Bogdan Sandu is a seasoned designer who has been designing websites since 2008. Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients. His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8. He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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