Team colors: Reds

Out of all the teams in major league baseball, it would be the most embarrassing for Topps if I evaluated all the colors that it used for Reds cards and determined that the majority color was NOT Red.

What if it was green or brown or pink?

Oh, the shame! The humiliation! The ignominy! They'd be disgraced! Mortified! Topps would issue their next set in black-and-white!

Anyway, I think it's certain that after I look through all the years in which Topps used specific colors based on the team that was featured, that red is going to be the color that appears the most.

That's because around the late '80s, Topps started paying attention to stuff like this. The 1974 set was the first time, but it wasn't a consistent thing until around 1985 or so. To illustrate, here is the color count for the Reds before the 1974 set:

Light blue - 5
Yellow - 3
Light green - 2
Black - 1
Purple - 1
Orange - 1
Red - 1

The only red representative was in the 1965 set when the lettering for the team name was red.

But that was in the crazy psychedelic days when the whole population was on drugs and the sky was yellow and the grass was orange and people burst into song about incense and peppermints for no reason at all.

Today, the color red rules the Reds on cardboard and live and in person.

So let's look at the up-to-date list:

1964: purple and black
1965: light blue, yellow and red
1966: light blue
1967: light green
1968: light blue
1969: light blue
1971: orange and yellow
1972: light green, light blue, yellow
1974: red
1976: red and yellow
1977: red and green
1978: red and yellow
1979: yellow and red
1980: red, pink and blue
1981: green and red
1982: blue and brown
1983: yellow and pink
1984: red and blue
1985: red and gray
1986: red
1987: red
1988: yellow, blue and pink
1989: red and gray
1991: red and light blue
1992: red, gray and magenta
1993: red and gold
1994: blue and red
1998: red
2000: red
2001: red and black
2003: red
2004: red and gray
2005: red and gray
2006: red and yellow
2007: red
2008: red and black
2009: red
2010: red
2011: red

I believe that's the first appearance of magenta in the team color list. That wild-and-crazy '92 Topps.

I suppose this is where I reflect on the Reds and how I perceive them and all that. Well, I'm still trying to get interested in them. They've been such a shrug-your-shoulders team for so long. And before that I hated them. I suppose if they get good enough, I'll hate them again. But it'll never be the same as the old N.L. West days. Especially as long as they're wearing black as a secondary color.

So, time for the final verdict:

Reds team colors: Red

What Topps thinks are the Reds team colors: Red!

Of course.

(The tally: Red-29, Yellow-9, Blue-5, Light Blue-5, Gray-5, Black-3, Pink-3, Green-2, Light Green-2, Purple-1, Orange-1, Brown-1, Magenta-1, Gold-1)