Team colors: Twins

Three of the 10 people up for Baseball Hall of Fame election by the Veterans Committee on Monday have connections to the Twins. Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva and Luis Tiant.

Even though Gil Hodges is also among the 10, I don't really care who gets voted in tomorrow. Just as long as it's somebody.

With that in mind, it's time to see how Topps treated the Twins in terms of colors it used with Minnesota's cards. Did it stick to blue and red, or did it stray into strange colors that you'd never see in the frozen north?

The rundown for the years in which Topps picked colors based on the teams featured on the card:

1964: green
1965: purple and yellow
1966: light blue
1967: green
1968: blue
1969: blue
1971: red
1972: light blue, blue and orange
1974: blue
1976: blue and pink
1977: blue and yellow
1978: blue
1979: blue
1980: orange, purple and red
1981: yellow, red and blue
1982: orange and brown
1983: orange and brown
1984: purple and green
1985: blue, purple and red
1986: red
1987: blue
1988: yellow and orange
1989: light blue and blue
1991: red, blue and yellow
1992: dark blue and burgundy
1993: red and purple
1984: blue, dark blue and red
1998: dark blue and red
2000: blue
2002: red and blue
2003: red and gold
2004: dark blue and red
2005: dark blue and red
2006: blue and red
2007: blue and red
2008: dark blue and red
2009: red
2010: blue
2011: blue and red

It looks like Topps kept to the script fairly well, although it went a little crazy in the '80s when it thought orange had something to do with the Twins.

Minnesota's primary color is navy blue, which is a little difficult to pinpoint on cards, I've noticed. Much like the Yankees, the Twins' caps appear black. And to get across that the Twins wear navy, the "blue" Topps used ranged from light blue to blue to dark blue to purple.

I didn't want to lump them all under "blue." But blue basically sums up the color Topps used most often with the Twins.

So ...

Twins' team colors: navy, red and white

What Topps thinks are the Twins' team colors: Blue and red

OK, Veterans Committee, don't let me down. It's your American duty to VOTE.

(The tally: Blue-20, Red-18, Dark Blue-6, Purple-5, Yellow-5, Orange-5, Light Blue-3, Green-3, Brown-2, Pink-1, Burgundy-1, Gold-1)