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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)

Comments

hiflew said…
I think Jim Kaat deserves to get in this year. He is at least on par with Don Sutton and Phil Niekro, with the only difference being those two broke 300 wins while Kaat "only" got 283. Plus, along with Greg Maddux, he is the greatest fielding pitcher of all time.

But you are correct, SOMEONE needs to get elected. If I were a betting man I'd put my money on Santo even though it would have been much better when he was alive to see it.
Anonymous said…
Did somebody say Twins?!

Seriously, though. Tony O had better get in.
Twitch said…
Santo and Kaat's stats pass the sniff test for me. Minoso, Tiant, and Gil are all varying degrees of borderline. I have a feeling Gil gets in at some point though; not sure about the other two. No way on Boyer or Oliva. Oliva was the only one to hit over .300, but the rest of his stats aren't there.
Anonymous said…
If Oliva hadn't blown out his knees early on, he'd already be in. Thank God the DH came around when it did, or he'd have been out even earlier. Even with knees so bad he couldn't bend down to pick up grounders, he still had OPS+ of 109, 109, and 103.

I don't think any of the list belong in, though, even any of my Twins.
Jeff said…
Santo is the best player who is not in the HOF. His numbers were artificially depressed by playing in the 70's. But he was clearly a great hitter in his prime, and add in the 5 consecutive gold gloves....

I hope justice is finally served, even if it is too late for him to see it himself.
Jeff said…
I just realized.. The Oldtimers committee put Santo in this year.