Color Me Red: Mr. Red

With Baseball's Spring Training looming upon us, I always feel the excitement that leads up to Opening Day. I also reminisce about the times when I grew up following my beloved hometown team, the Cincinnati Reds. So I have decided throughout the 2007 season, to dedicate some postings to my team called "Color Me Red".

In my lifetime, they have only won 3 World Series Championships (of which only one I can remember). If they were only the New York Yankees. But a storied franchise nonetheless.

One thing I do remember is going down to the old Riverfront Stadium with my parents during the summer watching great and not so great players come and go. Getting to witness Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Dave Concepcion, Eric Davis, Barry Larkin, and many other greats is something special to me.

The other thing that I remember is meeting the Reds mascot, Mr. Red. Although the Reds have added another mascot to their line-up, Gapper (just think what would happen if Elmo, the Cookie Monster, Big Bird and Grimace had a genetically enhanced child), there's nothing like the original, Mr. Red.

Mr. Red is a mascot with a human body and a baseball head. He was cool to go up to and shake hands with. Kids adored him. He would also come out during the 7th inning stretch and do some silly things like run around the bases the wrong way.

Well over time, the look of Mr. Red has changed considerably. When I grew up, Mr. Red looked "human" enough. But if you look at he latest Mr. Red, he looks like some alien being. His eyes are just frightful. It's as if he stepped out from a horror movie or something. If I were a kid, I don't think I would like to go down to Great American Ball Park, cause seeing him would give me nightmares, let alone the way the Reds have been playing the past few years.

I think if Mr. Red looked like this when I was growing up, I think I would've had to turn to other alternative "sports" like NASCAR (thank God that didn't happen).

Rumor has it that Mr. Red will be changing his look, especially with the new uniforms the Reds have gotten for this year. It seems he will adopt the old Mr. Red look with a handle-bar moustache. Nice for nostalgia, especially for those baseball purists.

Now with these changes, if only if the Reds could add more pitching and one more power hitter.