Having shortened their name brought them some trouble in the 1950s, or more accurately the "fear" of trouble. The term "Reds" in the political arena had long been a synonym for "Communist". During the McCarthy era, even though there was no connection between professional baseball and Communism, the team was concerned that their traditional club nickname would "associate" them with the Communist Threat and the Cold War, so they officially changed their name to the "Cincinnati Redlegs". From 1956 to 1960, the club's logo was altered to remove the term "REDS" from the inside of the "wishbone "C"" symbol. The "REDS" reappeared on the 1961 uniforms, although habits being what they were, by then they were often called "Redlegs", and that name took a few years to totally fade out. (Okkonen)