Quote:
Originally Posted by Merkle923
This is a common misconception - that the Mets called him up late in September, 1972, and he suited up and didn't play. I've looked extensively at this and I'm convinced it's not true. I've researched Mets 9/72 scorecards and New York newspapers and The Sporting News and the confusion seems pretty clear. The Mets called up catcher Joe Nolan and a couple of others, Cotton included - but only Nolan was to report immediately. The others - principally for our purposes Billy Cotton - were not supposed to show up until Spring Training 1973.
So Hansen - yes, a Sharmanite. Cotton - no.
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Baseball "ghosts" are a fascination of mine as well -- but I'd never heard that Cotton might not be among their ranks. That's really interesting. I did some research into him a few years back (admittedly haphazard and nothing like Merkle's) and found postings by some softball-league pals of his (of all things) who claimed he'd been on deck for the Mets when a game ended.
Which, of course, is not proof. In fact, it sounds an awful lot like the logical end state of a story once it had grown in the telling over a couple of decades.
Terrell Hansen, OTOH, is an obscure but perfectly valid additional reason to dislike Jeff Torborg if you're a Mets fan.