[Merkle923]

As the primary Billy Cotton denier, I'm convinced. The scorecard evidence is terrific - most of them well into the late '70s were meticulously updated.

Having seen the files, I still marvel how the Topps photog - presumably the great Mickey Palmer - captured Joe Nolan but not Cotton (shown in a Morey photo taken in Syracuse) on September 22 or 23, 1972, the only two remaining home day games after each was summoned from the minors.

The box scores show that Nolan caught on the 21st and Bill Sudakis on the 22nd, then Dyer returned to action on the 23rd and the three of them caught the remainder of the Mets' 1972 games. I'd love to see a Mets-Phillies scorecard from September 21, 22, or 23 with Cotton listed...