Shouldn't we be considering a connection to Paul Speckenbach?
PROS:
• First name starts with "Pa", similar to "Ra" in a signature, perhaps.
• Last name starts with "Speck", possibly the end trailed off/was deleted
• In Cardinals system in 1964, playing for Rock Hill after being obtained on waivers from Dodgers
• High-profile prospect (signed for $100,000 the night his high school class graduated in 1962, called "The New Bob Feller") before his arm troubles
• Definitely photographed by Topps (shares 1964 Rookie Stars card with Wayne Schurr)
CONS:
•*Pitcher, not a first baseman. No evidence that Cards considered a position change.
• Not obtained until the mid-May cut-down date, so wouldn't have been photographed in training camp. Unless it's 1965 rather than 1964. Or Topps had a photog wandering around Rock Hill, SC.
• Didn't have any brothers, only sisters. (And no sons, only daughters. Not a lot of Y-Chromosomes in the family, it appears.) So no chance this is his brother brought in for a look-see.
Speckenbach died last year, so no chance to ask him, unfortunately.
By the way, it appears that he may have been a member of the Bill Sharman Society, being on the major league roster before the May '64 cut-down, but not appearing. If he was in the Dodgers minor league system, why wasn't he pitching? (The Cardinals used him at Rock Hill, apparently right from the start.) My guess is that the Dodgers put him on the big team to avoid exposing him to the $8000 first-year part of the Rule V draft (they had paid $100,000 for him, after all), kept him out of games, but when the arm wasn't coming around as much as they liked, they tried to get him through waivers and had to settle for the consolation payment.
I could have sworn that when I first went Googling there was also a link to a 4x5 B/W pic of Speckenbach, but I didn't grab it, and now I can't find that link. Sorry.