Quote:
Originally Posted by Merkle923
How many things are wrong with this picture?
I can attest that the above hitter was in a folder marked "Ken Nixon, Braves, 1966."
Everything about this is wrong. The image matches nobody on the 1966 Atlanta spring roster AND the non-roster invitees. There WAS a number 50 in camp and it was then-outfielder Carl Morton. I've found images of all of them (only recently tripping over a picture of a career minor league catcher named Bob Turzilli) and he's not one of them. Moreover, while he might have been a minor leaguer in camp for a day, that was a rare thing in 1966 and there are at least a dozen major leaguers posed in virtually the same physical location as this guy was - so this wasn't taken at minor league camp. There were also no other Nixons in that organization that year nor in 1965, nor Nicksons, nor Dixons, and only one other Ken - and he was a lefty hitter.
There is only one near homophone for "Ken Nixon" in the Braves' farm system of that time, a young outfielder named "Butch Menton." Can't find an image for him nor any indication that he wandered through the Atlanta camp somehow in March, 1966.
Just for the record, The Unknown Soldier here is not Ken Nixon - THIS, also posted by Topps Vault today, is Ken Nixon:
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If I've mentioned this before, I apologize. The Braves used to do a thing with the Wisconsin newspapers. The papers would, annually, pick out the top high school baseball players. The award for hitters was "Silver Sluggers". The winners of these awards (there were usually 3 or 4, all tolled) would then get to work out/try out for the Braves the following spring...always with the unspoken promise of, "who knows, they might sign you").
Looking through old newspapers, the Braves did this from the mid-50s at least until the advent of the draft. Of the years I could find specific mention, none were ever signed by the Braves and only one ever played any pro ball at all (in the Mets system, of all things). But they'd get their invite and there would be shots of them in the Milwaukee papers sliding into bases or posing like hitters or pitchers.
Now I realize this is somewhat problematic since the draft started in 1965. But (he asks, waiting for the inevitable slap down) is it possible that the Braves were fulfilling an obligation they'd taken on in Milwaukee--tying up loose ends with the Silver Sluggers promotion and this guy, this mystery guy, was one of those high school kids working out his baseball fantasy camp, as it were, before moving on to a life outside of pro baseball (as the majority of them did)? I wouldn't imagine they cared much what number they assigned to those kids; they weren't staying or anything.
Just asking.