Robert Sidney Nelson (August 7, 1936 – July 22, 2011) was an American

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. Listed at 6' 3" (1.91 m), 205 lb. (93 kg), he batted and threw left-handed. Born in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, Nelson was signed by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

to a bonus contract in and, because of the bonus rules then in force, was forced to spend his first professional season on the Orioles' major league roster. From 1955 through 1957 he appeared in only 79 games because of his limited experience, and never fulfilled his potential. Nelson was a natural athlete and member of the State Champion Adamson High School baseball team, where he had been known as the "

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

of Texas." One time

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visited one of their games and thrilled Nelson by telling him, "Son, I ain't ''never'' seen a baseball hit that hard or that far!" He joined the Orioles directly after graduating from Adamson High School in 1955, where he got his nickname ″Tex″ from his roommate,

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. He was with the organization for nine years until injuries forced his retirement. Although Nelson connected for 29 and 21

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

in his later minor league baseball career, both times in the Class B Northwest League, he never hit a home run in the majors. Altogether, Nelson played in 79 games for the Orioles between 1955 and 1957, collecting 25

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in 122

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a bat ...

s for a .205 average, including two doubles and two

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, while driving in 11 runs and scoring 11 times. Following his major league stint, Nelson played in the minors through the 1961 season. He returned to Dallas and went to work for ETMF/ABF trucking industry, where he retired after 30 years. He also enjoyed being a troop scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts and singing with the Champion Award-winning 160 voice barbershop chorus, The Vocal Majority. Nelson died in Mesquite, Texas, at the age of 74.Dallas Morning News
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Tex 1936 births 2011 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders Baltimore Orioles players Asheville Tourists players Dallas Rangers players Knoxville Smokies players Little Rock Travelers players San Antonio Missions players Stockton Ports players Tri-City Braves players Vancouver Mounties players Victoria Rosebuds players Wilson Tobs players Baseball players from Dallas W. H. Adamson High School alumni

See also

References