Give the ball to Billy...

This is my second year with the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball team. At 64 years old, I'm considered a rookie on the team. Everyday, I show up for practice and I'm amazed at all the players out on the diamond...some are fielding ground balls, some are taking their turn at the plate, and some are in the outfield chasing fly balls.

Probably forty percent of them are in their 70s, another forty percent in their 80s and the balance of the "Boys at Udall" are in their 60s. There's one player who always gets my attention and he is 80-year-old Billy "Doc" Heiny. For some reason, I seem to be drawing a parallel between Doc Heiny and Billy Ray Reynolds, the main character in my fiction novel, Billy's Victory. Now, Doc Heiny is 5-foot-6 and weighs 118 pounds, while the main character in Billy's Victory stands 4-foot-8 and weighs 80 pounds, soaking wet.

And, what is so crazy, Doc Heiny started playing baseball just 12 years ago and just loves to play the game. On the other hand, Billy Ray was just starting to come into his own, in Billy's Victory, just a few months shy of his 12th birthday. Heiny also loves to pitch. He'll take to the mound every time his manager calls on him to do so. He's like the energizer bunny. He'll give you five, six, or seven innings...every time out. And he can still run! Heiny has played in more than one Diamondbacks Fantasy Camp, an event which takes place every January at Tucson Electric Park. They have a nickname for him at the camp. They call him "wheels".

"I enjoy the game and I love being around the guys," Heiny said. "I never get tired of playing." Heiny realizes that 2010 may be the last year for the fantasy camp. "I feel kind of sad about that," Heiny said. Billy "Doc" Heiny is a retired dentist, but one thing is for sure, he's finally found a sport he can stick his teeth into.