Seventy-seven year-old Jerry Smarik is one of the many characters on the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball team. After each game, the former Navy man and retired postal carrier, who is in his 18th season with the ball club, lights up a stogie and takes a puff or two.
Smarik hails from Detroit and spent his childhood days playing baseball and taking in games at Tiger Stadium...let's make that Briggs Stadium. "When I was a kid we'd go down to Briggs Stadium to see the Tigers play. We'd get there early and the management would let us clean off the seats prior to game time. We'd get a quarter, a nickel or a dime from the customers for each seat we had dusted off and then we'd get in free to the game. It was a heck of a deal back then."
Smarik still gets a kick out of playing ball. He's at Udall Park every Monday, Wednesday and Friday...hardly misses a game. During the month of June, Smarik batted .413 and had nine RBI. He gets kidded a lot by his teammates...because he's been known to hit into his share of double plays. He jokes, "I help to speed up the game."
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