The TOTS are certainly in a League of Their Own...

I watched the 1992 release A League of Their Own last night on a cable channel. Of course, it wasn't the first time I've seen the film about the girls pro baseball league which filled a void while the men were off fighting in WWII. The movie centers on two sisters who play for the Rockford Peaches.

What I loved most about the film was the ending when the players met at Cooperstown some forty years later for a reunion and the unveiling of the wing which documented and celebrated the GPBL's nine years of existence (1943-1954).

I went to the movie theater in 1992 to see the film and over the years I have no doubt sat back, with a bowl of popcorn and my favorite beverage, and revisited the flick, especially some of the more memorable scenes with Tom Hanks, who portrayed the manager of the Peaches, Jimmy Dugan.

I guess I haven't seen the flick for a while, at least I'm sure it is the first time I've watched A League of Their Own since I joined the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) in 2008. So, as I watched the film, I realized that I get to live three days a week at Udall Park a baseball reunion of sorts when I suit up and play with my buddies in our own League of Their Own, the Tucson Old Timers Baseball Club.

As far as I know, the TOTS are the oldest organized baseball team in the country, some 50 members play weekly and range in age from 60 to 90. The league was formed in 1968 and the dues for each member is just five dollars a month. That's three hours of fun, three days a week year around. You got to love it. So, if you're a baseball nut and turning 60 soon, grab the old leather mitt, which is gathering dust in the attic, and head out to Tucson's Udall Park. Take some batting practice, play a game or two, or sit in the dugout and relive yesteryear with another old timer.

 The stories are endless.

 It is likely the old timer you're sitting next to hails from Detroit, Baltimore, New York or Chicago. Chances are he will tell you a story about the Knot Hole Gang. Or about the time he faced a major league pitcher. Or about the time he shook hands with Mickey Mantle or sat in the bleacher seats in Boston and watched Ted Williams hit a tape-measure job out of Fenway Park. It is a reunion. An on-going reunion that never ends. Joe Garajiola said it best in a recent interview: "Yogi Berra and I would always get together for dinner with our wives and the gals would always say," 'You guys say the samething over and over again.' " Reliving old baseball stories. What a kick that is for all us oldtimers. As Garajiola puts it, "That's what we know. That's what we do." And thank goodness for those memories.

And if you're a new member of the TOTS, well then you're welcome to tell us all a tale or two of your own. And if you let us in on the same tale more than once, well that's okay too. Because that's what we do!