Seven TOTS players prepare to grind it out at MSBL World Series

As we edge closer to the MLB World Series (my goodness its only a couple of weeks away), seven 65-and-older members of the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball club will head for Phoenix, Arizona, next week to participate in the other series: the Mens Senior Baseball League (MSBL) World Series.

Representing the TOTS in the Phoenix affair are: Arnie White, Chico Bigham, Dave Rhoades, Floyd Lance, Jeff Helzel, Jerry Hamelin and yours truly, Danny Price. Five of the seven have been nursing one injury or another through out most of September, but all seven are ready to do battle and participate in the annual series, which will once again involve more than 3,000 players and somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 teams.

The MSBL World Series, which not only includes the real old timers, but the much younger groups from 18-and-over to 55-and-over. Of course, the younger the teams, the quicker the game becomes, and by the time you get to say the 50-and-over teams, well, let me just say, it's a wee bit slower brand of baseball. But believe you me, it remains just as competitive as the play of the younger studs, who show up in Phoenix to represent their city or state...or country for that matter.

The oldest TOT participating in the MSBL World Series this year is Lance, who at the age of 85, can still pick it at first base. Lance, a member of the TOTS since 1999, batted .385 during the month of September. He played in 11 games and led the TOTS in runs scored with 12. Bigham,72, catches, pitches and plays the infield for the TOTS. He batted .630 last month and led the team in hits with 17 to go along with his nine runs-batted-in (RBI).

Helzel,70, also plays first base for the TOTS, but has been nursing a knee injury for the past two months. The injury has kept him out of the lineup, but he recently returned to active duty and swears that he's ready for action. Helzel, a lefty, has a sweet swing and when he joined the ball club in 2009, he quickly showed off his batting skills as he popped a round-tripper out of Tucson Udall Park in his third at bat as a member of the team.

Hamelin, 69, batted a hefty .667 during the month of September and was second on the team in hits with 16. White, 68, and Rhoades,66, saw limited action last month, due mainly to away-from-the-ball-park issues, but still made their presence known. White, who pitches and plays the infield, batted .375 during September, while Rhoades, an outfielder, batted a hefty .444.

That leaves yours truly,65,who is still nursing a back injury, but just like my teammates, will be ready to gut it out for the two weeks in Phoenix from Oct. 17 to the 31st. I managed to play in nine of the 12 games, during the month of September, collecting 10 RBI, scored 10 times and batted .680.

White is a professor at the University of Arizona; Lance is a retiree from the U of A; Rhoades is still working and is a Financial Planner. Hamelin is a retiree from IBM; Helzel is a retired salesman from New York; while Bigham is a retired state of Arizona employee and is currently, when called upon, an umpire in Tucson and the surrounding area, working mainly on the high school level -- handling games as far away as Hayden-Winkelman and Casa Grande.

And that leaves me, a retired state of Arizona employee; a retired airline worker and a former sports writer in Phoenix (the writing job -- my favorite undertaking -- occurred during the mid 1990s). So there you have it. Seven old timers off to battle. We all hope to come back in one piece with some stories to tell. Wish us luck!