Tucson MSBL Blackbirds' season opener set for Thursday night

The Tucson MSBL season opener for the Mountain Blackbirds is just around the corner. The Blackbirds take on the Mountain Red Sox at 7 p.m. at Reid Park 2, Thursday night. After  just a few weeks  of practice, the Blackbirds are ready to hit the field and will send  44-year-old right-hander Sean Flynn to the mound to face the Red Sox.

My son, Michael, 47, and yours truly...well, most of you know my age, are members of the Blackbirds' roster, a group of 40-and-something ballplayers out to make a name for themselves in the MSBL Mountain Division this summer.

Nine teams are in the division. In Week 2, the Blackbirds will face the Phillies, who just happen to have a player on their roster close to my age. It looks like I'm the old guy in the league (at 66), although the Phillies have a 65-year-old by the name of Carl Schwanbeck. It'll be nice to meet Mr.  Schwanbeck in Week 2, and we, the Blackbirds, hope to be 1-0 when we tangle with the Phillies.

Blackbirds' manager Robin Badart, who is the starting catcher, will rely heavily on the pitching arm of Flynn and the hitting of first-baseman Tom Bolen -- who hit one out of the park last week in the Blackbirds' practice-game win over the Mountain D'backs 4-3 --  to get past the Red Sox in Game 1 on Thursday night.