The TOTS - The Early Years

TOTS Senior Baseball Network

60-and-over baseball


My "golden years" are not just around the corner. I guess they're HERE! As a member of the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS), I'm entering my "sixth season" on the senior baseball club.

I've battled through a heart attack, hamstring pulls, a fractured heel, a torn abductor muscle and now I'm battling arthritis in both my glove hand and my throwing hand. As I rounded first base today, I glanced over at our first-sacker, 87-year-old Floyd Lance. I straightened the brim of my cap and said, "Floyd, I don't think I'll make it as a TOT through my 70s, much less into my 80s."

"Sure you will," said Sir Lance (his nickname, honoring his 14 years as a member of the TOTS and the oldest active club member). "Sure you will, you just need a few more operations. You'll be fine."

Lance should know, he's had his share of operations over the years. And he still keeps coming back. The man has no quit in him. He has said more than once, "I just as soon die on the field."

And so it goes with all the TOTS as they get together for a spirited baseball game every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Udall Park.

There might come a time when I'm forced to give up the game. But as long as there are guys like Sir Lance on our team, I'll keep on plugging.

I admire all the TOTS, past and present. And now that I'm the club historian, I continue to sift through the archives, looking at pictures and faces of men who have come before me. Due to medical issues way beyond their control, a few of the honorary TOTS who are still alive and kicking,  show up and sit in the bleachers every week and cheer us on.

Take for instance, 82-year-old Larry Tagg. Larry sustained a brain injury a few years back and he was forced to retire from the active list, but he still makes the annual luncheon every year and makes all the "dress out" games (every three months we play a game in our full uniform-- followed by a cookout -- all the honorary TOTS and former players are also invited and partake in our yearly Christmas party.

So, like a good historian, I checked up on Mr. Tagg. He was the TOT of the Year in 2000 and the team manager in 2001-02. In 2005, at the age of 74, he played in 63 games, collected 30 hits in 127 at-bats, knocked in 11 runs and batted .236. In 2006, his average slipped to .193, but he did step to the plate 166 times, had 32 hits, walked 25 times and was hit by a pitch four times.

As for his life before the TOTS, well that's a story in itself.

Larry was a service man...and I mean a military service man.

Tagg, who was born and grew up in Sioux City, Iowa, allowed his early "baseball playing" days to be interrupted, by enlisting in the Army in 1948. He returned home after his eight-year stint in the Army and played for some independent baseball teams, traveling around Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska. It wasn't long before he ended up at a small college in Denver and met Donna Gensler. They married, he subsequently joined the Air Force and served as a chaplain for 20 years.

While on active duty, Tagg served in Alaska and Germany and close to home at Davis-Monthan AFB, just to name a few of the bases he was stationed at. He retired from the military in 1976 and eventually made his way to Tucson with his wife, Donna, and his two sons, Philip and Martyn.

And then along came the TOTS.

Larry is just one story amongst the archives...and there are so many more to tell, but my arthritis is getting the best of me.

If the good Lord is willing and the creeks don't run dry, I'll be back on the ball field on Wednesday at Udall Park and back on the trusty old laptop by nightfall.

Below photos: Larry Tagg kneeling in the front row, first player on the left. Floyd Lance is standing in the back row, second player in from the right. Picture taking in 2002. Tagg was 71 at the time, Lance was at the young age of 76. Second photo shows Mr. Tagg (on right) at a recent TOTS game, discussing "the days of old" with another former TOTS player and former teammate, Lee Moser.