For the love of baseball

TOTS Senior Baseball Network (TSBN)

60-and-over baseball


Conrad Royksund is 82 and a former member of the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS).

Conrad played for the TOTS back in 2001-2002. He was in his early 70s when he donned a TOT uniform. He no longer plays, but for some reason, Conrad is drawn to Udall Park every week. He sits in the bleachers and watches, with a pencil and a notepad in hand, as the old timers go about their business, playing the game of baseball.

The former TOT often wonders why he drives for almost an hour to stare through a cyclone fence three times a week and watch 60, 70 and 80 year old men play America's favorite pastime.

In a recent post on his blog http//smokesound.blogspot.com, Royksund sums up his reasoning by saying, "I believe it has something to do with recognizing that those guys are still alive, playing a game that is something like being alive, and that they know what it is like to stay alive. None of them thinks he will live forever. They know that they will quit someday --maybe soon, maybe not so soon--but that, in the meantime, playing baseball is a wonderful way to be alive."

Conrad is a former professor, a teacher, a literary man...an observer of mankind, so to speak. Conrad is a welcome addition to the bleachers at Udall Park. His observations and photos of the TOTS (see above photo) can be found on his blog, along with his take on politics and life in general.

It's no wonder Conrad Royksund finds his way to the ball park to watch a bunch of "old men" play...he's still a TOT at heart.

He's one of the boys, a Tucson Old Timer.


Photo: Conrad's photo from behind the backstop at Udall Park catches TOT lefty Denny Leonard, 75,  awaiting a pitch. Pete Peters, 64,  is the catcher and 74-year-old Chico Bigham, the umpire.