TOTS Senior Baseball Network (TSBN)
60-and-over-baseball
Jerry Smarik turned 81 on January 30, 2013.
A former Navy man and a retiree from the U.S. Postal Service, Smarik (photo above) is considered "The Iron Man" on the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball team.
He seldom misses a game. In fact, since 2003, Smarik has played in 1,094 games. That's 12 seasons. A TOTS' season begins on January 1 and ends December 31.
Jerry was just a "youngster" in 2003, a fast-moving, hard-charging 71! Smarik has lost a little speed and maybe a little bit of quickness, but he's still in the TOTS' lineup every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Udall Park -- year end, year out.
When Smarik delivered mail, he did it rain or shine...day after day...kinda like the Pony Express.
It's the same on the ball field. He's always THERE!
Take a look at these 10-year statistics from 2003 through 2012.
2003
G 108 AB 318 H 150 Batting Average .472
2004
G 106 AB 303 H 144 BA .475
2005
G 123 AB 362 H 177 BA .489
2006
G 110 AB 363 H 170 BA .468
2007
G 102 AB 306 H 128 BA .418
2008
G 89 AB 294 H 95 BA .323
2009
G 105 AB 338 H 166 BA .361
2010
G 107 AB 314 H 113 BA .350
2011
G 116 AB 354 H 102 BA .288
2012
G 128 AB 314 H 78 BA .248
Smarik has been with the TOTS since the early 1990s, long before yearly stats were kept by the club. It's likely in his 20-years plus with the TOTS that he has stepped to the plate 6,500 times and has played in more than 2,200 games.
He's delivered every year...just like he did when he was a mail carrier.
Way to go, Jerry. Keep it up!
I enjoyed the article about today and really enjoyed reading about Jerry--I did not realize what an iron man he is. He has been hitting the ball well the last few games. But I could not get to your "reply" to my comments about last week.
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