The TOTS "Dirty Dozen"

TOTS Senior Baseball Network (TSBN)

60-and-over baseball

As with any baseball club, it is those young players -- those  "cream of the crop" players, who normally receive all the accolades for collecting the most hits, runs and RBIs.

Not so with the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS), the oldest organized baseball team in the country. It's the longevity of the player, "their stick to it" mentality, their "never give up" attitude -- those are the players on the TOTS whom all the members of the club look up to.

The  60-and-over TOTS play three days a week at Udall Park, 52 weeks out of the year. The young players look up to the old veterans, while the "old guys" just tip their cap when a young 60s player makes an over-the-head catch or drills a double off the left field fence. They tip their hat and say, "There was a time. There was a time."

All of the TOTS -- some 55 strong -- are in for the long haul. Many will not just take the field while they are in their 60s, but into their 70s and well into their 80s.

As for the younger players, who are still nursing cuts and bruises...and hamstrings from time to time, they just wish they're still "kicking" -- still taking the field when they reach the ages of some of their counterparts who are, in some cases,  20 to 25 years older than them!

Yul Brynner had his  "Magnificent Seven" and Frank Sinatra was a member of "Ocean's 11" -- well, the TOTS have their own group of misfits:  "The Dirty Dozen"  -- 12 superstar old timers who show up at Udall Park,  three days a week and play America's favorite pastime.

Now, granted, there was the movie "The Dirty Dozen" which consisted of a cast of character actors -- namely Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson and football great Jim Brown -- just to name a few.

But then there's the TOTS version of the Dirty Dozen. And man will they leave an impression on you!

The TOTS  Dirty Dozen  include: 87-year old Floyd Lance, 85-year-old Jack Glickman, 83-year-old Billy Heiny, 81-year-old Jerry Smarik, 76-year-old Bob Katz, 80-year-old Archie Burke, 79-year-old Joe Aparacio, 75-year-old Bob Royer, 77-year old Carl Brutovsky, 75-year-old Art Radtke,  75-year-old Mal Zwolinski and 75-year-old Denny Leonard.

Lance is like Lee Marvin's character in the 1967 flick "The Dirty Dozen".  Floyd is an old-timer who plays hard and gets the job done. Lance led the TOTS' super seniors in July with a .391 batting average (9 for 23, 8 walks and 7 RBI). Unbelievable! The man will turn 88 in September.

Glickman, on the other hand, swings the heaviest bat available, but still pulls the ball down the third baseline and then there is "Doc" Heiny who will pitch every game if called upon. He throws nothing but "junk" and can frustrate the best of the TOTS' hitters.

Smarik is the iron man of the group. He didn't miss a game in July. In his 20-plus years with the TOTS, Jerry has had more at bats than any other player. As for Katz, he leads the club in walks every year...and this past month he walked eight times to tie for the team lead in that department.

And then there is Burke, who turns 81 next month. A quiet guy who goes about his business in the outfield day in and day out. As for Aparicio, he kinda reminds you of the character Trini Lopez played in The Dirty Dozen...a little guy who has a lot to say.

Royer, on the other hand, is another one of those old-time pitchers  on the TOTS who will take the mound every fifth day and frustrate batters with his high-arching slow ball. Royer played in all 12 games in July. He went 5 for 25 and maintained a respectable .200 batting average.

The last four of the super seniors -- Brutovsky, Radtke, Zwolinski and Leonard, are every-day outfielders for the TOTS. Brutovsky is a lefty who can scamper down the first base line and at times can out run some of the younger TOTS, Radtke, on the other hand, is a right handed hitter and can still muscle the ball to the outfield from time to time. Zwolinski, who turns 76 in October,  put the bat on the ball during the month of July and came away with four hits and five RBI, while Leonard, a lefty, had an even better month, going 7 for 26 while scoring four runs.

All 12 of the TOTS "Dirty Dozen" give it every thing they got, game after game. They are the pride and the joy of the TOTS...and they are what the organization is all about.

Go, TOTS!

Photos: Top to bottom: 1.  Lance  2.  Glickman  3.  Heiny  4.  Smarik   5.  Katz  6. Burke  7.  Aparicio  8. Royer  9.  Brutovsky  10. Radtke  11.   Zwolinski  12. Leonard