TOTS Senior Baseball Network (TSBN)
60-and-over-baseball
Becoming a member of the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball team is not as easy as it used to be.
Back in 1968 when the organization was founded, Joe Gorman (the founding father) had trouble fielding nine players and here we are 45 years later with a waiting list. The hopeful TOT or "inductee" is now required to fill out a waiver form, sign it and wait his turn.
The club has grown to 55 members, with anywhere from 20 to 25 showing up on a weekly basis at Udall Park to play America's favorite pastime. Eventually, the newcomer is confirmed as a member, receives a hat, and then hustles off to Baum's Sporting Goods to order his TOTS' uniform.
Some hopefuls have waited months to get the phone call -- a call which tells him to "come on down, you're officially a TOT."
Our latest inductee is Mike Taylor, a 61-year-old who has been chomping at the bit for months to get his call. Taylor received his hat a week ago and now has his order in for a brand spanking new uniform.
Taylor has done well in recent practice games. Sure, he's fought off the annoying hamstring pulls, made his share of errors and is still getting his timing down at the plate, but he's officially a TOT -- the waiting is over. In fact he's now taking it a step further by becoming the final member of the TOTS' 60-and-over MSBL World Series team, which will play in Phoenix this October at the 26th annual Men's Senior Baseball League World Series.
While you're on the waiting list, you can play for the TOTS, if, and only if, the numbers allow it. Many times, there is spot on the field for a newcomer, but many times, they warmup, chase balls in the field and participate in batting practice and then call it a day.
The newcomer can even help out umpiring, do a little score keeping or help put away the gear.
Taylor has done all of the above and is a welcome addition to the club.
Our newest "victim" (I mean TOT hopeful) is 63-year-old Tom Potter. Tom is now going through the "growing pains" of becoming a TOT.
Potter has filled out his paperwork and, surprisingly, over the last two weeks has gotten in some playing time as the "numbers" have allowed him a spot on the field.
In a TOTS' game today, Potter drilled a shot inside the third base bag for a single, but his hamstring pull kept him from stretching a single into a double. Later in the game, Potter tagged out a runner, but in doing so "stretched the hammy" and had to come out of the game.
"I knew I had the injury and I shouldn't have lunged to make the tag," said Potter, as he leaned up against the fence and stretched out his leg.
Growing pains. All the TOTS have gone through it at one time or another. After all, the ages on the TOTS range in age from 60 to 87.
As for Potter, when he officially becomes a TOT, he will become the club's first comedian. Actually, the club has a lot of so-called comedians, but Tom will be the first "professional" comedian to don a TOTS' uniform.
Potter, a retired Tucson Unified School District and University of Arizona educator, holds a doctorate in education, but has also taken his comedy act to places like the Gaslight Theater and other venues around town. He's been an actor and a magician. He sings the blues, plays the guitar...and the harmonica.
Tom started his career in "show business" as a body guard for Glen Campbell and Ozzie Ozborne.
And now he's on the verge of a new career: Old-Time Baseball, as a member of the Tucson Old Timers.
Photo: TOT hopeful, Tom Potter, singing the blues.
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