TOTS rookie singles in game-winner

TOTS Senior Baseball Network

60-and-over baseball

Mike Taylor, 61, singled in the game-winner in a Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball game this morning at Udall Park. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth and final inning, Taylor, playing for Team Blue, drilled a shot to right field and Pete Peters, 63, who had singled earlier in the inning, scampered home from third with the winning run as Team Blue beat Team White, 7-6.

Right-hander Billy Heiny, 84, was saddled with the loss, while lefty Dennis Crowley, 63, picked up the  win. Both pitchers went the distance in the six-inning game.

Taylor (above photo), who officially became a member of the TOTS in early-August, is one of three rookies on the ball club, the other newbies are 62-year-old Brian Reilly and 68-year-old Dan Lundwall.

The TOTS will be at it again on Friday as they continue their three-games a week schedule, despite the hot temperatures. It was another hot one again today as the temperature hovered around the 100 degree mark by the end of the game. Historically, the TOTS alter their starting times during the summer months as they take the field around 9 a.m. In the fall, winter and spring, the TOTS return to their normal 10 a.m. starting time.

No matter how you look at it the TOTS continue to have their 12-month seasons. The TOTS are the oldest organized baseball team in the country and are likely the only club that plays year around. There always seems to be a game at Udall Park, not so in other parts of the country where rain, snow and icy ball fields are the norm from say November through March.

It takes a pretty good Desert Storm to keep the TOTS off the ball field.