To Pigpen Price: There's a reason pitchers allow themselves 5 days rest between starts

TOTS Senior Baseball Network

60-and-over baseball

There's a reason pitchers rest five days between starts.

Pigpen Price, 68, decided to take the mound on Friday in a TOTS senior baseball game. It was back-to-back starts for the right-hander. His last start: last Wednesday at Udall Park -- 48 hours prior to Friday's debacle.

Price never made it out of the third inning on Friday. He left the mound in the middle of the third inning -- down 9-0. He returned to his more familiar ground -- third base -- and handed the ball to Pete Peters, 65, who promptly coaxed the next batter into a come-backer. Peters tossed a strike to Price at third and Price completed the 1-5-3 double play to mercifully get Team White out of the inning.

The final score: Team Blue 14  Team White  3.

Not exactly a nail-biter and not exactly the result Price was looking for, considering he was facing an old nemesis, right-hander Lloyd Barzell, 63, in a rubber game. The two had split their first two outings of the year.

There is a joke among the TOTS that the individual who takes the mound for the 60-and-over team is either a "pitcher" or a "thrower" -- the latter being a step down from a pitcher status.

Price was definitely a thrower on Friday.

But heck, there's always next week. After all, the TOTS, the oldest organized senior baseball club in the country, play three days a week, 52 weeks a year and have been doing so for 46 years.

By the way, the TOTS are always looking for pitchers...or throwers. When the players are in their 60s, 70s and 80s, it is hard to find...or distinguish the difference between the two!

Photo: Lloyd Barzell wins "rubber game" against Pigpen Price.