TOTS' hits record in jeopardy

TOTS Senior Baseball Network

60-and-over baseball

The TOTS' single-season hit record is in jeopardy.

The 60-and-over baseball organization has been around since 1968 and for the last 12 years the club statistician, Floyd Lance, has kept yearly stats. Before then monthly stats were kept.

Back in the "early days" it was hard for the players to reach 200 hits in a season. After all, the 60-and-over player needs a good 500 at bats to put himself in position to have a chance at the 200-hit club. Filter in injuries, the flu bug, family commitments -- well you name it, there are all kinds of reasons why the 60-and-over players fall short.

Three players have reached and surpassed 200 hits in a single season. The record is held by Chico Bigham. The 75-year-old Bigham is still at it and is one of five current players in line to break the record of 228 hits. Bigham set the record in 2005.

In 2014, it is evident the equipment is better and the old-timers are quicker and faster than ever before. In recent years, it is the young studs (ages 60 to 65) who are pounding the ball at an amazing clip. Bigham is trying to keep up. He's closing in on 100 hits as we near the halfway mark of the season -- which is the end of June.

Two young players -- Lloyd Barzell, 63,  and Pete Peters, 65 -- are hitting at a current clip which would put them over 250 hits by the end of the season. Barzell owns the second-best individual hit record at 219. He set his personal best in 2013 and is well over 100 hits this season, as is Peters, who came close in 2013 when he banged 187 hits around the confines of Udall Park -- good enough for fifth place on the all-time list.

Speedster Dennis Crowley, 64, is fourth in career hits for a single season with 189 hits. His personal best was set in 2012. Doc Thompson, 71, currently on the disabled list, is resting in third place on the all-time list with 209, set in 2009. Pigpen Price, who turns 69 in July, is sixth on the list with 186 hits, set in 2009.

Price, Bigham (above photo) and Crowley are knocking on the door at 100 hits for the season, but will have to turn on the afterburners to catch Barzell and Peters, who are the favorites to establish the new hits record.

But the baseball season for the TOTS is long. There's the long hot summer ahead, then fall and then winter. Anything can happen... and usually does.

The top ten all-time single-season hit leaders:  1) Chico Bigham- 228, 2) Lloyd Barzell- 219, 3) Doc Thompson- 209, 4) Dennis Crowley- 189, 5) Pete Peters- 187, 6) Pigpen Price- 186, 7) Ron Petersen- 185, 8) Denny Leonard- 185, 9) Ed Rife- 185, 10) Jerry Smarik- 177.