Palmer hits 19th homer to tie TOTS' single season home run record

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Team Blue beat Team White 18-2 today at Udall Park in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game.

The game wasn't close as Team White couldn't get anything going offensively. John Misiaszek scored twice for the losing team and that was it, but the big news of the day came from Team Blue lefty Reed Palmer, who drilled a Pigpen Price fastball over the right field fence in the third inning.

It wasn't just any home run. The round-tripper was the 19th of the season for Palmer, who tied De Lon "Doc" Thompson for the club record in home runs for a single season. Thompson set the record in 2006. Palmer has 44 days to break the record, or to be more specific, has around 18 games left in the season to surpass the record.

Price said he battled a bad back for seven innings. "I'm not offering any accuses," Price said. "I tried my best to keep Reed from hitting one out. He hit two down the first base line and got under one of my pitches and hit a Texas Leaguer in his other at bat. I challenged him in the third inning and he hit the ball long and far."

It's been a long battle for Palmer, 61, this year as he chases Thompson's record -- a record that very few, if any of the TOTS, expected to ever be broken. For the record, the TOTS play 12-month seasons -- from January through December -- and for an old-timer, in his 60s or 70s, to hit 19 or 20 home runs during the year seems mind boggling. The fence is 300 feet away from home plate and most of the TOTS are happy with a hit that rolls to the warning track.

And for someone to come along and hit 20 or more homers! Well, it's just unheard of according to some of the TOTS, especially to members who have been around for the past 20 years or so.

"Reed has so much power," says Jerry Smarik, 85, a member of the TOTS since 1991. "I've never seen anything like it."

Price added. "I hit one my first month with the TOTS, back in 2008 and that was it. I was in my early 60s then. I'm 72 now and I can't even reach the warning track. It's not easy. It's a long way to the fence, especially for an old timer. As the years go by, it gets harder and harder to put the ball in play...much less hit home runs."

As for Thompson, now 75, he's amazed -- along with the rest of his teammates -- at Palmer's home run power. "Reed is in a zone right now. He has a beautiful swing. About the only way to get him out, is to pitch him way inside so he can't get those arms extended."

As for 2006, Thompson remembers it well. "When you're in a groove and hitting the ball like that, the ball looks like a big balloon coming toward you." Back in 2006, home runs were aplenty. Thompson was pushed a little. Forty two home runs went out of the ball park. Chico Bigham hit 10, Ron Petersen hit seven, Ron Boeve hit two and four other TOTS hit homers.

There must have been SOMETHING in the air.

Photo: Reed Palmer