Merry Christmas to all my readers

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!

I officially head into 2019 as a great grandfather.

Fallon Andrew Price will have a baseball glove on his hand soon.

Coleman's 3-pointer lifts Arizona to 70-68 win over Cal-Davis

Arizona Wildcats Basketball


Justin Coleman, playing with four fouls, hit the game-winner with 1:00 minute to go in the game to lift Arizona to a 70-68 win tonight at McKale over Cal-Davis.

Coleman, who was held scoreless for most of the game, hit one of two free throws, grabbed a key rebound and made the long range shot to close out the game. Chase Jeter led the Wildcats in scoring with 16 points and the steady Brandon Randolph added 15.

Arizona improves to 9-4 and completes its non-conference schedule. Up next the Pac-12 opener on Jan. 3 at McKale against Colorado.

Ochoa gets a ground rule triple

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Reed Palmer did a little bit of everything in today's 60-and-over baseball game at Udall Park.

First off, Palmer blasted a three-run homer in the top of the fourth inning -- his 29th of the season, a club single-season record. Palmer's homer helped Team Blue cruise to a 15-8 win over Team White.

In the bottom of the inning, the 6-foot-5 Palmer, who was playing shortstop at the time, tried to take matters "out of his own hands" when he unleashed his glove upward and tracked down a line shot off the bat of Team White's Jesse Ochoa. Palmer's glove met the oval and both the ball and the glove promptly fell out of the sky.

Now, according to the MLB rules in section 5.06b, if the glove doesn't make contact then there's no harm, no foul...but if the ball's flight is interrupted then the following applies: the batter is awarded a triple. And that's exactly what happened with Ochoa's hard hit ball today.

Of course, Palmer plays a mean shortstop...a mean outfield, is a hand full when he pitches and wherever he is on the ball field he is a force to be reckoned with. Teammate Mike Dawson is a "baseball man" and he know his rule book. In fact, Dawson, who was playing left field at the time, was the first one to put the crazy play into perspective and the only player on the field who knew about rule 5.06b and the infraction.

So, Ochoa left his spot at first base and jogged to third and asked for a runner. In the 60-and-over leagues, chances are if you get a triple then it stands to reason if you are the runner then you are going to be a tired puppy.

Ochoa was left stranded and the Team White rally ended and Team Blue's pitcher Pete Maldonado went on to finish the game and pick up the win. Lefty Dennis Crowley was saddled with the loss.

When you play for the Tucson Old Timers things happen. But today's ruling certainly was a rare occurrence even for a bunch of 60-and-over ballplayers.

At any rate, Palmer is likely to reach 30 homers by the end of the season, which will occur after play on the 31st of December. But chances are, Palmer will adhere to rule 5.06b from now on.

Photo: Jesse Ochoa awarded a rare ground rule triple today.

Jeter leads Wildcats past Grizzlies

Arizona Wildcats Basketball


Chase Jeter led the Wildcats with a career high 21 points to lead Arizona to a 61-42 win over Montana tonight at McKale. Arizona led just 22-15 at the half, but kept feeding Jeter inside and eventually the Wildcats pulled away by the mid point of the second half.

Arizona improves to 8-4.

The Final Cut

I guess I've been a movie buff since I was knee high to a grasshopper. That saying alone gives you a clue of my age. The phrase goes back to 1814 and its first form was knee high to a toad.

I'm not that old, but I'm old enough to remember every film which included movie icons Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and Kirk Douglas.

Douglas, 102, is no longer performing and just maybe Redford and Eastwood have recently made their final cut -- Redford with his latest release of The Old Man and the Gun and Eastwood's The Mule.

My goodness, Redford is 82 and Eastwood is 88. Watching Redford and Eastwood perform will take your breath away. Yes, for their brilliant acting, but the fact the two actors no longer leap off the screen and instead make painstaking moves from one scene to another.

As I watch the two brilliant actors perform, my mind wanders off screen and I visualize a young Redford from The Way We Were in a scene with Barbara Streisand on a cold wintry day in New York or a no holes barred scene with Eastwood corralling the bad guys in Hang 'Em High and sending them to Judge Fenton (Pat Hingle) for justice.

As for Douglas, I can recall all of his films like the 1955 Western Man Without a Star, a King Vidor film with Claire Trevor and Jeanne Crain and a more modern-day Western Lonely are the Brave, a 1962 film about a man and his horse -- the main character John W Burns who refuses to join modern society, while his horse is along for the ride.

The Cinema will never be the same without those larger than life actors.

Arizona loses at home to Baylor

Arizona Wildcats Basketball


The Arizona Wildcats were out rebounded and out played at home tonight, losing to Baylor 58-49. It snapped Arizona's non-conference winning streak at 52 games at McKale and the Wildcats fall to 7-4 on the season.

Brandon Randolph led the Wildcats with 15 points. Arizona shot just 35.8 percent from the field and were out rebounded 50-19.

The Wildcats remain at home on Wednesday with a game against Montana.

Team White cruises to 11-5 win

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Lloyd Barzell went 4 for 4 and was the winning pitcher as Team White rolled to a 11-5 win over Team Blue today at Udall Park in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game.

Barzell had plenty of support as Thunder Tim Tolson drove in four runs, Jesse Ochoa went 3 for 4 and Ron Ryan collected two hits and scored three times. Pete Maldonado was the big gun for Team Blue with three hits in four trips to the plate.

The TOTS return to action on Friday at Udall Park. Game time: 10 a.m.

Palmer hits No. 28

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Reed Palmer hit a grand slam home run -- his 28th homer of the season, as Team White beat Team Blue 8-2 on Monday at Udall Park in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game.

Pete Maldonado picked up the win and Joe Opocensky served up the grand slam and was saddled with the loss.

The TOTS return to action on Wednesday. Game time: 10 a.m. at Udall.

Photo: Palmer

Alabama edges Wildcats, 76-73

Arizona Wildcats Basketball


Chase Jeter scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Brandon Randolph and Brandon Williams combined for 33 points, but the Arizona Wildcats lost a close one at Alabama today 76-73.

Randolph hit three 3-pointers and finished with 17 points and Williams connected on four 3 pointers and tallied 16. Unfortunately, the duo went 13 for 31 from the field, while Alabama freshman Kira Lewis Jr. totaled 20 points, including the final five points for the Crimson Tide.

Still, a good showing on the road by the 7-3 Wildcats. Next up: Baylor at McKale on Saturday.

'Tis the 50th season

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

'Tis the 50th season.

For 50 years the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers have taken the field. Back in the 1960s they played at Himmel Park. They moved on to Fort Lowell Park in the 1980s and have spent all of the 21st century thus far behind the senior center at Udall Park on the far east side of Tucson.

The 50-plus players on the amateur baseball club are a competitive unit -- well, as competitive as you can get for an old baseball player who ranges in age from 60 to 93.

This season will arguably go down as the most competitive of all. Take for instance some of the elite hitters who pound the ball to all corners of the field at Udall. Let's start with a 6-foot-5 giant by the name of Reed Palmer. A Portland, Oregon native who made plenty of noise in his home state back in the 1970s as a basketball player.

Palmer, 62, now swings an aluminum bat and hits home runs like most of the players on the TOTS hit singles. Twenty seven home runs this season to be exact -- a club record. And the likable lefty has taken the last couple of weeks off to rekindle his desire for more home run trots.

A second generation TOT, Tim Tolson, the son of a TOTS' Hall of Famer Brad Tolson, is another member of the organization who simple sticks out like a sore thumb. A man among boys, another lefty who hits the power alleys and at the age of 66 can still hit the ball into the trees beyond the right field fence. A .600 batting average every month and sometimes a .700 average is routine for the big fella who played his high school ball at Tucson Sahuaro.

Another player who has returned to the fold after two knee operation is 76-year-old DeLon "Doc" Thompson, one of two players currently on the TOTS' roster with professional experience. A singer-songwriter, Thompson is always in tune when he's on the ball field and prides himself on his ability to drive in runs, even as a "middle-aged TOT" -- a reference given to a player smack in the middle, between the ages of the club's youngest at 60, Ron Ryan, and the oldest at 93, the remarkable Floyd Lance.

Speaking of Mr. Lance, the "young man" will begin his 21st season in January and will close in on the age of 94 next fall. Lance has to be the poster boy on the TOTS. Talk about longevity. Lance is a phenom and as a younger person would say, "the man is just plain sick."

The past decade has not been kind to the organization with the losses of former star players like Conrad Royksund (2018), Chico Bigham (2017), Ed Rife (2013), Jim Pagels (2015) Richard McAnally (2015) and Clarence Fieber (2011), just to name a few of the remarkable men who have donned a TOTS' uniform.

The beat goes on with the TOTS as the 51st season approaches. Players like Joe Aparicio (1998) are set to log in another year of "playing time" and men like Billy Heiny (1997), Denny Leonard (1992) and scorekeeper Mal Zwolinski (2006) will continue to push "father time" well into the future. All of them, are the "heart" of the TOTS.

The organization is in good hands with newcomers and "young men" and seasoned veterans ready for yet another season. The 60-somethings like Mike Dawson, Big John Mathews, Lloyd Barzell, Tim Boyd, Dennis Crowley, Pete Maldonado, Ray Garcia, Jesse Ochoa, Mike Taylor, Ted Davis and Brad Vermeer. And to the young 70-somethings like Bob Daliege, Mike Steele, David Byars, Bill Misher, Ron Petersen, Dave Rhoades, Joe Opocensky, John Misiaszek (who turns 70 on December 10, 2018) and Pete Peters (who joins the 70 crew in March/2019). All of them looking forward to the next season...and the next...and the next.

And yes I'll include the author of this blog. Danny "Pigpen"  Price, 73,  who will begin his 12th season on January 1, 2019. I'm proud to be a member of the TOTS and the club's historian. I salute the remarkable men of the Tucson Old Timers.

Go, TOTS!

Note:: I'm sure as the author of the above article that I've missed a few names. Forgive me my brain is in overload. It's almost seven o'clock in the morning. Time to get ready to play ball.

Randolph ignites comeback in Arizona win

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

Brandon Randolph ignited a second-half comeback, hitting 4 of 5 3-pointers to lift Arizona to a 80-69 win over a gutsy Utah Valley team tonight at McKale. Randolph finished with 16 points, while Brandon Williams and Justin Coleman scored 15 points apiece to help cement the win. The Wildcats furious comeback was helped out by Dylan Smith who came off the bench to tally 13 points.

Arizona shot just 38.5 percent in the first half and committed 11 turnovers. The Wildcats went to the locker room down by 12 points, 41-29.

Then Randolph went to work and Arizona turned the deficit into a 45-43 lead.

Game on!

Randolph hit two free throws with eight minutes to go, Smith chipped in a three-pointer to make it 63-57 and Emmanuel Akot hit a three-pointer with 5:30 left to up the Wildcat lead to 68-60. Ryan Luther followed with a layup with five minutes left to give Arizona a 70-60 lead -- a 22-point turnaround since the beginning of the second half.

Williams had his best game of the year with his first career double-double with 10 rebounds to go along with his 15 points. He also led the team in assists with five. Arizona ended up shooting 50 percent from the field (27 of 54), including 12 of 22 from three-point land.

Arizona improves to 7-2 on the season.

Thunder Tim led all TOTS' hitters in November

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Thunder Tim Tolson made a lot of noise during the month of November.

Tolson, 66, led the Tucson Old Timers in hits during the month with 27 hits on 37 at bats for a blistering .730 batting average. He also finished first in RBI with 21 and was second in runs scored with 17, three runs less than Mike Dawson, who crossed the plate 20 times.

Dawson finished second in November in hits with 23 and ended up with a .697 batting average, while Lloyd "Baby Bull" Barzell finished third in hits with 19. Reed Palmer led the club in homers in November with three, while Tolson hit two homers.

In the pitching department, three players -- Dawson, Opocensky and Dennis Crowley -- picked up three wins apiece. Forty TOTS played during the month and a total of 11 players reached double figures in hits. Doc Thompson ended with 16 hits, Arnie White collected 14, Pete Maldonado and Opocenksy ended with 12 hits apiece, Palmer had 11 hits, while Crowley, Pigpen Price and Ron Ryan collected 10 hits apiece.

Photo: Tolson

3-run 6th inning lifts Team White to 4-2 win

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

It was a pitching duel for six innings as two hard throwing right-handers Mike Dawson and Joe Opocensky kept the batters in check in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game today at Udall Park.

Dawson had the upper hand and Team Blue held a 2-1 lead when Team White came to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning, but RBI-singles from Opocensky, his third hit of the game, Bob Daliege and Pigpen Price accounted for three runs to break the game wide open.

Still, Dawson and Team Blue had one at bat left, but Opocensky closed things out with a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh and picked up the 4-2 win.

The TOTS return to action on Friday at Udall. Game time: 10 a.m.

Photo: Opocensky

a special moment in time for a baseball fanatic

From the desk of Dan Price

In 1975, Bill"Spaceman" Lee pitched 6 1/3 innings in the dramatic seventh game of the World Series. Lee didn't get the win or loss, but his teammate Jim Burton was saddled with the loss on an RBI-single off the bat of Joe Morgan to give the Cincinnati Reds a 4-3 win and the World Series title.

Fast forward to a sunny day in October of 2018 at the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series. I played third base that day as our 70-and-over San Antonio Texans beat Lee and the New England Red Sox, 12-5.

Lee is now 71 and I had just turned 73 in July.

Lee played first base on that special day (for me, at least) and after the game, in the parking lot, I stood next to Lee and discussed the 1975 World Series and many, many other things. The conversation lasted maybe ten minutes at the most and I headed for my car with a tale to tell.

The 1975 World Series was a special one for baseball. The whole world was watching for it was in Game 6 when Carlton Fisk hit the dramatic walk-off homer off the left field foul pole. Tucson's own Pat Darcy was the losing pitcher that day and will always be remembered for serving up the pitch to Fisk, which ended up extending the World Series to a seventh game.

A lot has been written about Lee. Certainly a special character in the world of sports. I found him to be a likable soul, the type of person you can sit down and discuss baseball with for hours on end.

That special moment with Lee was right up my alley. I guess I live for moments like that and it is one of the many reasons I continue to play baseball.

Photo: Lee, who won 119 games as a pro baseball player for the Boston Red Sox and the Montreal Expos

Ducklow, Maldonado lead Team White to 12-1 TOTS' win

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Dick Ducklow, 76, has been a member of the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers since 2007. Ducklow is one of a hand full of seasonal players on the roster and every winter he leaves his hometown of Spring Valley, Wisconsin to spend a few months in the Valley of the Sun and play baseball for the TOTS.

Upon his arrival, Ducklow, who turns 77 on December 19, works hard to clear the cobwebs, so to speak, and get back into baseball shape. Sometimes, it takes a while for the former battery salesman to square up the offerings from the TOTS' pitching staff.

Today, Ducklow got it going.

Ducklow went 3 for 4, scored twice and drove in two runs to lead Team White to a 12-1 win at Udall Park over Team Bue. Ducklow's hard hitting allowed pitcher Pete Maldonado, 66, from da Bronx, NY., to cruise to an easy win. Maldonado hurled all seven innings, allowing just one earned run.

The weather was almost perfect with the temperature reaching 60 degrees by the end of the game. A slight breeze kept it cool, but it didn't seem to bother Ducklow, who wore shorts.

"It seems warm to me," said Ducklow, who owns a beautiful home in Spring Valley with plenty of yard to mow during the spring, summer and fall. "Right now my yard is covered in snow."

Quite different from a December day in Tucson with nothing but blue skies and a comfortable temperature for Ducklow so he can show up in a Green Bay T shirt and shorts.

"Yes, I'm a Packer fan," says Ducklow, proudly. Spring Valley is 230 miles west of Lambeau Field.

Ducklow loves being at home in Spring Valley where he spent many years in the battery production business. But he also enjoys his time with the TOTS. Especially, when the hard-hitting right-hander  puts the hits together like he did today. "I'm strictly a pull hitter."

And yes. Today all his hits dropped safely in front of Team Blue's left fielder Brad Vermeer.

Ducklow and the rest of the TOTS return to action on Wednesday at Udall. Game time: 10 a.m.

Photo: Ducklow

Wildcats hold off UConn, 76-72

Arizona Wildcats Basketball


Arizona canned 19 of 22 free throws -- including 12 of 13 down the stretch, and beat UConn today  76-72 at the XL Center in Hartford. Brandon Randolph led the Wildcats with 20 points -- including 9 of 9 from the charity line.

Arizona led 42-38 at the half and both teams matched each other in points in the final 20 minutes with 34 points apiece. The Wildcats failed to make a field goal in the final 6:43, but made up for it at the free throw line as five players contributed.

The Wildcats improve to 6-2.

TOTS' 50th season in final countdown

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

The 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers are just four weeks away (maybe 12 games left, weather permitting) from the completion of its 50th season. It's hard to find an amateur baseball organization comprised of a bunch of old dudes who love to play the game of baseball and do so every week, year in and year out -- all 52 weeks, season after season after season.

Yes, there is Little League, an organization considered to be the largest organized youth sports organization in the world with over 180,000 teams and 2,600,000 competitors.

That's one thing, but a bunch of old timers who play around 150 games a year, every year...now that's certainly a group of characters in a league of their own.

The club was formed in 1968 and here they are heading into 2019 and going strong with 50 or so active members who strap on the baseball gear and take the field at Udall Park three days a week come rain or shine. Well, sometimes the weather can keep them from taking the field, but not very often. A die hard regular who never misses a game or an at bat can log over 600 at bats a year.

The organization is currently managed by Pete Peters, 69, and Jesse Ochoa, 67, and the club is certainly in good hands with the two men who see to it that things run smoothly. Peters, retired from Civil Service, and Ochoa, a former Tucson police officer, a former head of the Northern Arizona University police department and a retiree from Raytheon, have done so much in recent years for the organization. Peters and Ochoa, along with a committee of six, have handled everything from complaints, to ramrodding the yearly luncheon and Christmas party, to the purchase of equipment to keep the field at Udall Park in perfect condition.

The TOTS now own their own tug and the field is dragged before every game by 68-year-old Lloyd Barzell. Ochoa has even come up with a plan dividing the members up into small groups to assist Barzell and on game day, as the sun rises over the Rincon Mountains, the final touches are completed with the lining of the field and the bases are set in place.

Time to play ball.

It wasn't long ago, when the hard-working Chico Bigham used to ramrod things prior to game time. The man could single-handedly prepare the field at Udall without a tug and a lot of fancy equipment. The organization lost Chico, who passed away in 2017, and the organization's new shed, which houses the new tug and all the additional equipment, has appropriately been named Chico's Place.

The TOTS now have a waiting list for prospective members. It may take a few months before a player is added to the roster. A flock of new 60-year-old players are now joining the ranks, but it doesn't matter what age as long as the new want-a-be has reached the age of 60. There are plenty of 70-plus players on the roster, some are in their 80s and one player turns 90 in 2019 and the oldest player, Floyd Lance, is 93.

The best news of all is the fact the TOTS are thriving and another 50 years will begin on January 1, 2019.

Go, TOTS!

Photos from top to bottom:  Pete Peters, Jesse Ochoa, Lloyd Barzell, the late Chico Bigham and Sir Floyd himself, 93-year-old Floyd Lance.