'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.