Men's Senior Baseball League World Series
32nd annual
Dates: Oct 13 thru Oct 27
Sites: All the major league spring training grounds/parks in the Phoenix area
Participants from the Tucson Old Timers: Bill Mishler, Pete Peters, Lloyd Barzell, Bob Daliege, Pigpen Price, Tim Tolson, Joe Opocensky, Mike Dawson, John Mathews, Doc Escala, Arnie White and Danny Boxberger
The teams the above players played for: 70-and-over San Antonio Texans, 65-and-over Tucson Toros, 73-and-over Arizona Scorpions and the 65-and-over and 70-and-over Seattle Mariners.
For 12 members of the local 60-and-over baseball club, the Tucson Old Timers, it was quite the experience for them the past couple of weeks at the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series. For 10 of the members from the TOTS one week was enough -- eight games the first week by the players on the runner-up 70-and-over San Antonio Texans, five games for the 65-and-over Tucson Toros and a grueling two weeks for Danny Boxberger and Pigpen Price, who played for multiple teams.
Most of the TOTS came away unscathed, except for Lloyd Barzell (shortstop for the 70-and-over Texans) and Pigpen Price (second baseman for the Texans and third baseman for the 73-and-over Arizona Scorpions).
Barzell, the hitting star of the 12, ended up with five stitches in his right hand (index finger), yet played, competed and shined in the games following his injury -- all the way to the final inning of the championship game in the 70-and-over division. The Texans went 5-3 in their division and finished runner-up for the second time in three years. The Chicago Grays beat the "Tucson Boys" and the Texans in the finale. The Grays get the "rings" and the Texans receive t-shirts with the word Finalist on them.
Danny Boxberger's Seattle teams took it on the chin and came away with one win in 10 games. The 65-and-over Toros won 2 and lost 3 games...and hung around for a few hours to see if they qualified for the playoffs. They just missed. In the end, it was the 73-and-over Scorpions (White and Price) taking center stage. It wasn't pretty as the Scorpions were forced to play with nine guys, until the fifth and final game of the week when they had 11 available players. "It seemed like a Christmas present on the final day," said Price.
White led the Scorpions in hitting and Price was second. Price was helped off the field with two innings to go with a hamstring pull in the left leg, after playing 13 games over the two-week period.
Some people may consider the "Dirty Dozen" crazy for playing the game of baseball in their "golden years." But for the players involved it is simply just like being a kid on the sandlot once again, making the plays and listening to the roar of a hand full of fans in the stands.
For the members of the Texans, it was a special treat twice during their week of competition as they went up against a former major-leaguer Bill "Spaceman" Lee. The man won 119 games in the majors with the Boston Red Sox and the Montreal Expos. Yes, he was a character then and still is at the age of 72. Lee was certainly a pleasure to play against and to converse with in the parking lot after every game.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the MSBL World Series --
Once in a while, players will run up against teams that are simply "out of their league." For instance, this year's three champions -- Chicago Grays, Dodgertown West (not as much, they had to battle all the way for their rings) and a team named Team Cambria (soon to be crowned champions) in the 12-team 73-and-over division.
Team Cambria plays for the title this morning after winning seven games and averaging close to 23 runs a game, while allowing their opponents just five runs a game. Actually the Scorpions with their eight runs, ended up scoring the most runs against them.
Cambria plays the Sacramento Solons (6-1) today at Fitch Park in Mesa. They play for the "rings."
My prediction: Cambria by a landslide. The rumor is Cambria is sponsored by a national company, which recruits the best 73-and-over players in the country. The Bad of the MSBL World Series is how the powers-to-be figure all this out to make the competition enjoyable for all. In the end, there's not much you can do about situations like this: Cambria gets the trophy...and will continue to as long as they are allowed back and not sent on to a higher division.
The story above centers on the very, very Good of the MSBL World Series. The Good out weighs the Bad. As for the Ugly of the MSBL World Series: There isn't any. It's a wonderful experience for an old baseball player who refuses to give up the game and play in such a prestigious setting.
The author of this blog (and one of the Dirty Dozen from Tucson), knows firsthand that it doesn't get any better than this. I remember playing in the MSBL World Series a few years back, one of my 13 years that I have been competing at the annual event. The team I was on had entered the dugout at Tempe Diablo Stadium, prior to a round-robin game. A lineup card was taped to the wall on the south end of the dugout. The lineup card included Tim Tebow. Tempe Diablo is the spring training home of the Los Angeles Angels.
Albert Pujols has grabbed many Louisville Sluggers out of the same dugout, stepped up and into the on-deck circle and awaited his turn at bat. Just like I have done at the MSBL World Series for the past
13 seasons.
A die hard baseball fan reading the above article, knows exactly what I mean.
We play for the Love of the Game.
Photo: from the desk of Pigpen Price
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