TOTS' youngest goes 4 for 4 at Udall

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

The "young man" was on fire today in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game.

You must be 60 years of age to play for the TOTS. Currently the youngest member of the organization is 61-year-old Ron Ryan. In fact, he is one of a handful of TOTS who plays baseball and still works for a living.

Ryan is a bankruptcy lawyer and with the way the economy is these days he's certainly a busy man. But on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, Ryan takes his cuts at Udall Park looking to get wood on the ball (well, aluminum anyway).

Today was a perfect day for Ryan. He went 4 for 4, drove in a couple of runs, scored twice and was on the front end of a 5-4-3 double play. Ryan led Team White to a 9-4 win over Team Blue.

The hard-throwing Doc Thompson, 77, picked up the win.

Ryan wasn't in the best of moods at game time. After all, Ryan hails from Los Angeles and literally  grew up a fan of the LA Dodgers. Ryan was a bubbly newcomer to this world in January of 1958. The Dodgers announced they were moving from Brooklyn to LA in May of 1958. When Ryan turned four years of age the Dodgers moved to Dodger Stadium.

Well, now you know the rest of the story.

Late Wednesday night the Dodgers, the best team in the National League during the 2019 regular season, took it on the chin losing Game 5 of the NLDS to the Washington Nationals, 7-3, in 10 innings.

So, Ryan was not a happy camper when he arrived at Udall this morning for a regularly-scheduled TOTS' game.

Two hours later and four hits later, Ryan was all smiles.

Photo: The smilin' Ron Ryan, who went 4 for 4 today to lead Team White to a 9-4 win. Ryan, who played third today, also straps on the catching gear from time to time... and plays outfield as well.