TOTS' 53rd season: A season to remember

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

In 1968, the TOTS' first season, Martin Luther King was assassinated, the active United States troops in Vietnam had reached 549,500 and the hottest single to top the charts was "Hey, Jude" by the Beatles.

The TOTS, under the direction of founder Joe Gorman, began play at Himmel Park, located near Speedway and Tucson Blvd.

Ten years later, Pete Rose passed the 3,000-mark in career hits, Al Unser won the Indy 500 and Affirmed became only the 11th horse to win the Triple Crown.

By the time the 1990s had rolled around, the TOTS had moved to a short stint at Fort Lowell Park and by the end of the decade had moved to their current home at Udall Park, their home field just a short walk south of the Udall Senior Center.

In the year 2001, on September the 11th, 19 terrorists hijacked four planes and crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing 3,000 people. The cost of eggs was $1.40 a dozen, milk was $2.85 a gallon and a loaf of bread was a shade under one dollar.

The TOTS survived the late '60s, the '70s, the '80s, the '90s and rolled into the next decade, expanding from a nine-member team in 1968 to more than 50 active members and another 50 retired and honorary members...and sadly the loss of a "few good men" in the process.

Now here we are in 2020, the world and the United States...and the TOTS are learning how to cope with a coronavirus that has swept our nation, killing over 100,000 of our citizens.

The TOTS put their 53rd season on hold during the second week of March, due to the virus. They waited patiently (well...actually the members were chomping at the bit to return to action) for the Arizona governor to release the stay-at-home restriction.

And on May 15, Governor Doug Ducey opened the gates as far as the TOTS were concerned.

Build us a field and we'll be there. I just confused myself with the movie, Field of Dreams.

The big question for the TOTS co-managers, Mike Dawson and Reed Palmer: Would enough players show up for an official game? They needed 18 players...20 if you throw in the customary 10th man -- a rover, which turns the normal three-player TOTS' outfield in to a family of four.

No worries. Twenty-eight players showed and 22 played on Monday, May 18, on Wednesday 23 members took the field during the TOTS' second game back and then on Friday, another 21 took the field during the final game of the week.

The TOTS are back. The 53rd season is now in full swing with a couple of rule adjustments to "play it safe" against the still unwanted visitor, the coronavirus, which remains alive and kicking and playing havoc across our country.

The TOTS will live on. They prove it time and time again.