Joe "O" finishes atop the TOTS' hitting charts in January

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Joe Opocensky turns 72 in two weeks.

A professional meat cutter by trade, Joe "O" put away all his knives last year, retired, and now slices and dices his way around the base paths at Udall Park as a member of the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers.

Opocensky joined the TOTS' amateur baseball club way back in 2014, but played part-time with the club for seven years. After all, there was a lot of meat to be cut in the Old Pueblo and there wasn't enough hours in the day to do both.

It's a different story now, as the hard hitting lefty rarely misses a game with the TOTS and instead of being behind the counter at Albertsons on Harrison Road, Joe focuses strictly on baseball and can be found holding down his position at third base, while taking prime cuts at the plate every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Udall.

Opocensky is off to a great start this year and led all players with 28 hits in 46 at bats for a hefty .609 batting average during the month of January. He played in 12 games, scored 14 runs and finished second on the club in RBI with 18, just four runs-batted-in behind Tim Tolson.

Joe certainly has a knack for meating the ball...I mean meeting the ball, squarely, as he consistently drills pitches down the right field line and will also cross up the outfielders with opposite-field hits to left and right centerfield.

Tolson, who just happens to be Joe's grandfather-in-law (it's a family thing), finished third in hits in January with 26 hits in 47 trips to the plate, while Mike Dawson held on to the second spot with 26 hits in 43 at bats. Dawson batted .605 for the month, while Tolson ended up with a .553 average.

Reed Palmer, the TOTS' career home run leader, hit his 95th and 96th career round-tripper in January, but played in just seven games for the month, yet finished third in total RBI with 14. 

Right-hander Bob Daliege was the top hurler for the month with a 4-1 record as eight different pitchers took the mound and toed the rubber. Forty-one players played in January -- the oldest 80-year-old Arnie White from Montana and Dick Ducklow, also 80, from Wisconsin. Both players are winter visitors and members of the club. White played in eight games in January and went 4 for 27, while Ducklow played in all 12 games and went 5 for 41.

Other notables and their averages include Ray Garcia, a winter visitor from New York, who went 20 for 37, Mike Steele finished with 23 hits in 43 at bats, Dennis Crowley collected 12 hits in just 17 at bats, while Daliege picked up 14 hits in 27 at bats. Other regulars included Pete Peters with 16 hits in 31 plate appearances and a club-leading 19 runs scored, while Rick Bitzer went 12 for 26 in just eight games. Ken Nebesny also had a good month with 15 hits in 32 plate appearances, while Jesse Ochoa went 11 for 27 in just eight games.

Photo: The "Big O" -- Joe Opocensky at the plate.