The young guys call me, "Sir"

Tucson Old Timer (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

I started playing for the best organized amateur baseball team in the world back in 2008. I was a young whippersnapper and for that first summer with the 60-and-over TOTS, I briefly was the youngest player on the roster.

My new teammates didn't know me from Adam.

An old saying derived from the fact that Adam lived so long ago that nobody could possibly recognize him.

It took a few months before I was saddled with the nickname of Pigpen. After a rainstorm, if there was a mud puddle at the field, chances are I'd find it and slide right into it. I dove for every ball hit in the 5-hole. Sometimes I would come up empty, sometimes not.

Fast forward 16 seasons and my diving days are over.

I turn 77 on Saturday and I now spend more time on the DL and less time on the field of play. I'm currently the oldest regular on the TOTS.

In fact I'm so old, my teammates no longer refer to me as Pigpen, but call me "Sir" instead.

Not too long ago we were playing a team from the Southside of Tucson. After the game, all the players shook hands and one of the players said to me: "Nice game, Sir!"

I quickly advised the young man, who was probably in his mid 40s, "Please don't call me, Sir!"

We diehard baseball players have to come to grips with the fact we are getting old, but that doesn't mean we have to give up our passion for the game.

I come off the DL (disabled list) on Monday.