The Boys of Summer -- 60 and over Tucson Old Timers

 A look back at my 15 years as a TOT...

The 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers are not only "The Boys of Summer" at Udall Park, but winter, spring and fall, too.

One upon a time in the west... at Udall Park anyway, local legends of the game entered the field of play...time and time again. I look back at my career as a TOT and can still recall games in 2008 when I began my warmup throws from third base to first. My target at first base, the likes of a Floyd Lance, a Brad Tolson, a Jeff Helzel -- men who could pick throws out of the dirt and make even a 62-year-old kid at the hot corner look good.

I can still see out of the corner of my eye, the smooth tosses to first base by one of our Hall of Famers, shortstop Ed Rife. We lost him a few years back, but the way he played the game of baseball was, and still is, an image in my head that will stay there forever.

The TOTS hall-of-fame catchers like Clarence Fieber and Richard McAnally (I always called him, Ray), both gone now, used to set up behind home plate and receive the offerings from a hard-throwing right-hander by the name of Chico "Rubber Arm" Bigham.

The beat goes on at Udall...

Please enjoy the lost video I recently recovered. It sums up what being a TOT means to me.