Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)
60-and-over baseball
Brack Whitaker turned 74 in April and has been a member of the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers since 2019 -- his first full season was in 2020.
It's been a learning experience for Whitaker, who is one of a select few TOTS born and raised in Tucson. His family owned and operated Whitaker Pools until 1982. If you happen to take a flight out of the Old Pueblo chances are you'll fly over an image of a turquoise pool below, put meticulously into the ground by the Whitaker family.
There was a time Brack's father, Brackston, even dabbled in constructing bomb shelters. Of course, this was done back during the Cold War in the 1960s as Tucson residents were looking for ways to protect themselves.
Here we are in 2022 and Russia's Vladimir Putin is still at it...still causing havoc in the world.
As for the TOTS' Brack Whitaker, he's digging around in the batter's box these day and has gone from a .065 batting average in 25 games in 2019 and has now set his sights on a .300 average by the end of the year.
In 2020, Brack upped his average to .155 with 36 hits in 232 trips to the plate and he upped his average a few more notches to .199 in 2021 with 47 hits in 236 plate appearances.
If there was a Most-Improved Player Award to hand out, Brack would be one of the top candidates.
Whitaker has also become one of the"Iron Men" with the TOTS. He rarely misses a game. In 2020, he played in 78 games and again in 2021, finishing second only to Mike Dawson, who played in all 84 games. The Coronavirus has kept the TOTS away from a 145-game schedule the last couple of years, but the TOTS are back hoping to complete a full schedule this year for the first time since 2018.
Brack has had his bouts with Covid -- at least twice. But the virus hasn't kept him away from the ball field for very long.
In last Wednesday's game at Udall Park, Whitaker was a perfect 4 for 4 with 3 RBI.
Way to go, Brack. And keep digging in and keep hitting.
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