The local yokels -- "The TOTS dirty dozen"

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

The local yokels on the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) could also be referred to as "the dirty dozen" in reality they are all members of the amateur baseball team and hail from the Tucson area, although one of them spent his youthful playing days a few miles east of the Old Pueblo in the town too tough to die, Tombstone.

The leader of the dozen is a motorcycle hell-raiser (not really, but it fits this fantasy story) -- a 65-year-old from Tucson Palo Verde High School by the name of Randy Livingston -- a smooth-gloving shortstop with an accurate right arm to boot.

Livingston, in photo above with his getaway ride which gets him to the ball park on time, throws the ball  across the diamond accurately and into the glove of 70-year-old Tim Tolson (Thunder Tim's 70th is at the end of the month -- 8/30) or the outstretched glove hand of 74-year-old David Byars, a former star player at Tucson High School, back in the good old days. 

See Tolson, a graduate of Sahuaro High School, in left photo.

Now there are times, John Mathews, a former standout at Flowing Wells High School and now one of the more versatile players on the TOTS, will camp over at first base, but he also can handle third base and has the speed and quickness at the age of 66 to handle all of the outfield positions as well.

Below Byars is shown in action, wearing a red jersey at first base and Mathews on the right, unleashing a throw.

Handling the pitching chores is 67-year-old, hard-throwing right-hander Mike Dawson, a former Santa Rita High player. Dawson (photo below with sunglasses) doubles as the co-manager of the team and can pretty much play anywhere as well -- especially shortstop and anywhere in the outfield.

From Pueblo High School, it's Jesse Ochoa, now 70, and Mike Steele, 74, two important cogs in the wheel for the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers. Ochoa is a sure handed second baseman and Steele is another one of those versatile players who catches, plays infield and outfield, too. See below:

 

That still leaves five "Tucson Boys" so let's start with the Tombstone Kid. He has the longest drive. Just kidding. Roger Beebe's main domicile is in Tucson but he's always on the move. When he's not playing ball, chances are you'll find him somewhere in the state like St. John's or Flagstaff....maybe even Tombstone. Beebe (photo below with Arizona hat) plays outfield and catches, too and he's still a youngster at 69. His Pop, Bud, played for the TOTS from 1991-1997.

That leaves the fearsome foursome to round out the "Tucson Dirty Dozen" and that includes yours truly, the old man of the group, Danny "Pigpen" Price (photo below), who has spent most of his 16 years as a TOT at the "hot corner." Of course, the bones are beginning to crumble, the Arthritis is setting in and management is about to send him out to the pasture to rove around the outfield looking for grasshoppers to step on.

I, of course, went to and played at Catalina High School and graduated in 1963, which makes me 77.

That leaves outfielder Brack Whitaker, 74, a Palo Verde High School roustabout from the mid-60s and a couple of "good ole boys" (both catchers) Chuck Sabalos, 72, who went to Rincon High School and went on to become a Superior Court Judge in Arizona and newcomer Curt Gustafson, 77,  who just happens to be a former teammate of mine in high school at Catalina.

When Gustafson, currently out of the TOTS' lineup for personal reasons, becomes a regular, he will become the oldest TOT, sometime later this summer or early fall. Curt was born in April of '45...I was born in July.

It'll be a treat to no longer be the oldest of the "dirty dozen."

Below is Whitaker in the familiar TOTS' hat and the two grizzly veterans Sabalos and Gustafson.

Final count: Two from Pueblo, two from Catalina, one from Rincon, two from Palo Verde, one from Santa Rita, one from Sahuaro High, one from Flowing Wells, one Badger from Tucson High and the "Tombstone Kid."