Men's Senior Baseball League World Series
Close to 3,000 amateur ball players, ranging in age divisions from 18-and-over to 75-and-over, converge on the city and hustle from their respective hotels each morning and head out to sites as far west as Surprise and as far east to the edge of Mesa at the ball fields at Red Mountain Park, near the legendary and historic Superstition Mountains.
The headquarters of the annual event is Tempe Diablo Stadium, located a stone's throw southwest of what is referred to by the residents of Phoenix as 'the curve' on Interstate 10.
The participants play their hearts out for the love of the game. But, eventually, the excitement is over for the players. They must return to their hometown, take a collective deep breath, and rest after a grueling five, six, seven, and in some cases, eight games if a team advances to the finale in their age group. Besides the glory of winning it all, the winning players on each divisional championship team are sized for a world series ring, signifying a job well done.
The players from the TOTS included Ernesto Escala, Bob Long, Bob Daliege, Tim Tolson, John Mathews, Sam Dean, Mike Dawson, Larry Abramson, Randy Livingston, and Danny "Pigpen" Price.
Sadly, Escala was forced to return home on Day 1 with a shoulder injury that required surgery while his Toros teammates played on.
The Toros went on to a 5-0 record in round-robin play in the 70-and-over division but were ousted in the first round of the playoffs. However, a great showing by the Tucson boys as they came within one game of the finals.
The Toros, playing in the 65-and-over Cactus division this week, finished with a 4-2-1 record, winning one playoff game before losing in the second round to a team that made the finals, the Inland Angels.
The Angels (6-2) lost the title on Saturday morning to the Chicago Central Northstars, 12-4.
Daliege and Price were the last two TOTS standing late Friday afternoon at Fitch Park in Mesa as both players found themselves on the losing end of blowout games. Daliege's ball club, the New England Red Sox (1-4), had high hopes of returning to the playoffs again this year but received the bad news that their ace pitcher, former major leaguer Bill "Spaceman" Lee, would not be available to play. A couple of crucial injuries followed, and the Red Sox scrambled to field enough players to complete their run at the senior world series.
As for Price and his Puget Sound team, they finished 1-4 in the round-robin games and had the pleasure of facing the Mudville 9 in their final game at Fitch Park. The Mudville 9 (6-0), averaging slightly under 20 runs a game, won easily and cruised into the finals and take on Rhode Island (4-2) this morning at 9 AM at Temple Diablo, annex field #1.
Still, a good time not only for the "Tucson Boys" but for all the players at the MSBL World Series. This year players came all the way from Ireland to play in the event, along with teams from the Virgin Islands and Canada.
Photos: (at top) Awaiting his turn at bat Mike Dawson (14), infielder for the 65-and-over Tucson Toros; Danny Price (8), shown ripping a single to left, an infielder for the Puget Sound Aqua Sox; Joe Banner, from New Jersey, and Mike Morales, from Tucson, teammates on the New England Red Sox and the smiling Bob Daliege, the catcher, pitcher, infielder and outfielder for the Red Sox, who loves to play the game, especially the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series.
The 35th 2022 Men's Senior Baseball League World Series is in the books for the Tucson boys. Will there be another one down the road? If there is, they have a whole year to prepare for the next one -- in October of 2023.
I was rooting for my Tucson brothers even though I wasn’t playing for their team.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, because of a horrendous coaching decision not to start either of our two best pitchers, we fell behind the Northstars 13-1 before losing 13-9.
I truly felt we were a better team than the team that won the title.
Thanks, Glen for the comment.
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