Joe O top TOTS hitter in 2022 with 200 hits

 Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Year-end batting stats for 2022

Make no mistake about it the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers can hit a baseball.

Forty-five players combined for over 3,000 hits in 2022 at Udall Park and finished with a team batting average of .393.

Leading the way in 2022 was  72-year-old Joe Opocensky --better known as Opie to some and the Big O to others -- finished with 200 hits. He officially batted 362 times in 103 games for a .552 average. The Big O (photo below) banged out 41 doubles during the year, also the best on the ball club.

Opocensky also edged out Reed Palmer, 66, for the most RBI with 129. Palmer knocked in 128 runs and led the club in home runs with 11, while Thunder Tim Tolson was third in runs-batted-in with 122.

Mike Dawson played 115 games and finished with the most runs scored with 114.

Mark Rupert and Brack Whitaker played in the most games with 118 apiece. Rupert topped the club in at-bats with 418.

Other notable players with 100 hits or more included Tolson (188), Dawson (171), Rupert (147), John Cooke (143), Palmer (135), John Mathews (132), Mike Steele (125), Bob Daliege (116), Jesse Ochoa (108), Ken Nebesny (105), and Ernesto Escala (101).

Three players joined the 75-and-over group last winter. David Byars, who turned 75 on December 11, 2022, finished with a batting average of .263 (73 for 278 in 88 games); Bill Mishler turned 75 on October 14, 2022, and ended up with a batting average of .157 (17 for 108 in 72 games), while Rob Morse turned 75 on December 19, 2022 and finished with a batting average of .109 (21 for 192 in 72 games). Danny Pigpen Price, 77, played in the most games (96) in the 75-and-over group and went 58 for 263, a .221 average.

Leading the winter visitors in 2022 were Arnie White (33 games, at-bats 103, hits 19), Dick Ducklow (62 games, at-bats 186, hits 28), and Gary Cuttler, who played in 32 games in his first year with the club and went 49 for 99, a .495 batting average.

Right-hander Pete Maldonado finished the year on the mound with 19 wins and 11 losses. Dawson finished with 16 wins, Palmer had 14 wins, Opocensky finished with 15 wins, Escala won 12 games, and Daliege 11.

The strikeout king for the year was Opocensky with 83 K's. Opocensky logged the most innings on the year with 255, and Dawson was second with 235.

The 54th year for the club is in the books, and the players continue to get younger and younger.

Of course, a few continue to get older.

That's the way of the TOTS.

Congrats to the TOTS on a successful 2022 season.

Note: Players can obtain the printout of the stats from Mike Steele.