'I'm back'

I'm pulling a Brett Favre.

I guess Arnold's favorite line from one of his action-packed thrillers sums it up.

"I'm back.'

I stayed away from baseball for 28 days. I miss the field of play. I miss my teammates. I can't exist without playing America's Favorite Pastime with my buddies at Udall Park every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

I'm batting a cool .207 since my return to the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers. It's a bit scary at times. I played my favorite position the other day -- the hot corner. I hadn't seen a fly ball since late March. And wouldn't you know it, our young 61-year-old new home run hitter Jon Beady stepped to the plate.

My teammates yelled, 'Back up!'

Beady swung. He didn't quite square up a Randy Livingston curveball but sent a towering flyball in my direction. I took five steps into foul territory and waited for what we refer to on the TOTS as a major-league popup.

At first, the shadowy oval looked like a plane, then a bird, and finally turned into a baseball as the ball crashed into my 20-year-old Rawlings' mitt. I smiled and walked off the field. I could hear the jawing from my teammates in the dugout.

Boy! It's good to be back.

Pigpen retires

 

Pigpen Price, who turns 78 on July 2nd, has played the sport of baseball for 70 years -- Little League, Pony League, Legion ball, college ball, and later in life, a 17-year stint with the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers, an amateur baseball organization currently five months into its 55th season (1968-2023).

Battered and bruised, it is time for Price to retire from the game. In the spring of 2008, Price was the youngest player on the TOTS, a rookie on the club, and capable of hitting the ball to all fields with the ability to leg out doubles and triples.

Pigpen has played alongside TOTS' Hall-of-Famers men like first baseman and hard-hitting lefty Brad Tolson, who passed away on May 2, 2023. Alongside TOTS' greats, like shortstop Ed Rife; catchers Chico Bigham, Clarence Fieber, and Richard McAnally; outfielders Carl Brutovsky, Don Wood, and Mort Atkins.

All of the above men are gone now. But, chances are they are all in heaven, suiting up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and still playing the game of baseball on an infield that allows for perfect bounces and high fly balls ease their way into the mitts of the fast-moving outfielders.

After games, the TOTS' Hall-of-Famers sit in the stands and critique below the young men at Tucson Udall Park, the current group of 60-and-over ballplayers playing for the love of the game.

As for Pigpen, he says it's time to hang up his cleats -- cleats with soft, comfortable inserts that have allowed for a more leisurely journey to first base.

"I no longer hit for an average," Price says. "My name appears at the bottom of the lineup instead of the top. I compete with players who are 17 years younger. In the blink of an eye, I went from a young whippersnapper in 2008 to an old-timer in 2023."

"But, what a journey it was!" -- Dan "Pigpen" Price

Quiet man carries a big stick; Cooke leads TOTS in hitting in April

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

John Cooke, 65, is the TOTS' quiet man on the club but carries a big stick to the plate time and time again.

Cooke went 19 for 35 and scored the most runs (18) in April to tie Thunder Tim Tolson, 70, for the most hits for the month. Tolson went 19 for 31, while Reed Palmer drove in the most runs (22) and led the club in homers with two. 

As a club, the TOTS banged out 274 hits in 655 plate appearances for a hefty batting average of .418. Forty-one players stepped to the plate in April.

Mike Dawson led the the TOTS pitching staff with a 4-0 record.

Photo: Cooke, the TOTS quiet man who carried a big stick to the plate in April.

Brad Tolson passes away at the age of 93

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

*****Update May 12, 2022

The memorial service for Brad Tolson will be at 3:00 on May 21 at New Testament Baptist Church, 2855 N. Craycroft.  The church is across the street from Ft. Lowell Park.

The TOTS lost their Chairman of the Board on May 2, 2023.

Brad Tolson, 93, a former Arizona Wildcat pitcher and a member of the Tucson Old Timers for 21 years (1991-2012), passed away Tuesday surrounded by his loving family.

Tolson, affectionately referred to as the TOTS Chairman of the Board for his years of service on and off the field for the amateur baseball organization, pitched for the University of Arizona in the early 1950s and is the son of the heralded all-American Andy Tolson and the father of Tim Tolson, 70, currently an active member of the Tucson Old Timers.

Services pending.

 Remembering Brad Tolson... photos...