Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)
60-and-over baseball
John Cooke and Joe Opocensky finished in a dead heat for the month of June, with each player batting a hefty .579, collecting 22 hits in 38 trips to the plate. They were a spitting image of each other, except in runs scored as Cooke ran away in that category, 21 to 8.
Cooke
Opocensky
Reed Palmer led the way in RBI with 15 runs batted in, finishing ahead of Jon Beady and Opocensky with 14 apiece. Beady hit three homers in June, and Palmer hit one round-tripper. Beady batted .588 in 11 games, going 20 for 34, while Palmer played in eight games and went 15 for 22, a .682 average.
Ernesto Escala also put together an excellent month, going 17 for 29 in nine games, a .586 average, while Ken Nebesny finished with 15 hits in 35 at-bats, a .429 average. Bobby Long was next in line in hits with 14 hits in 30 at-bats, a .467 average. John Mathews played in just six games during the month but went 13 for 20, a .650 average.
Four players collected a dozen hits. David Byars (12 for 28), Mark Rupert (12 for 34), Mike Dawson (12 for 29), and Tim Tolson (12 for 24).
A couple of "real old guys" put together a good month at the plate. Danny Price, who turns 78 on July 2, went 9 for 27, a .333 batting average, while 75-year-old Mike Steele went 8 for 23, a .348 clip.
One of the club's newest members, Jerry Callen, played in all 11 games and went six for 25, a .240 average. Other notables who played in less than eight games included Jesse Ochoa (7 for 19 in six games), Ron Ryan (8 for 22 in six games), Randy Livingston (8 for 16 in five games), Roger Beebe (5 for 16 in seven games) and Sam Dean, who played in just four games but went 7 for 10, a .700 average.
The club collected 275 hits and maintained an overall batting average of .417 and an OBP (on-base percentage) of .466. The old-timers were busy on the bases.
Seven pitchers took their turn toeing the rubber, with Dawson pitching the most innings (27) while maintaining a 1-1 record. Pete Maldonado hurled 20 innings with a 3-0 record, while Beady (22 innings) and Palmer (21 innings) went 2-1 for the month.
The TOTS enter another hot month with their first game for July slated for 9 a.m. on July 3. The TOTS are now playing at Palo Verde Park, while their home field at Udall is being renovated and will be available in October.
Way to go, TOTS. Keep on swinging.
