TOTS sing Happy Birthday to the club's oldest player at Udall today

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Prior to today's first pitch at Udall Park, the TOTS sang "Happy Birthday" to the club's oldest active player Floyd Lance.

The TOTS were a little ahead of schedule.

Lance will turn 93 on Thursday, the sixth of September.

The New Jersey native is in his 20th season with the Tucson Old Timers. The organization has been around since 1968 and the oldest player to take the field before Lance was 90-year-old Clarence Fieber, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 91.

Lance played in five games during the month of August. He batted 15 times, scored a run and had four hits. He finished the month with a .267 batting average and knocked in three runs.

Happy Birthday, Sir Floyd!

Photos:  (top photo) Floyd Lance, who turns 93 tomorrow, is the oldest active player to ever play for the Tucson Old Timers. (bottom photo) Clarence Fieber, the second oldest TOT to play for the organization. Fieber played until he reached the age of 90 and passed away in 2011 at the age of 91.

Thompson leads Team Blue to shutout win

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Doc Thompson, 76, did it all at Udall Park this morning.

Thompson pitched the first four innings for Team Blue and didn't allow a run. The hard-throwing right-hander allowed just seven hits before giving way in the fifth to Pete Maldonado, who hurled the final three innings without allowing a run as well.

A one-sided affair today as Team Blue picks up the 6-0 victory over Team White.

Thompson helped his own cause with three hits in four trips to the plate and knocked in three of the six runs.

Team White used three pitchers -- Lloyd Barzell, Pigpen Price and Ron Petersen. Team Blue scored two runs in the first inning, two more in the third and added a couple of insurance runs in the seventh, while Team White failed to get a rally started the entire game.

The TOTS return to action on Friday at Udall. Game time: 9 a.m.

Photo: Thompson

Barzell covers the TOTS' stat sheet for August

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Lloyd Barzell, 68, was the top performer in August for the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers.

Barzell played in all 11 games in August and pretty much ran the table with the most hits (20), the most runs scored (17) and owned the best batting average for the month, hitting at a .571 clip (20 for 35).

The TOTS' shortstop won all the major batting categories, except in RBI as the hard-hitting lefty Tim Tolson knocked in the most runs with 12, one more than Reed Palmer, who ended up with 11 RBI, six doubles and five home runs.

Ten pitchers took the mound during the month and righthander Pete Maldonado was the big winner with four victories and no defeats.

A trio of hitters finished in a tie for second in hits with 14. Jesse Ochoa went 14 for 29, Palmer went 14 for 27 and Tolson ended up 14 for 30.

The TOTS are already off and running for the month of September with two games in the books this week and a third game slated for Friday at Udall Park. Game time: 9 a.m.

Photo: Barzell

Pitching duel turns into a wild finish

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Team White righthander Mike Dawson had a smooth outing for six innings -- a cool 3-hitter and a 3-1  lead over Team Blue in a special 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers Labor Day game at Udall Park this morning.

Unfortunately, the top of the seventh inning didn't go Dawson's way as Team Blue came up with a 4-run rally and a 5-3 lead thanks to a double by Tim Boyd, followed by three consecutive singles from Mike Steele, John Mathews and Ken Nebesny. Add to that an untimely throwing error and suddenly Dawson and his Team White teammates headed to the dugout needing three runs to pull out a win.

An opposite-field RBI-single by Doc Thompson cut the Team Blue lead to 5-4, but Team Blue's right-hander Pete Maldonado escaped further damage and walked away with the pitching victory.

Both pitchers allowed just one hit through the first three innings of play. In fact, the first 17 batters failed to reach base and it was all goose eggs on the scoreboard until Team Blue picked up a lone run in the fourth.

The TOTS return to action on Wednesday at Udall. Game time: 9 a.m.

Not exactly what Arizona football fans are looking for

Arizona Wildcats Football


Not exactly what Arizona fans are looking for, Mr. Sumlin.

Is Khalil Tate a pocket passer? To coach Kevin Sumlin: What have you done to our man Tate?

Arizona loses at Arizona Stadium tonight 28-23.

The good news: it was a non-conference game. The bad news: a poor showing for three quarters by the Wildcats.

Will Tate lead the Wildcats to an 8-win season?

Arizona Wildcats Football

Will Khalil Tate lead the Arizona Wildcats to an 8-win season this year? How about 9 wins?

Anyone for double figures?

That might be a stretch. At any rate, the 19-year-old junior quarterback will lead the Wildcats out of the tunnel tonight as Arizona is just an hour or so away from the 2018 season. Tate turns 20 on October 23, a young man with a lot of talent who just may become a grizzly veteran by the end of the season.

Go get 'em Mr. Tate.

Go, Wildcats!

10 TOTS to compete in 2018 MSBL World Series

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Ten members of the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers are set to compete in the 2018 Men's Senior Baseball League World Series to be held Oct. 14 through Nov. 3 in Phoenix. Over 330 teams and 3,000 players will converge on the Phoenix area for the tournament, which includes age groups from 18-and-over all the way up to the oldest division this year, the 73-and-over.

The players participating will play at all the major league spring training grounds in Phoenix -- including Tempe Diablo Stadium (above photo), which once again will be the host facility for the MSBL World Series.

John Mathews and Mike Dawson will play for the Paladin out of Albuquerque in the 60-and-over division, Tim Tolson and Joe Opocensky will play for the Tucson Toros and compete in the 65-and-over division, while six players -- Pigpen Price, Bob Daliege, Pete Peters, Ron Petersen, Bill Mishler and Lloyd Barzell will play for the San Antonio Texans and compete in the 70-and-over division.

Two players -- Price and Petersen -- will do double duty and hang around for a second week to play in the 73-and-over division with the San Antonio Red Sox.

Schedules for the Tucson players and their respective teams should be posted on this blog within the next 10 days.

Below is the players from the TOTS who are participating and their ages:

Playing for the 60-and-over Paladin

John Mathews, 62

Mike Dawson, 63

Playing for the 65-and-over Toros

Tim Tolson, 66

Joe Opocensky, 68

Playing for San Antonio

Pigpen Price, 73

Bob Daliege, 70

Pete Peters, 69

Ron Petersen, 73

Bill Mishler, 70 (turns 71 on Oct. 14)

Lloyd Barzell, 68