TOTS battle record heat in July

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

The 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers battled record heat during the month of July yet combined for 209 hits in 493 at-bats for a club batting average of .424.

Thirty players braved the hot temperatures, with 10 players collecting 10 hits or more. Jon Beady led the way with 14 hits in 22 trips to the plate for a .636 batting average and an OBP (on-base percentage) of .704.

Ernesto Escala, John Mathews, and Mike Dawson tied for second in hits with 13. Escala went 13 for 23, a .565 average, Mathews went 13 for 24, a .542 average, and Dawson batted an even .500 with 13 hits in 26 at-bats.

Picking up a dozen hits were Jimmy Kinion (12 for 23) and Sam Dean (12 for 19), while Mark Rupert (10 for 31), Tim Tolson (10 for 25), Bob Daliege (10 for 20), and Bob Long collected 10 hits in 21 trips to the plate.

The oldest player to take the field in July was 78-year-old Danny "Pigpen" Price, who went 5 for 16, a .313 average in six games, while the youngest player Brooklyn Dave Kaplan, 60, played in seven games and went six for 19, a .316 average.

Other notables for the month included Dave Byars (8 for 28), Jerry Callen (7 for 16), Jesse Ochoa (7 for 22), Ken Nebesny (7 for 19), Mike Steele (7 for 19), Randy Livingston (9 for 14), Ron Ryan (7 for 11), Reed Palmer (6 for 16) and John Cooke (6 for 15).

On the mound, Dawson pitched the most innings (22) while finishing the month with a 2-2 record. Pete Maldonado hurled 18 innings, as did Livingston. Maldonado maintained a 2-1 record, as did Livingston, while Beady went 2-1 and finished with the most strikeouts (12).

The TOTS head into August with the hot temperatures showing no signs of letting up. The players continue to take the field with the first pitch slated for 9 a.m. at Palo Verde Park on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Way to go, TOTS!

Cooke, Opocensky led TOTS' hitters in June

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.

  

Beady dominates TOTS' May stats

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Jon Beady, 61, dominated the batting statistics for the month of May on the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers (TOTS).

Beady (photo left), in his first year with the organization, had his best month since joining the club. The hard-hitting right-hander hit five home runs in May, scored 24 runs, and knocked in 25 runs while maintaining a .596 batting average (28 for 47).

Thunder Tim Tolson, 70, finished second in batting at .571 (24 for 42, while Ron Ryan and Ken Nebesny tied for third in batting with 19 hits apiece for the month. Ryan went 19 for 32 in just 10 games, a .594 average, while Nebesny played in all 14 games and went 19 for 45, a .422 average.

Other notables included Joe Opocensky, who played in just nine games but maintained a .630  batting average (17 for 27), and John Cooke (16 for 35, a .457 average), while Reed Palmer and Mike Dawson were next in line tied with 14 hits. Palmer went 14 for 29, a .483 average, and Dawson batted an even .500  (14 for 28).

Fifteen pitchers toed the rubber in May, with right-hander Mark Rupert sporting the best won-loss record at 3-1. Pete Maldonado went 2-1,while Beady and Opocensky ended up 2-2 for the month. Beady struck out 15 batters in 22 innings of work.

The TOTS are already deep into the month of June and closing in on the halfway mark of the 2023 season.

Go, TOTS!

'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...