TOTS Chronicles: Cuttler's return

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Gary Cuttler, 70, battled through back surgery in 2023 and is back in the batter's box doing his thing, taking to the pitcher's mound on occasion, while playing a mean first base when called upon.

The New Jersey native joined the TOTS in 2022, and it didn't take long for his new teammates to discover he could play the game. In fact, Cuttler would fast-forward his way to the top of the club's monthly batting statistics.

Unfortunately, the back surgery came calling and has kept Cuttler (photo on the left) from the batter's box regularly... until now.

 Cuttler, who is just weeks away from his 71st Birthday, led the club in November with 15 RBI. He batted .444 with 12 hits in 27 at-bats and played in eight of the 10 games.

Welcome back, Gary!

Dan Gruniesen, the youngest member of the TOTS, led the club in hits in November with 15 (15 for 29), a .517 batting average with 12 RBI, while Jon Beady and Joe Opocensky tied for second in hits with 14 apiece. Beady went 14 for 24, and Opocensky finished 14 for 28. 

John Mathews, still working for a living, played in just five games but batted a blistering .733 with 11 hits in only 15 at-bats. Other top hitters included Randy Livingston and Sam Dean with 13 hits apiece, while Doug Harding and J.B. Bulawin tied with Cuttler in hits with 12. 

Closing in on the Century Award with my ball club

 

Old-timers baseball in 2026

Closing in on the Century Award with my ball club

What will 2026 bring to the table? Will my body hang in there and allow me to play another year of baseball? I'll start my 19th season as a member of the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) Baseball Club, and probably my 75th season overall playing on one baseball diamond or another.

I was six years old when I first started playing organized baseball as a Little Leaguer. I'll be 81 in July/2026, but my early New Year's resolution is again to play smart. Less diving...less running, and, more importantly, I'll try to remember I'm an old guy. That's hard to do sometimes.

Once you take the field, step over the white line, and head for your position, we oldtimers forget about age and have one common purpose: make the play.

Yes, it is more of an adventure now. Those high-fly balls off an aluminum bat become harder and harder to camp under. Getting in front of a sizzling one-hopper becomes a 50-50 proposition. Throwing to a target more than sixty feet away seems futile at times. But there we are week after week, month after month, doing our best to make the play.

Hats off to the TOTS, the MSBL (Men's Senior Baseball League), and all the organizations that promote baseball for guys and gals in our senior years.

Photo:

At the end of 2024, I had finally reached 1,600 career hits with the TOTS. Getting to 1,700 hits might be too much to ask for. The hits no longer come in bunches. Legging out a slow roller is a thing of the past. Photo above was from two years ago. Funny how the years just fly be now.

G         AB         R         H         RBI         Career batting Average

1,343  4,230     739     1,601     894           .378

Tucson Old Timers win 2025 MSBL World Series title

 The way it went down...

The Tucson Old Timers began their run to the 2025 Men's Senior Baseball League World Series title in the 73-and-over division with a 12-9 opening-round win over the Southern Cal Dodgers. Joe Jimenez started on the mound for the TOTS and Pete Maldonado came on in relief and pitched the final two innings.

The TOTS won their second-round game with a 12-11 nail biter over the Fresno Grizzlies. Joe Opocensky pitched a complete game to lead the TOTS to a 2-0 record. Jim Sears reached on an error in the last inning and scored the game-winning run thanks to a double from Paul Rosthenhausler as the TOTS' fans were discovering early on who their hitting star for the week would be -- the guy with the longest last name.

The Tucson Old Timers made it 3-0  with a 21-0 thrashing of the Cal Vets. Arnold Mares went the distance in this one and everyone in the lineup contributed to the onslaught. By Day 4, it was evident one of the front-runners of the tourney were the TOTS, who then headed for Goodyear on Thursday for a battle with the Virgin Islands.

The Virgin Islands were a pesky bunch and held a 5-2 advantage early on but the TOTS rebounded from a slow start to win going away at 16-7. Rosthenhaulser continued his dominance at the plate with three more hits and Ernesto Escala added three hits to go along with a couple of key walks.

Joe Jimenez pitched seven gutsy inning for the win over the Virgin Islands as the TOTS sailed to the top of the standings as they awaited a showdown with the unbeaten LA Athletics, a National division team, in the final game of pool play. Win or lose the TOTS had already qualified for the playoffs on Saturday.

The TOTS played well but lost 5-1 to the Athletics, but moved on to the playoffs with a 4-1 record and a date Saturday morning with Red Deer, the team from Canada. The TOTS had lost to Red Deer in previous tounaments, but not this time as they won with a walk-off, 9-8, win. An opposite-field blooper by Bob Daliege fell in front of the Red Deer rightfielder, allowing Joe Jimenez to score from third and cap off a come-from-behind, four-run rally.

Joe Opocensky went the distance against Red Deer and key hits came from the usual suspects -- Ernesto Escala, Joe Jimenez, and, of course Paul Rosthenhausler, who held close to a .900 batting average heading into the finale.

The TOTS' fans in attendance went crazy but the best was yet to come. On Sunday at the Gene Autry Complex in Mesa, the TOTS took on Chicago Fire for the MSBL World Series title.

In the championship game, Arnold Mares pitched all nine innings and consecutive hits from Paul Rosthenhaulser, Joe Opocensky and Ernesto Escala gave the TOTS a 3-0 lead in the third inning. The TOTS added two more runs in the fifth to take a commanding lead. The Chicago Fire scored a run in the fifth inning and a lone run in the sixth.

With two outs in the seventh, a lazy pop fly to left field would end it and the Tucson Old Timers won their first-ever Men's Senior Baseball League World Series title.

Photos: The TOTS championship trophy and the team photo with the MSBL World Series championship banner. The TOTS: The winner of the 73-and-over division at the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series held Oct. 27-Nov. 2 in Phoenix. The TOTS played at some of the major league spring grounds, including Maryvale (home of the Milwaukee Brewers), Goodyear (home of the Cleveland Guardians and the Cincinnati Reds) and Salt River (home of The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies).

Today could be a real Halloween treat for the Tucson Old Timers

 

The Tucson Old Timers have made it to Halloween at the 2025 Men's Senior Baseball League World Series in Phoenix with an unblemished 4-0 record.

The baseball organization, with a mixture of the top players from the eastside Tucson Old Pueblo club, have been around since 1968 and play three days a week at Udall Park.

This year the Tucson Old Timers have knocked off the Southern Cal Dodgers, Fresno Grizzles, Cal Vets and the Virgin Islands this week and now take on the LA Athletics today for the rights to the top seed for Saturday's semi finals. The winners of those two games play for the title in the 73-and-over division on Sunday at 9 a.m. at Autry Park in Mesa.

Manager Pete Peters will send Arnold Mares (1-0) to the mound today at the Salt River Complex in Scottsdale at 1:30 p.m.. Win or lose, the TOTS will play on Saturday (Nov. 1) at Fitch Park in Mesa in a must win to get to the title game.

Of course, Peters will throw the 'kitchen sink' on Sunday with a pitching staff of Mares, Joe Jimenez, Joe Opocensky, Pete Maldonado and maybe using an 'ace in the hole' Paul Rosthenhaulser, who currently is doing his thing at the plate despite a groin injury.

"Paul is batting around .900 for the series," Peters said. "We are getting key hits also from Ernesto Escala, Tim Tolson, Joe Jimenez and Joe Opocensky."

The TOTS are using their only speed on the bases by getting the most out of leadoff man Jim Sears, along with the heart of  the club's batting order of Escala, Rosthenhaulser, Opocensky, Tolson, Bob Long and Herb McReynolds, who are frustrating the opposing pitchers at the senior world series.

The TOTS are hoping for their share of treats this weekend. So far so good.

Livingston, Beady, Tolson led TOTS' hitters in October

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Randy Livingston, Jon Beady, and Tim Tolson were the top three hitters during the month of October for the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers.

Livingston finished the month 21 for 35, a .600 batting average, while Beady went 20 for 28 (.714) and Tolson batted an even .500 with 17 hits in 34 trips to the plate. Beady was the top man in RBI with 13.

Forty-four players saw action at Udall Park, and as a club, batted .366 with 208 hits in 568 trips to the plate.

The TOTS closed down play for the last week of October due to the participation of a dozen players at the 2025 Men's Senior Baseball League World Series in Phoenix. The TOTS return to action at Udall on the third of November.

Go, TOTS!

121st World Series

 

The postseason in 2025 lived up to all the hype. Through all the do or die wild card games, the divison games and the conference finals two teams emerged to fight it for the world series title -- the Toronto Blue Jays as they return to the classic for the first time in 32 years and the LA Dodgers and their superstar Shohei Ohtani.

Toronto won Game 7 tonight 4-3 over Seattle in front of the Blue Jay fans and the Dodgers have had a few days off after disposing of an excellent Philadelphia team, and now the two teams have reached center stage to battle for the big prize.

The 121st World Series should be fun to watch.

Beady continues to produce Judge-like stats

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Jon Beady continues to produce Judge-like numbers this summer, and September was no exception. Look at these batting stats as he dominated the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers.

Beady, 64, batted .750 with a slugging percentage of 1,028.

The hard-hitting righthander went 27 for 36 in 11 games. He scored 21 runs with eight doubles and a triple during the month while driving in ten runs.

Only Joe Opocensky, Mike Dawson, and Reed Palmer knocked in more runs as the trio finished with 13 apiece. Opocensky went 19 for 33, Dawson went 11 for 28, and Palmer went 10 for 17. Randy Livingston went 14 for 23 to finish with a  .609 batting average,  while Doug Harding went 12 for 28 in ten games. Tim Tolson and Angel Durazo finished with 13 hits apiece. Durazo played in just six games but batted a blistering .765 (13 for 17), and Tolson played in all 11 games, maintaining a .394 average (13 for 33)

Once again, Dawson was the workhorse on the mound, finishing with a 3-1 record.  Glen Vann pitched in just two games but was the strikeout leader with nine.

October is here, and fall begins. Go, TOTS!

Photos: Jon Beady, most hits in September (27), Glen Vann,  most strikeouts (9), Mike Dawson, best pitching record in September (3-1)