Give the ball to Billy...

This is my second year with the Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball team. At 64 years old, I'm considered a rookie on the team. Everyday, I show up for practice and I'm amazed at all the players out on the diamond...some are fielding ground balls, some are taking their turn at the plate, and some are in the outfield chasing fly balls.

Probably forty percent of them are in their 70s, another forty percent in their 80s and the balance of the "Boys at Udall" are in their 60s. There's one player who always gets my attention and he is 80-year-old Billy "Doc" Heiny. For some reason, I seem to be drawing a parallel between Doc Heiny and Billy Ray Reynolds, the main character in my fiction novel, Billy's Victory. Now, Doc Heiny is 5-foot-6 and weighs 118 pounds, while the main character in Billy's Victory stands 4-foot-8 and weighs 80 pounds, soaking wet.

And, what is so crazy, Doc Heiny started playing baseball just 12 years ago and just loves to play the game. On the other hand, Billy Ray was just starting to come into his own, in Billy's Victory, just a few months shy of his 12th birthday. Heiny also loves to pitch. He'll take to the mound every time his manager calls on him to do so. He's like the energizer bunny. He'll give you five, six, or seven innings...every time out. And he can still run! Heiny has played in more than one Diamondbacks Fantasy Camp, an event which takes place every January at Tucson Electric Park. They have a nickname for him at the camp. They call him "wheels".

"I enjoy the game and I love being around the guys," Heiny said. "I never get tired of playing." Heiny realizes that 2010 may be the last year for the fantasy camp. "I feel kind of sad about that," Heiny said. Billy "Doc" Heiny is a retired dentist, but one thing is for sure, he's finally found a sport he can stick his teeth into.

Willie McCovey...a class act

From the desk of Dan Price

I read an article recently that San Francisco's Pablo Sandoval smacked a home run into McCovey Cove on the 50th anniversary of Willie McCovey's debut with the Giants.

 McCovey spent most of his 22 Hall of Fame seasons with the Giants, starting in 1959 and ending in 1979. Sandoval's round-tripper jogged my memory, and I recall, as a sportswriter in 1995, I recalled interviewing a retired relief pitcher by the name of Greg "Moon" Minton. Minton also had a lengthy career in the majors. He ended his 16-year career with an ERA of 3.10 while pitching 1,130 innings and a won-loss record of 59-65. Minton retired in 1990.

I caught up with him in '95 when he had settled in Phoenix and had gone into the real estate business. At any rate, he told me this tale about McCovey and a Giants' rookie, whose name escapes me (you know, I'm a senior citizen...give me a break!). Minton said the rookie showed up in the locker room on his first day and discovered the shoes he had brought didn't conform to the Giants' standards. Of course, this unnerved the rookie. But, as the story goes, the following day, the rookie returned to the locker room, and on the bench, in front of his locker, were three pairs of shoes-all in his size, all of which conformed to the Giant's guidelines on apparel. According to Minton, the shoes came from McCovey, and it wasn't the first or the last time he had witnessed McCovey putting his teammates first.

As for McCovey, his Hall of Fame statistics are well documented. He finished his career with 521 home runs and 1,555 RBI. The hard-hitting left-handed first baseman was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986.

The greatest high school game I ever saw...

The greatest high school game I ever saw took place during the winter of 1996 in Mesa, Arizona. I was a young sportswriter...well not so young. I was 51 at the time.

The game involved the Chandler High School Wolves against the powerhouse Mesa Mountain View Toros. What made this game so emotional and so memorable was the fact that two months prior to the game, Chandler's football coach,Jerry Loper, one of the most well-respected football coaches in the history of Arizona prep sports and a former coach at Mesa Westwood and Tucson Amphitheater,was hit by a drunk driver and killed while he was taking game-film to a high school in Mesa.

The Wolves, sporting a 3-3 record, dedicated the remaining games on their schedule to Coach Loper and went on to win six in row to set up a showdown in the state 5A semifinals against a powerful Toros team led by Todd Heap, who is currently a star tight-end for the Baltimore Ravens.

With seconds left in regulation, the Toros were clinging to a 20-17 lead to a team most folks figured Mesa Mountain View should have put away in the first quarter. All they had to do was punt the ball and then snuff out the return.

But Yohance Scott, who went on to play for Eastern Arizona JC and the Utah Utes, ran the ball up the sideline and was thrown out of bounds. To the shock of everyone in the stands, a Toros' player on the sidelines received a penalty for coming onto the field...and to make matters worse another unsportsmanlike penalty was called...and all of sudden, the Wolves found themselves with a field goal attempt.

The game clock had run out and the game could not end on a penalty. Of course, the football sailed through the upright and overtime ensued.It then took three overtimes to decide the outcome, but Mesa Mountain View finally prevailed, 37-30, as Heap hauled in the winning catch.

All these year later and I can still recall the game as if it happened yesterday.

Kubek, Gowdy and Scully...my favorite sportscasters

Tony Kubek,72,who spent nine years roaming the infield for the New York Yankees from 1957-65 and then moved on to the announcer's booth for 24 years as a baseball analyst on television, received the Ford Frick Award on July 26 at the Baseball Hall of Fame ceremonies in Cooperstown.

Kubek was rookie of the year in 1957 and finished his career as a Yankee with a .266 batting average. Kubek, found his way to the television booth in 1966 and hooked up wih the legendary sportscaster Curt Gowdy, and for a short while, teamed up, and enjoyed the down-home, say-what-you-want style of commentator Dizzy Dean.

I remember being glued to the sofa, every Saturday morning as I watched, from beginning til the end, the "Game of the Week". Dean, who won 30 games in 1934 as a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, once said, "I ain't what I used to be, but who the hell is."

Kubek and Gowdy, who died in 2006 at the age of 86, are both in the Hall of Fame where they belong. As is, my favorite sportscaster of all time, Vince Scully, who is still in the booth announcing games for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Scully, in his 60th year with the Dodgers, has a delivery as smooth as they come. If Vince has made a mistake on the air...I sure haven't seen it. He's the man. Scully called Don Larsen's perfect game. He called Sandy Koufax's perfect game. He was on the air waves when Hank Aaron blasted his 715th home run.

If it was up to me, I would've awarded him an academy award for his portrayal of himself in the sports movie, For the Love of the Game. Born in the Bronx (in 1927), Scully is now 81, but if we're lucky...maybe...just maybe... we'll be able to turn on the TV or the radio and catch the "voice" of the Dodgers for a few more years.

AzBCA Hall of Fame baseball coach prepares for 60th year as football referee

Arizona Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame coach Cliff Myrick, 81, will take the field in September to begin his 60th season as a football referee.

Myrick, a former baseball coach at Catalina High School in Tucson (1957-1989), with a 5A state title in 1967 and a runner-up spot in 1977 to his credit, said today,in a phone interview,"It's getting harder and harder to run up and down the field, but this is the year...I'm tryin' for number 60." Myrick was inducted into the AzBCA Hall of Fame in 2000, along with, to name just a few, such names as Jim Crawford (St. David),Roy Coppinger (Coronado), Hal Eustice (Sahuaro), Bob Everett (Gilbert), Ted Fowler (Mesa) and Art Griffith (Winslow).

Myrick still keeps busy in the off-season. "I look forward once a month to our retired coaches luncheon," added Cliff. "We meet over at Randolph Park, discuss different things, and have a lot of fun. I also keep busy working out at Agua Caliente Park, doing odd jobs like cutting down palm trees and keeping the grounds clean."

The work at the park keeps Myrick in shape as he prepares for yet another season, which sometimes, takes him on the road to such places like Winkleman, Benson, or other southern Arizona burgs that light up their football field on a Friday night. Fifty-nine years and counting!

Myrick, with out a doubt, is well-known and well-respected by his peers as a baseball coach and a referee in the state of Arizona.

TOTS pitcher a legend at Hope College

Tucson Old Timers right-hander Ron Boeve, 74, spends his winters in Tucson with his wife, Sonny, and three days a week, during his brief stay in the old pueblo, you'll find the Michigan native over at Udall Park playing baseball with the TOTS.

Unfortunately, his days on the Tucson Old Timers pitching staff were cut short last January when he injured his left arm in an early-morning practice game and found himself back in Holland, Michigan awaiting surgery. "It was the rotator cuff. I won't be pitching for a while," Boeve said recently, from his home in Holland.

And that's bad news not only for the TOTS, but also for the players on his Hope College baseball team. As for the TOTS, finding hurlers who can throw with a zip on the ball...and with control to boot who are in their 70s, is a plus. Ron fit that category. Boeve, who has been the assistant baseball coach at his alma mater, Hope College, for 28 years and one of the team's batting practice pitchers, will be missed this February when the college's 2010 team heads for Florida for 10 preseason games. "We've been going down to Florida for many years," added Boeve. "We get those games in and then we head back to Holland in time to open our regular schedule."

Boeve went on to say that despite the fact his left arm is still under construction, he feels it'll be quite awhile before he takes the mound again. Ron was a baseball and football star for Hope College in 1953-55 and 1958-60. Nestled in between his college days was a three-year stint in the U.S Army with the 101st airborne division. Boeve was selected twice, as a catcher, to the All-MIAA conference team, once in 1959 and then again in 1960. He also played tight-end on the football team. All three of his children are college graduates, Sue and Craig, from Hope College and Gretchen, from American University.

As far as Ron's teammates on the TOTS are concerned, they expect to see him back at Udall Park...say in November of 2010. One thing is for sure, the TOTS will be there. The Tucson Old Timers have been taking the field every year since 1968.

Fun at the movies...what's your favorite baseball flick?

Okay, all you baseball fans out there.

What is your favorite baseball movie? It's probably not hard to figure out my top three. They're all about an aging baseball player who refuses to put his glove away and hang up his spikes...for good.

They are, in no particular order: The Natural (released in 1984), The Rookie (2002) and For the Love of the Game (1999).

Now, The Natural, stars Robert Redford who plays the mysterious Roy Hobbs who comes out of nowhere to join a major league team. Roy's new manager is Pop Fisher, played by Wilford Brimley, who said, after meeting the aging rookie for the first time, "Son, you don't start playing baseball at your age, you retire." And so the friendship between player and manager begins, followed by plenty of twists and turns as the movie heads for its dramatic conclusion.

On the other hand, you have The Rookie, which is a true story about thirty five year old Jimmy Morris (played by Dennis Quaid), a high school science teacher and baseball coach in west Texas, who discovers he can throw a ball faster (98 mph) and better than he did in his playing days when he was a 20-year old fighting for a roster spot in the minor leagues.

As for The Love of the Game, it's a fictional story about a baseball player (played by Kevin Costner) fighting "father time"...as he pushes his aging body, one last time, as he tries to do the hardest thing for a pitcher to do in baseball...throw a perfect game.