One man's journey with the TOTS

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

We lost our switch hitter on April 20, 2019.

Carl Brutovsky became a TOT back in 1999. A spunky 62-year-old  from Johnson City, New York, who could beat out a hit with the best of them. Carl was on the ball field with the 60-and-over baseball club until 2015 before moving a few miles north to Maricopa, Arizona with his wife, Mary.

Mary and Carl were married for 53 years and for many, many years Mary would send him off to play baseball with the "boys at Udall" and play he did. The fastest 70-plus year old on the TOTS.

During his stint with the TOTS, heart problems caused him to do a little fine-tuning to keep himself on the ball field. In his 11th year with the TOTS, Carl was saddled with a pacemaker just below his left shoulder. He was forced to pull a switch and become a left-handed hitter in order to protect the added instrument in his body.

Back in 2011, Brutovsky said. "I also wear a chest protector just in case."

No problem. He could still beat out a slow roller and from his new left-handed spot at home plate, he was closer to first base.

And there were many times Carl would come to play dressed in a bright orange jersey.

The late Conrad Royksund, a former player with the TOTS and the club's photographer back in 2014 wrote at the time:  "People tend to loose their place in sentences, reverse the logic of their own arguments, and forget to close their mouths, just looking at Carl."

Royksund went on to add: "All Carl has to do is smash a dribbler down toward third, and the fielders, even if they pick up the ball, tend to forget what they are supposed to do with it, in their fascination for what a runaway pumpkin looks like."

Rest in Peace, Carl.

Photo: A photo of Carl (on the left ) in the dugout four years ago conversing with teammate Floyd Lance.

A special note: A Memorial Service is being planned at the Veteran's Memorial Cemetery in Marana, AZ. Details to come.

A shocking discovery at the doctor's office

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

from the desk of Pigpen Price...



After suffering since last November with a neck injury and unable to make a throw from third to first, I began to assume the worst. No more baseball for a while. Heck with that...play on.

I decide in late March to finally see somebody. By this time, there's a lot of crackling going on and I'm to the point where I have trouble checking for traffic when I come to a light. The X-rays show just what you would expect: a few dark images of an old man with a neck that has all the makings of a crossword puzzle. The primary care doctor advises weeks of therapy.

By this time, I've switched from third base to a completely new position -- FIRST BASE!. This, of course, is where Goldy plays, my favorite player on the Arizona Diamondbacks. Oops! Let's fast forward a bit. Paul Goldschmidt is now in St. Louis with the Cardinals. That alone makes my neck hurt.

It turns out my physical therapist is just a year younger than me -- a 72-year-old die-hard tennis player. He says he will die on a tennis court. Great. I've come to the right place. So, I tell him that I want to be remembered as the oldest baseball player that ever lived.

What I didn't go into was the fact that one of my teammates -- Floyd Lance -- is an active player on the Tucson Old Timers' roster at the age of 93, soon to be 94 in September. I didn't tell the therapist that I needed to rethink that very important goal that I have kept for most of my life.

By mid-April, my neck is still crackling. Time to forget the therapy and sign up for the MRI. The result: more images of an old man with a bad neck. It's off to see the wizard -- a neurosurgeon for a second opinion. By the way, my regular doctor had called and advised, "there's a lot going on in there. It's a mess."

Today, I got the final answer. I'm an old man with an old neck.

The neurosurgeon explained it all. He went over the MRI piece by piece. No surgery needed. That was a shocker. Instead, I'm awaiting an apparatus which I attach to the bedroom door, fill a flask full of water, attach a pulley or two to my neck and begin -- 15 minutes, twice a day for the rest of my life. Well, maybe I'm getting carried away a bit. Still, that's the bottom line: loosen up the arthritis, the bone spurs, the beer cans...whatever is in there!

In other words, let's play ball!

A double whammy for Team White at Udall Park

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Reed Palmer hit his fifth home run of the season in the sixth inning and Phil Gordon knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning as Team White prevailed 4-3 today at Udall Park in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game.

Team White's Bob Daliege went the distance and picked up the pitching victory, while Joe Opocensky was saddled with the loss. Jesse Ochoa and Daliege collected two hits in the win, while Tim Tolson, who batted over .800 for the month of April, went 3 for 3 today in a losing cause.

Last Friday, there were no home runs hit, but once again it turned into a pitching duel between Mike Dawson and John Mathews. Once again, it was Team White holding on for a 6-4 victory. Dawson got the win and Mathews the loss. Singles only in this one with Dawson, Mathews and Danny Boxberger  leading the way for their respective teams with two hits apiece.

Another month in the books for the Tucson Old Timers. The TOTS return to Udall on May 1 for another battle. Game time: 9 a.m.

Photos: 1) The TOTS emblem... 2) Reed Palmer... 3) Phil Gordon

Stanford takes 2 of 3 from Wildcats

Arizona Wildcats Baseball


The losses continue to mount for Arizona as the Wildcats drop two of the three games at Stanford over the weekend. Arizona wins the opener 6-3 last Friday, but fall 13-3 on Saturday and 13-5 today in Palo Alto.

Arizona falls to 19-22 overall and 7-14 in Pac-12 Conference play.

One player who continues to play well for the Wildcats is Matthew Dyer, who extended his hitting streak to 18 games on Sunday -- the fifth longest hitting streak by a Wildcat since 1998. Dyer has batted .481 during the streak.

For the season, Dyer is batting .399 and has played in 40 of the 41 games. The catcher/first baseman, has collected 63 hits in 158 trips to the plate.

Nick Quintana continues to be the power hitter for the Wildcats with a team-leading 10 home runs and 46 RBI. Quinn Flanagan and Randy Labaut sit atop the pitching staff with both Wildcats owning 4-3 records for the season.

How to keep an old baseball player on the field

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Follow along with me as I allow a nano-robot to navigate through my body, searching for answers as to why, at the age of 102, I can no longer play baseball.

OK. So, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's return to 2019, and I have just returned from a 25-minute journey into a "black hole"—better known as an MRI, the well-known three-letter acronym standing for magnetic resonance imaging.

Thirty million people take the short journey every year -- all searching for answers to a medical problem or, in my case, looking for results as to why this 73-year-old third baseman can't throw a baseball across the diamond.

The nano-robot is coming, and when that time comes, chances are my teammates on the Tucson Old Timers will already have me hidden out in right field with an asterisk by my name on the lineup card, signifying this player needs a bathroom break every now and then.

As for now, I'm dealing with a neck injury, and the next step comes Monday when I see a neurosurgeon go over the "findings" of my journey through the black hole.

I already have a copy of the MRI. Is that really me? It looks like somebody is playing checkers in my body and has no idea how to play the game. The scary images are dark, but to be honest, the inner body is mind-boggling. The whole thing is way above my pay grade. Wait a minute! I do not have a pay grade. I've been on Social Security for almost 12 years.

To be honest with you, the report on my neck injury isn't pretty. I could be facing...well, life away from the baseball field. In jeopardy: my run at the MSBL World Series, a prestigious event that comes around every October for more than 3,000 amateur baseball players from all over the country who are as crazy about baseball as I am.

Closer to home, I already miss being with the "guys" on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at Udall Park. On those days, every week, year in and year out, the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers play the game of baseball.

It's simply the best gig in town for an old-timer who loves to play America's favorite pastime.

My closest friends and family members say it is time to hang up my baseball shoes for good. After all, my injury list is as long as a weekly grocery list -- hand surgery, foot surgery, eye surgery, and a heart attack -- not to mention the menacing hamstring tears, bone spur problems, you name it...I have experienced it.

But to be honest with you, so have many members and teammates on the Tucson Old Timers.

The battle continues...

from the desk of Pigpen Price

This article was published six years ago. I'm currently out of action with an annoying upper hamstring injury... and it's May 2025!

Ochoa's single lifts Team White to 12-11 walk-off win

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

There were plenty of hitting stars today at Udall Park in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game.

Team Blue's Mike Dawson hit an inside-the-park homer-- a 3-run shot all the way to the fence in right center and teammate Reed Palmer blasted another long home run -- his fourth of the season, but it wasn't enough to pull out a win as Team White prevailed in walk-off fashion, 12-11.

The winning hit came from Jesse Ochoa, who singled in a run in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Team White came from behind with a three-run rally to take down Team Blue.

Lloyd Barzell, Team White's leadoff batter, collected four hits in four trips to the plate, while teammates Tim Tolson and Joe Opocensky combined for five hits to add to the hitting onslaught.

Opocensky was the starting pitcher for Team White and went the distance to pick up the win, while Dawson, despite legging out his 3-run round-tripper, was saddled with the loss.

As for Palmer, he's now tied for the club lead in home runs over the fence with Tolson.

All the players mentioned above are in their 60s -- the "young studs" on the TOTS.

The big hitters and the rest of the TOTS will return to action on Friday at Udall. Game time: 9 a.m.

Photo: Ochoa, who had the final say today at Udall Park in a walk-off win for Team White.

Early starting time no problem for old timers

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

This time of the year the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) roll out a new starting time for their baseball games at Udall Park.

It's the right thing to do. Instead of a 10 a.m. start(winter hours), the TOTS' games get underway on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m. in order to beat the heat. A seven-inning game can wrap up somewhere between 11 a.m. and noon and then the TOTS can pack up, get in their vehicles and head home for a cool one by the pool.

After all, the TOTS range in age from 60 to 93. So, the old timers are always looking for ways to make playing America's favorite pastime a bit easier on the body.

The players certainly enjoyed the "cooler" start today. The game turned into a pitching duel between Team Blue's Mike Dawson and Team White's Bob Daliege.

Daliege's team had just enough extra base hits to pull out a 4-2 win and the temperature stayed near the 70-degree mark for most of the game.

Team White's Tim Boyd was a perfect 3 for 3 today, while teammates Dennis Crowley and Tim Tolson collected two hits apiece. Dawson went 2 for 2 for Team Blue.

The TOTS will be back in action on Wednesday at Udall. Game time: 9 a.m.