Like a Rock

Like a rock…

Lately, I've been into Bob Seger's songs. 

After all, it stands to reason because we are both the same age.

There are many singers I can relate to. Seger is special, and his songs stand the test of time. My playlist is filled with a diverse group of artists: some country, some rock, a heck of a lot of blues, and, of course, the music from the 60s from not only Seger but just about any artist who can take me away from it all for three minutes at a time.

George Jones could do it. Of course, he is gone now.

Seger can get me thinking back to where it all began. My favorite songs are "Like a Rock," "Turn the Page," and "Against the Wind."

I'm not sure I was ever a rock. If I ever was, I certainly have enough chips on my torso to prove that, if anything, I was a fragile one. I've certainly turned my share of pages, and I know for a fact that I've been against the wind for a good portion of my life. Fortunately, I'm 80 now and no longer run anywhere, except maybe to first base if I ever get a hit on my 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers team.

My teammates keep me grounded when they say, "You call that running!"

Alan Jackson is another singer who can take me back in time. One song in particular is "Remember When."

I certainly remember when!

Palmer cruises to 6-2 TOTS win

 Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Reed Palmer had it going today.

The tall right-hander allowed just two runs en route to a 6-2 win over Team Blue at Udall Park today as Team White scored three runs in the first and three more in the fifth inning for an easy win.

Pete Peters, Mike Dawson and Palmer, all went 2 for 3 and drove in two runs apiece to complete the scoring for Team White, while Bobby Long and Pete Maldonado knocked in the only two runs for Team Blue.

Ron Ryan also had a good day for Team White with a 3 for 4 day and Brad Vermeer drilled the longest  ball today to the warning track in center field. It turned out to be a long single as centerfielder Mark Capley grabbed the ball off the fence, and fired the ball back to the infield, keeping the not-so-speedy Vermeer at first base.

The TOTS will be off on Friday and return to Udall on Monday. Game time: 10 a.m.

Photo: Reed Palmer

The Roland Boys continued...

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Doc and Gary Thompson

Sixty years ago, DeLon "Doc" Thompson signed a contract with the Minnesota Twins and played a couple of years of minor league ball. Doc, now a member of the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers, grew up in Roland, Iowa with older brother, Gary, who just happened to set a trail to stardom in Iowa basketball and became an all-American and even found his way to the Ed Sullivan show with the other all-Americans, including Wilt Chamberlain. The gym floor (see above photo) in Roland was renovated in 2016, bearing Gary's signature.

As for Doc, besides playing baseball with the TOTS, he has enjoyed a career in country music. Although, at the age of 78, he's content with playing baseball three days a week with the Tucson Old Timers, but still finds time to do some business transactions with his music.

"In my song writing, I have tried to stay true to the classic sounds of country music and country-Gospel music," says Doc Thompson. "I still enjoy writing love songs, story songs, feel-good songs and romantic songs."

Thompson still enjoys the game of baseball.

And yes he can still pitch. Just ask the players on the Tucson Old Timers.

 

Old Pueblo 9 Tucson Aces 8

Today's Tucson Aces game at Santa Rita

Tucson Aces and Old Pueblo tangled in the dust of Santa Rita Park today. When dust settled OP came out 9 - 8 winners. Plenty of hits on both sides as Mike Dawson and Rudy Duarte threw strikes. After Aces jumped out to 5-0 lead, OP scratched back to tie the game at 7-7 in the fifth inning. Old Pueblo took a 9-7 lead into the seventh. Aces rally came up short with tying run on second base and slugger Reed Palmer at bat. Duarte induced a harmless infield pop up. (to end the game)

Note: Thanks, Mike. Pigpen can certainly use the help these days. Aces fall to 17-2.

Opocensky, Dawson lead Team White to 6-1 TOTS win

Tucson Old Timers

60-and-over baseball

Joe Opocensky pitched a complete game, allowing one run on nine hits, while shortstop Mike Dawson made five putouts and collected four assists to lead Team White to a 6-1 win in a 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers game today at Udall Park. 

Opocensky struck out two and walked one, while Team Blue's Ernesto Escala was saddled with the loss, despite pitching well with three strike outs. Team White scored a run in the first, two in the third, two more in the fifth and another run in the sixth.

Dawson had two hits on the day and knocked in four runs, while Team Blue's Bill Mishler and Ken Nebesny collected two hits apiece. Rookie Mark Capley, who was welcomed to the club today by Dawson, collected two hits for the winning team, as did TOTS veteran Tim Boyd, who singled and doubled.

The father-son combination of Pigpen Price and Mike Price went 3 for 6 and scored a run. Pigpen is 75 and his son turns 56 on November 30. Mike still has four years to go before becoming an official TOT, but was allowed to see action today, due to the low turnout. 

The last time the Price combo played together was back in 2012 when both players played for the 38-and-over Orioles (see photo below) in the Tucson MSBL at Reid Park.

The TOTS will be back at Udall on Wednesday with a 10 a.m. start time. The TOTS will take Friday off, due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

TOTS welcome three new players

 

Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

The 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers are getting younger all the time with three new additions to the club this week. The trio includes Bobby Williams Jr., a Palo Verde High School grad, from back in the day; Mark Capley, another Tucson product from Rincon High School, again from back in the day, and the third addition is 65-year-old Rick Bitzer, who comes to the TOTS with some baseball credentials.

Bitzer, pictured above, is a former Tucson MSBL player/manager who managed the 45-and-over Cubs for 16 years and logged 17 years in the organization, which has teams and rosters full of ball players just a little bit younger than a TOTS regular -- some 25 to 30 years younger... and in some cases there may be a 40-year age difference.

It'll definitely be a learning experience for Bitzer, but after two weeks of action at Udall Park, he seems to be fitting in rather nicely.

"When Covid-19 hit and all three of my teams folded (he was also player/manager or was involved with the Tucson MSBL 25-and-over, as well as a 18-and over independent league), I thought I was done with baseball." Bitzer said.

Bitzer has discovered in a few short weeks that the TOTS keep on plugging year, after year...after year. In fact, the TOTS missed only March and a couple of weeks of April this year and it has been full speed ahead since the beginning of May. The TOTS are just six weeks away from completing its 53rd season.

Welcome aboard to all three newcomers. Rick has got a little head start on Williams and Capley, who are both a bit younger than Rick and still may be logging some work time.

The TOTS, and hopefully all three "rookies" will be begin yet another week of action on Monday. Game time: 10 a.m.

79-year-old rancher feels at home on a saddle or in the batter's box

 Tucson Old Timers (TOTS)

60-and-over baseball

Arnie White has been a member of the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers since 2010. Arnie was born in Fulton, New York, a long time ago. Well,  not so long ago if you consider his teammates on the TOTS  range in age from 60 to 94.

Like so many members of the TOTS, White has had a career which borders on the unbelievable. A fighter pilot, a commercial pilot, a retired professor from the University of Arizona, a golf instructor, and a rancher who lives with his wife, Michelle, on 85 acres, outside of Red Lodge, Montana.

Like all TOTS, Arnie loves to play the game of baseball and he's back on the field at Udall Park this fall and winter playing one of the games he loves. Golf may be a close second or just may be No. 1 on his list. Arnie is and has always been a well-conditioned athlete.

Arnie turned 79 on November 11, 2020 and he can still pull a baseball with the best of them.

Today, Arnie was back on the field at Udall and on his first at bat in a TOTS' game in more than six months, he drills a shot to left field on the first pitch off Team Blue's hard-throwing, right-hander Reed Palmer.

Like so many others on the TOTS, Arnie is forced into battling health issues. White has developed Parkinson's, but it hasn't stopped him from playing ball or riding horses. Today, Arnie came down off the saddle and stepped into the batter's box.

"It's frustrating," says White. "I just can't be as mobile as I used to be."

Like all the TOTS, White has no quit in him and he plans to make a trip to Montana soon to pick up his horses and bring them to Tucson for the winter...and, of course,  he will continue to step into the batter's box and play ball with the Tucson Old Timers.

Arnie is right at home on a golf course, ramrodding his ranch or at Udall Park swinging for the fences. He's also at home in the air as well. White has pretty much done it all.

Happy Birthday, Arnie.

Photo: Arnie White

TOTS note: Team White edged Team Blue 6-4 today at Udall. Mike Dawson picked up the win and Palmer was saddled with the loss. Palmer blasted his second home run in 10 days, but both homers were unofficial. Both teams were short a player today and last Friday and both games did not count in the regular monthly statistics. Palmer has 11 homers this year, officially.