Old Timers baseball club is 'the ultimate' for Tucson seniors playing kids' game

  • 📰 TucsonStar
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 98 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 42%
  • Publisher: 59%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

For the past 54 years, the Tucson Old Timers baseball club have gathered several times a week to play the game that unites them.

Caitlin Schmidt A long-running Tucson baseball team held an impromptu signing day recently, but it didn't involve scholarships or new players.

The club's ranks include retired doctors, lawyers, judges, teachers, probation officers, a teddy bear salesman and more, with most every profession having been represented at one time or another. The club is co-managed by Tucson native Mike Dawson and transplant Mike Steele, who played for and graduated from Pueblo High School. Former sports reporter and author Dan Price serves as the team's historian, maintaining detailed records and running an active blog detailing their exploits. Price's Twitter profile proudly declares that he's a"member of the oldest baseball team in the nation.

The TOTs create roles for members whose playing days are behind them. Malcolm Zwolinski serves as scorekeeper, and a handful of former players umpire the games, including 81-year-old Jerry Hamelin, who long ago played for the Triple-A Richmond Virginians, the top affiliate of the New York Yankees.The games are seven innings instead of nine, and teams are capped at three runs an inning. With final scores often landing in the double digits, the rules make sense.

"It's not called hardball for lack of a reason," Dawson, who played for Santa Rita High School, said during a batting practice last month.The club's two most recent additions — Mark Rupert and Larry Abramson — moved to Tucson from Albuquerque specifically to join the TOTs after Rupert happened to watch a game while visiting Tucson.Thirteen of the team's current 45 members graduated from high school in Tucson, with the rest having moved here from across the country.

Tim Tolson is another power-hitter, and a legacy member of the TOTs. His father, Brad Tolson, was a Tucson High baseball and basketball player who was inducted to the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. Tim Tolson's grandfather, Andy Tolson, led Tucson High to seven state championships and preceded his son into the hall of fame in 1993.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 339. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Remnants of Hurricane Kay to bring rain to Phoenix; flood watch in TucsonAs Hurricane Kay makes its way up the Baja California peninsula, the National Weather Service has forecast rain for Phoenix and has issued a flood watch in Pima County west of Tucson. After living here 45 years, remnants of hurricanes rarely end up dumping much across the state. At best we'll have clouds, cooler temps, and breezes, with only local small precipitation.
Source: azcentral - 🏆 585. / 51 Read more »

Research library brings a world of knowledge to the Tucson childrenThe Worlds of Words Center has a collection of 40,000 books for children and young adults, but it offers much more than that.
Source: TucsonStar - 🏆 339. / 59 Read more »

Map: See how much rain these Tucson spots have received this monsoonRainfall is back on the forecast for the Tucson area today and through the weekend. Here is an interactive map of local rainfall totals since the start of this year's monsoon:
Source: TucsonStar - 🏆 339. / 59 Read more »

Photos: 20+ famous people who came to TucsonFrom Ernest Hemingway to Betty White, here are some times famous people visited Tucson in decades past, with photos from archives of the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Citizen. For more historical Tucson photos, subscribe to the weekly Tucson Time… You forgot William Jennings Bryan.
Source: TucsonStar - 🏆 339. / 59 Read more »

Tucson police assistant chief among finalists for Seattle police chief positionSeattle's former fulltime chief, Carmen Best, retired in 2020. Tucson Assistant Chief of Police Kevin Hall is being considered for the position. Haha. Good luck there, Chief. I'd give it less than 2 years until you're scrambling to get away from that hellhole if you get the job.
Source: azcentral - 🏆 585. / 51 Read more »

UFOs over Tucson have Arizonans asking questions, and experts respondArizonans are asking questions after at least two mysterious objects hovered through the Tucson morning sky Wednesday. Attention: Brazilian authorities in the state of Rio are neglecting a gentleman named Thiago Bitencourt Bastos, who had his brother killed by drug trafficking, a prostitute named Rebeca Alves Galdino, is inciting a riot to kill him.
Source: dcexaminer - 🏆 6. / 94 Read more »