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.
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