A long-running Tucson baseball team held an impromptu signing day recently, but it didn't involve scholarships or new players.
On this morning, the team was tasked with signing both a baseball commemorating a player's 100th career home run and a "get well" card for a 96-year-old former player who'd taken a fall at home.
The items were fitting representations of the Tucson Old Timers baseball club — a group of 60-and-over players who, despite a seemingly endless stream of heckling and banter, are undoubtedly a team.
For the past 54 years, the TOTs have gathered several times a week to play the game that unites them. The 45-man club is made up of childhood friends, classmates, co-workers and family members — both by blood and marriage.
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.
Current members range in age from 61 to 77, and their experience spans from Little League to the minor leagues, with a handful of players participating in the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series each year. There are also players who haven't picked up a baseball since they were boys.
Formed by players all over the age of 60, the Tucson Old Timers are keeping their love of baseball alive year-round on the mound. The TOTs meet three days a week at Udall Park and compete against other local clubs. Video by Andrea Morabito for the Arizona Daily Star.
The club plays year-round, but typically shuts down for a week or two in October so that players can travel to Phoenix for the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series. The TOTs typically only break for weather.
The pandemic threw the club for a loop, with most TOTs players over the age of 80 opting out. But the TOTs have added members since. Now, the club often has too many players in attendance. Some players are designated runners or hitters, specially so everyone can play.
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." Actually, at age 77, he's the oldest regular player on the oldest baseball team in the nation.
"We're the oldest in Arizona and we're the oldest in the Southwest, and as far as I know, the oldest in the country," Price said of the team, referring to both the players' ages and its longevity as a club. "Floyd (Lance) turned 97 this week. He's still on the roster. He quit swinging a bat, but he was playing a year-and-a-half ago."
Lance is the oldest TOT ever to wear the club's uniform. His last run, scored during a September 6, 2017, game, was the 976th of his career.
Before that, the oldest TOT to ever play for the team before that was a milkman from Wisconsin.
"He played until he was 90 and died soon after he stopped playing," Price said.
Chuck Sabalos dons his catcher’s gear before first pitch of a July 20 game at Udall Park.
There are "snowbirds" and "rainbirds" who play when they're in town, and there's even a youngster — 58-year-old Jimmy Kinion — who is waiting in the wings until he's old enough to become an official member.
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.
"They don't always think that I'm right," Hamelin said of his calls. "But I think I'm right."
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.
"We could be out here all day," Hamelin said.
The team has featured powerhouse hitters, none better than 65-year-old Reed Palmer. He's racked up 100 home runs during his five seasons with the TOTs.
"He's pretty strong," Hamelin said of Palmer. "Actually, he's probably the only one now that hits home runs."
Outfielders Dennis Crowley, left, and Ronald Ryan nearly collide tracking down a fly ball in the early innings of the morning’s Tucson Old Timers baseball game at Udall Park. The TOTs use four outfielders, have no sliding and liberal pinch-runner rules during their seven-inning games.
Creating the teams and batting order is a "minor act in organization," per Dawson, although watching him work makes it clear he's understating the task.
"I put everybody down on the list, then I put down the positions I think they're best suited for. They get a plus if they're the home team and a dash if they're the visiting team," Dawson said. "Then I have to put them together in a batting order that makes sense. You can't have really slow guys in front of the fast guys, or you can't have guys that don't go together on the bases very well, and then I've got to make sure I've got everybody, because some guys forget to sign in."
He joked that with his vision, "everybody looks the same out there."
Prospective players participate in a three-game tryout to demonstrate their ability to both play and protect themselves.
"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.
Shortstop Mike Dawson tracks down a ground ball.
Players come to the TOTs all sorts of ways, but the most common method is word of mouth.
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.
"He moved here and he brought along a friend," Dawson said.
Thirteen of the team's current 45 members graduated from high school in Tucson, with the rest having moved here from across the country.
Retired Pima County Superior Court Judge Chuck Sabalos joined the club in 2010, bringing with him a hot bat and years of experience as a catcher. During his time at Rincon High School, Sabalos caught for former big-league pitcher Pat Darcy.
Before moving to Tucson, Sabalos spent a year at Thousand Oaks High School in Southern California, which was also attended by up-and-coming Kurt Russell.
Russell, who was already making movies at the time, would return to school from shoots "with a different blonde on his arm every time he came back," Sabalos said.
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.
Both Andy and Brad Tolson played for the TOTs. The club eagerly waited for Tim to turn 60.
"My dad played out here for 20 years, and then I came out when I was a little bit young, I wasn't 60 yet, and I played for awhile," Tim Tolson, a Sahuaro High School graduate, said during a game earlier this month. "When I turned 60, he retired and gave me his jersey."
Ten years later, Tolson shows no signs of hanging up his glove any time soon.
The TOTs play year-round, but typically shut down for a week or two in October so that players can travel to Phoenix for the Men’s Senior Baseball League World Series.
Tolson's also done some recruiting for the TOTs, convincing another player, Joe Opocensky, to join the club.
"After I was playing for awhile, our kids got married," Tolson said. "I kept on Joe to come out and play baseball with us and finally he relented. We're grandfathers-in-law."
Opocensky, the club's 2021 Most Valuable Player, had went 19 for 38 in the month of August. Opocensky went 4-1 on the mound last month, leading all TOTs pitchers. He pitched 33 innings, struck out six batters and walked eight.
The stats are impressive, but it's the friendships that stand out even more.
Watching the club during batting practice or as they chatted over snacks and beer after a recent Friday morning game, it's clear there's plenty of love between members.
But to hear them out of context, one might not be so certain.
"'Come on Glen, can't you throw a second strike?,' one player yelled at Glen Vann, who ended up throwng a one-hitter that day.
That was followed shortly after by, "Get it Glen, it's only skin!" when Vann failed to dive for a popup.
"Tim, it looked like you were running from your ex-wife," another player yelled at Tolson, as he crossed home plate for a run. Someone nearby chuckled, saying that Tolson was still married to his high school sweetheart.
"Two hands!" 80-year-old Miguel Urtaza yelled from the dugout each time a player missed a catch or dropped a ball.
"I haven't seen a loss that bad since Vietnam," muttered one player, after the game ended with a final score of 10-2.
Ronald Ryan, sporting thick eyeblack, waits on deck during a July 20 game at Udall Park.
Even the powerful swing of 65-year-old Ron Ryan, who also plays with Dawson and others on the Tucson Aces, wasn't enough to bring his team back to life after Vann left the game. Ryan rebounded a few days later, going 2 for 4 with three RBIs.
Even with the tough loss, it was clear to anyone watching that Ryan and others were having fun.
"It's the ultimate," Ryan said of his time with the club. "It comes in at No. 2, next to spending time with my daughter."
Photos: Tucson Old Timers baseball
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Rob Morse waits his turn at at bat from on deck during the Tucson Old Timers baseball game at Udall Park in July. The players get together for games three days a week.
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Reed Palmer takes a cut in an at-bat during the Tucson Old Timers game at Udall Park in July. The 60-and-over baseball club bills itself as the oldest in the country, based on age.
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Outfielders Dennis Crowley, left, and Ronald Ryan nearly collide tracking down a fly ball in the early innings of the morning’s Tucson Old Timers baseball game at Udall Park. The TOTs use four outfielders, have no sliding and liberal pinch-runner rules during their seven-inning games.
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Larry Abramson makes the stretch to throw a runner to first during the Tucson Old Timers, TOTS, baseball game at Udall Park, Tucson, Ariz., July 20, 2022.
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Left fielder Mike Steele can't quite bring down a shot over his head down the line during the Tucson Old Timers, TOTS, baseball game at Udall Park, Tucson, Ariz., July 20, 2022.
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BJ Bulawin hoses down the infield as the early birds get the diamond in shape for the Tucson Old Timers baseball game at Udall Park, Tucson, Ariz., July 20, 2022.
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Chuck Sabalos dons his catcher’s gear before first pitch of a July 20 game at Udall Park.
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Pete Maldanado has jump back to avoid getting plunked during one of his plat appearances for the Tucson Old Timers, TOTS, baseball game at Udall Park, Tucson, Ariz., July 20, 2022.
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Shortstop Mike Dawson tracks down a ground ball.
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Ronald Ryan, sporting thick eyeblack, waits on deck during a July 20 game at Udall Park.
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Mike Dawson lays down the chalk along the third base line, getting the infield ready for the morning's Tucson Old Timers, TOTS, baseball game at Udall Park, Tucson, Ariz., July 20, 2022.
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The TOTs play year-round, but typically shut down for a week or two in October so that players can travel to Phoenix for the Men’s Senior Baseball League World Series.