Adams: Playing baseball has been Torbush's passion

Five members of the Texas A&M defense joined Torbush at the press conference. He's their defensive coordinator.

Three members of the Cubs were there, too. Torbush doesn't coach them. He catches for them.

Now, you're probably wondering if I'm talking about the same Carl Torbush you know. The one you know grew up in Knoxville, went to East High School, graduated from Carson-Newman College and has been coaching football for 30 years.

Yes, that Carl Torbush. The one who was born in East Spencer, N.C., on Oct. 11, 1951. The one who is still playing baseball 53 years later.

Not slow-pitch softball. Baseball. He started playing the game as a kid in Knoxville and stopped only once, when he was a coach at North Carolina (1998-2000).

After he went to Alabama as coach Dennis Franchione's defensive coordinator in 2001, Torbush resumed his baseball career. He played on an over-34-year-old team in Tuscaloosa, much to his boss' surprise.

"He thought I was crazy," Torbush said with a smile. "I tried to keep it from him, but he found out."

Torbush's love affair with baseball is no secret. He played on an all-star team in East Tennessee as a teenager, was an All-American at Carson-Newman and played a year in the Kansas City Royals organization.

He likes baseball so much that he was willing to coach it for four years while also working as a college assistant football coach.

He likes baseball so much that he plans to play again next summer despite suffering a season-ending shoulder injury at mid-season this year.

He likes baseball so much that he will play it with sportswriters.

His shortstop on the Cubs is Robert Premeaux, who is a sportswriter for the Bryan-College Station Eagle. One of his pitchers is Brent Zwerneman, who covers Texas A&M football for the San Antonio Express-News.

I don't know what's more amazing - a 53-year-old man catching for a 34-and-over baseball team or a major-college football coach hanging out with sportswriters in the summer. Torbush has been inducted into the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame, but "Ripley's Believe it or Not" would be just as appropriate.

I can't believe his knees. Put an average 50-something guy in a crouched position for nine innings and his next stop is an emergency room. That's assuming he hadn't already keeled over from the Texas heat.

"I run and try to stay in shape," said Torbush, who has a Masters degree in physical education.

I know plenty of 50-year-olds who can run. I don't know any who can catch nine innings.

Torbush's sportswriter pitcher will vouch for his skills as a catcher and hitter.

"He calls an excellent game," Zwerneman said. "I very rarely had to shake him off.

"He's one of the best hitters in the league. He batted .600 this year."

He calls an excellent game? He bats .600? Maybe the Royals should give him another chance. He would fit in nicely with a small-market team's payroll.

He also fits in well with his younger teammates, including those who write about his defense.

"Carl understands what reporters' jobs are more than most coaches," Zwerneman said. "And he's so affable.

"The players on the team are kind of aware he doesn't like cussing. So we watch our mouths around him."

But one sportswriter talking to another one wouldn't dare characterize a football coach as the perfect teammate. That would be unprofessional.

So Zwerneman smiles a sportswriter's smile when you ask how Torbush runs.

"Not so well," he said. "That's why he's a singles hitter. Some of those singles (should have been) doubles."

But when you can bat .600 and catch nine innings, singles are acceptable. Until Torbush slows down at and behind the plate, he won't consider quitting.

"I'll play ball until I can't play anymore," he said.

Even if he has to play with sportswriters.

Sports editor John Adams can be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.