Tom-Toms beating drums again

BJ newsroom retiree Tom Moore, 80, Facebooks this:

"Back in fla. for the roy hobbs world series. We have 212 teams this year."

This will be Richmond, Virginia native Tom Moore's eighth year of providing daily accounts for the baseball tournament run by former BJ sports editor Tom Giffen. It's the 23rd year for the tournament named after the Robert Redford character in "The Natural" movie.

The teams are placed in divisions according to age, 28 to 80.

Giffen uses the spring training facilities of the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers, Florida. An 18-wheeler took Giffen's office from Akron-Peninsula Road to Ft. Myers.

The event brings $9 million into the Fort Myers economy.

Giffen in 1990 formed a four-team league of adult men playing out of Akron. The next year the league grew to 11 teams and joined Roy Hobbs Baseball, which was owned by Ron Monks of California. In 1992 Monks sold Roy Hobbs Baseball to Giffen and his wife, Ellen.

Giffen, 62, does this despite having leukemia (in remission), hips replaced and a stent for his heart problem.