When the Clearwater, FL were the pride of men’s fast pitch, they had the Keystone Kids, Ricky Tomlinson and Billy Parker. Tomlinson played shortstop, Parker second base.“He probably was, in my book, the best shortstop that ever played the game,” said Doug Mason, former Bomber third baseman.” He (Tomlinson) could do it all. He didn’t look fast but he could fly.”A lanky 6-feet tall and 195 pounds, Tomlinson had good power because of his tremendous wrist snap, which he developed playing badminton. A native of Valois, Quebec, Canada, Tomlinson started playing at age 11 in the Montreal, Canada Metro League. In fact, he played for Montreal in his first national championship in 1957 and had 22 assists, 18 putouts and one error for a .976 fielding percentage. In 1958 he joined the Bombers and played 10 years. He led them in batting seven times and was runner-up twice. He batted .339 in 1968 in his last season with the team and had a .345 average for nine of the 10 years he played for them. His highest average with Clearwater was .384 in 1967. He batted .361 in 1961 and had 107 hits, the first Bomber to crack the century mark in hits. In 1963, he broke that mark again with 114 hits. Tomlinson participated in .11 nationals and batted .213 including .389 in 1959, .333 in 1960 and .353 in 1961. He was named an All-American seven times. Tomlinson passed away May 30, 1986 of cancer.
