RetroSimba

(Updated Dec. 9, 2019)

Ted Simmons is the second switch-hitting catcher to earn election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the first to have played in the major leagues.

Of the 19 catchers elected to the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y., the lone switch-hitters are Simmons and Biz Mackey, who played for Negro League teams over three decades (1920s, 1930s and 1940s). Segregation kept Mackey from playing in the major leagues.

Simmons played for the Cardinals from 1968 to 1980. He also played for the Brewers and Braves in a 21-season career spanning 1968 to 1988.

Swing like Kaline

As a youth in Michigan, Simmons was a natural left-handed batter, but he could throw a baseball effectively with either hand. His older brothers, Jim and Ned, encouraged him to become a switch-hitter.

“They’d throw whiffle balls at me from 30 feet away,” Simmons said in the 1977 book, “The Ted Simmons Story,” written by former Cardinals pitcher Jim Brosnan. “I’d swing hard and hit a few now and then. They’d tell me just to relax and lay the bat on the ball.”

Simmons’ favorite player was Tigers outfielder Al Kaline. A right-handed batter who would amass 3,007 hits in a Hall of Fame career, Kaline had a classic, level swing, a line-drive hitter, rather than the uppercut of a slugger. Simmons worked to develop a swing like Kaline’s.

When Simmons got to the majors, he initially hit better as a left-handed batter against right-handers than he did as a right-handed batter versus left-handers.

In 1971, his first full Cardinals season, Simmons hit .333 against right-handers and .235 versus left-handers.

“The last time I hit left-handed against a left-handed pitcher was in Little League,” Simmons said. “They don’t throw curves in that league. It’s a great advantage for a hitter always to see that curveball break toward him rather than away.”

Simmons strived to become as adept from the right side as he was from his natural left side. Determining that his left arm was the key to giving him a stronger swing from the right side, Simmons worked to build strength in that arm. During the winter after the 1972 season, he exclusively used his left arm to throw footballs, shoot basketballs and swat hockey pucks.

That effort helped Simmons elevate himself into an elite class of baseball hitters.

Select company

While catching nearly every game, Simmons batted .300 from each side of the plate in three seasons: 1973, 1975 and 1977.

His 1975 performance was remarkable for its level of achievement and consistency. He hit .331 against right-handers and .333 versus left-handers that season.

Simmons batted .287 against right-handers and .281 versus left-handers for his career. His overall batting average was .285.

In a 2010 article for ESPN.com, Tim Kurkjian reported that just six percent of all non-pitchers in baseball history have been switch-hitters.

“How many of that six percent are even capable of hitting .300?” Simmons said. “Now that six percent goes down to maybe two percent.”

Excluding pitchers and managers, 15 position players are in the Hall of Fame as switch-hitters: Roberto Alomar, Dave Bancroft, Cool Papa Bell, Max Carey, Roger Connor, George Davis, Frankie Frisch, Chipper Jones, Biz Mackey, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray, Tim Raines, Red Schoendienst, Simmons and Ozzie Smith. Within the next five years, Carlos Beltran is likely to join that group.

Among all switch-hitters in baseball history, Simmons ranks sixth in RBI (1,389), 10th in total bases (3,793) and 11th in hits (2,472).

Among all catchers all-time, Simmons ranks second in hits (2,472), second in doubles (483) and second in RBI (1,389). The only catcher with more hits (2,844) or more doubles (572) than Simmons is Ivan Rodriguez. The only catcher with more RBI (1,430) than Simmons is Yogi Berra.

Hall of Fame catchers who batted right-handed are: Johnny Bench, Roger Bresnahan, Roy Campanella, Gary Carter, Buck Ewing, Rick Ferrell, Carlton Fisk, Josh Gibson, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Lombardi, Mike Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez and Ray Schalk.

Hall of Fame catchers who batted left-handed are: Yogi Berra, Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey and Louis Santop.

The fact Simmons batted both left-handed and right-handed _ and did so while hitting at a caliber better than most other catchers in the Hall of Fame _ makes it crystal clear he deserved election to the shrine.