(Updated Sept. 20, 2023)
In 1973, the year he turned 24, Ted Simmons achieved an ironman feat that remains largely unappreciated and mostly unmatched.
Simmons caught a staggering total of 1,352.2 innings for the 1973 Cardinals. To put the achievement in perspective, consider:
_ Hall of Fame catchers such as Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella and Ivan Rodriguez never caught that many innings in a season.
_ The only Hall of Fame catchers who topped Simmons’ 1973 total were Carlton Fisk, who caught 1,355.2 innings for the Red Sox in 1978, and Gary Carter, who caught 1,353.2 innings for the Expos in 1982, according to baseball-reference.com.
_ Yadier Molina, a multiple Gold Glove Award winner, caught a career-high 1,218.1 innings for the 2016 Cardinals. That’s 134.1 innings, or the equivalent of 15 games, fewer than what Simmons did for the 1973 Cardinals. Simmons’ 1,352.2-inning total is a franchise record. The next closest is Tim McCarver, who caught 1,261.1 innings for the 1966 Cardinals.
Randy Hundley holds the major-league record for most innings caught in a season. He caught 1,385 innings _ 32.1 more than Simmons _ for the 1968 Cubs.
Playing primarily on the punishing artificial surface of Busch Memorial Stadium, Simmons appeared in 161 of the Cardinals’ 162 games in 1973. He caught in 152 of those games.
“He’s about as strong a human being as I’ve ever seen,” Simmons’ teammate, Joe Torre, a former catcher, said to The Sporting News. “He’s so durable. That’s tough, catching every day in August and September.”
Looking back at Simmons’ endurance, teammate Mike Tyson said to Cardinals Magazine, “How’d he do it? He was a beast.”
Cardinals reliever Al Hrabosky told the Baseball Hall of Fame Yearbook, “His best attributes were his strong will to win and dedication to being out there every day.”
Shortstop Dal Maxvill said to Cardinals Magazine, “He wanted to be in the lineup every day. He was strong, he was young and he was a real gamer. He would take a foul ball off the shoulder _ chest protectors didn’t have flaps then _ and you could see he was in pain.”
Getting it done
Simmons played in every inning of the Cardinals’ first 91 games in 1973 before being held out of a July 18 night game against the Giants at St. Louis, The Sporting News reported. Although Simmons spent that day serving military reserve duty, he asked to be in the lineup that night, but manager Red Schoendienst decided to rest him.
Simmons established single-season career highs in 1973 for defensive chances (975), putouts (888) and plate appearances (690).
“There were days I felt terrible and I did wonderful, and days I felt wonderful and did terrible,” Simmons told Cardinals Magazine. “I realized fairly quickly there wasn’t any connection. Besides, it wasn’t going to do me any good to worry about it because I was going to play no matter if I felt good, bad or indifferent.”
Though playing the most demanding position on the field without hardly a rest, Simmons excelled on defense and offense.
He caught 50 runners attempting to steal in 1973. Only the Phillies’ Bob Boone, who threw out 54, had a higher total among National League catchers that year. Simmons ranked third in the league in percentage of runners caught attempting to steal (44 percent). Only Bench and Boone did better.
“He’s still not the smoothest catcher, but he gets the job done,” Torre said after the 1973 season. “He’s throwing better and catching better.”
Doing it all
Batting primarily in the cleanup position, Simmons led the 1973 Cardinals in batting average (.310), RBI (91), doubles (36), total bases (271) and slugging percentage (.438). He also tied with Torre for the team lead in home runs (13).
Impressively consistent, Simmons, a switch-hitter, hit .310 against right-handed pitching and .311 against left-handed pitching in 1973. “That was a great shot in the arm _ batting over .300 from both sides,” Simmons said. He struck out just 47 times in 619 at-bats.
“He doesn’t often look bad at the plate,” Cardinals coach Vern Benson said. “He’s so good at adjusting with one or two strikes.”
Rather than wane under the toll, Simmons grew more productive as the season progressed. After hitting .212 with no homers in April, Simmons batted .272 in May, .333 in June, .314 in July, .295 in August and a stunning .391 (43-for-110) in September when the Cardinals challenged the Mets for the division title.
In an interview with the Baseball Hall of Fame magazine, “Memories and Dreams,” McCarver, who had returned to the Cardinals in 1973 as a utility player, recalled, “That year, Ted Simmons hit more balls hard than anybody I’ve ever seen in the course of a season. Honestly, I felt he could have gotten 350 hits that year.”
Dal Maxvill said to Cardinals Magazine, “Ted has said he learned a lot about hitting from his teammates. By watching Matty Alou from the left side, he learned how to get his hands into a position that led to countless line drives to right field. (From) Joe Torre, Ted says he developed an approach to fight off inside fastballs from the right side.”
Will to win
On a hot, humid Labor Day at Pittsburgh on Sept. 3, 1973, Simmons caught all 22 innings of a doubleheader (the first game went 13 innings) and produced three hits in each game, helping the Cardinals split.
“This is the closest I’ve ever been to a division title,” Simmons said to the Associated Press, “and I’m at the point where I’m willing to sacrifice everything to get there.”
The next night, Simmons made what Schoendienst called the “play of the game” when he stretched for a relay throw from second baseman Ted Sizemore and tagged out Richie Zisk at the plate, preserving a 4-2 Cardinals victory that moved them two games ahead of the second-place Pirates. Boxscore
Simmons had a 19-game hitting streak from Aug. 19 through Sept. 8. He hit safely in 36 of the 1973 Cardinals’ last 39 games.
Asked how he was able to perform so well in the season’s final four weeks when it would have been natural to weaken, Simmons said, “It was the thought of the $25,000 (that went to the World Series winners) and the Series ring.”
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