RetroSimba

(Updated Jan. 30, 2024)

Ted Simmons was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Dec. 8, 2019.

Here are 10 reasons the former Cardinals catcher deserved to be elected:

1. Among players whose primary position was catcher, Simmons ranks second all-time in each of three significant hitting categories: hits (2,472), RBI (1,389) and doubles (483). He trails only Yogi Berra (1,430) in RBI. Ivan Rodriguez leads in hits (2,844) and doubles (572).

Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, a teammate of Simmons with the Brewers, told “Memories and Dreams” magazine, “I played with Teddy and knew how he influenced the team, and his leadership, but it wasn’t until I took a good look at his career numbers and how they compared to other players that I realized what a great career he had.”

2.  Simmons was named to the all-star team eight times, six as a Cardinal.

3. Simmons had 90 or more RBI in a season eight times, six as a Cardinal. He led the Cardinals in RBI in seven consecutive seasons (1972-78). From 1971 through 1980, Simmons had more RBI than all but one player, Johnny Bench, in the National League, according to Cardinals Gameday Magazine.

In a 2020 interview with Stan McNeal of Cardinals Gameday Magazine, Simmons said of Bench, “We were different. Let’s say you were down three runs in the eighth and two men were on, then you might want Bench hitting. If you’re trailing by one with a man on second and two outs in the eighth, you might not want him. You might want me.”

4. A durable, tough athlete who toiled most of his summers in St. Louis’ searing heat, Simmons played in 150 or more games seven seasons (1972-78) in a row. He caught in 130 or more games in seven of his St. Louis seasons.

According to Cardinals Gameday Magazine, Simmons led the major leagues in games caught during the 1970s.

“The fact I caught as many games for as many years as I did in the St. Louis climate was my most memorable accomplishment as a player,” Simmons told Cardinals Gameday Magazine.

5. Simmons had a slugging percentage of .500 or better three seasons in a row (1977-80). That is remarkably consistent high-level production. Neither Bench nor Berra nor Carlton Fisk, for example, achieved .500 or better slugging percentages three straight years.

Al Hrabosky, a Cardinals reliever in the 1970s, told Cardinals Gameday Magazine, “Teddy was as pure a hitter as there was in the 1970s.”

6. He ranks third in career total bases (3,793) by a player whose primary position was catcher. Only Rodriguez (4,451) and Fisk (3,999) have more.

In the book “Late Innings,” Simmons talked hitting with author Roger Angell and explained that there is more than one kind of slider.

“If a pitcher holds the ball with his forefinger and middle finger between the wide part of the seams, out at that horseshoe-shaped part of the ball, you see a big, wide white spot when it’s pitched, sort of a flickering,” Simmons said to Angell. “The white one tends to hang. You can read the white one when it’s about three feet out of the pitcher’s hand.

“The better slider comes when he grabs the ball where the seams are close together. Then the red laces on the ball make a little red spot out there. That’s because the ball is spiraling so hard that it’s like the tip of a football that’s just been passed. The red dot sliders are the hard ones to hit _ like J.R. Richard’s. The red dot I can pick up about five feet from his hand.”

7. In 1975, Simmons established the National League single-season record at the time for most hits by a catcher. He hit .332 that year and 188 of his 193 hits came while in the lineup as a catcher.

8. In a franchise rich with success (11 World Series titles) and notable catchers (Roger Bresnahan, Walker Cooper, Tim McCarver, Darrell Porter, Tony Pena and Yadier Molina), Simmons is the best hitter of the bunch.

“What a hitter,” McCarver told Cardinals Gameday Magazine. “In 1973, he hit more line drives than anybody I have ever seen. He must have hit 400 balls on the button that year.”

9. While he wasn’t a great defensive catcher, he was much better than generally recognized. He twice (1972 and 1978) led NL catchers in assists, and twice (1976 and 1978) led NL catchers in number of runners caught attempting to steal.

Don Hood, who pitched 10 seasons in the major leagues, including with the 1980 Cardinals, told Larry Harnly of The State Journal-Register of Springfield, Ill.: “I respected Ted Simmons a lot. I believe in him. He worked well with me and mixed up the pitches well.”

In 2020, Hrabosky told the Baseball Hall of Fame Yearbook, “He could motivate me better than anybody I’ve ever been around. You wanted him catching you because he was going to win the game with his bat. Offensively, he was going to carry the load for us. He was as tough an out in the National League as there was in the 1970s.”

Pitcher Pete Vuckovich, a teammate of Simmons with the Cardinals and Brewers, told “Memories and Dreams” magazine, “If you were pitching to him, you didn’t have to think. Just bang the glove. He wasn’t given enough credit for that.”

10. In his book, “Tales from the Cardinals Dugout,” pitcher Bob Forsch touted Simmons for the Hall of Fame. Forsch said Simmons hit productively even though “he didn’t get leg hits, and we had nobody in the lineup to protect him.” (Simmons twice led the NL in intentional walks). As for Simmons’ defense, Forsch said, “He didn’t have a strong arm, but he got rid of the ball quick … and Teddy called a good game.”

Simmons caught Forsch’s 1978 no-hitter against the Phillies and he also caught Bob Gibson’s 1971 no-hitter versus the Pirates.

“Catching two no-hitters still ranks as a career highlight,” Simmons told Cardinals Gameday Magazine. “Somebody has to be back there, and I’m glad it was me. When pitchers are on like they were, the catcher just needs to make sure he doesn’t screw up.”