Why this card is awesome: Because what an awesome warrior Simmons was. Yeah he looks old and pudgy on the front, but look at those years and years on the back. He had a great career and is one of the top catchers in history. I just hope he doesn't swallow any bugs by accident.
Cool stat: Simmons had 8 seasons with 90+ RBI, good for third all-time among catchers and more than Johnny Bench or Gary Carter.
8 comments:
His 1976 season sticks out like a sore thumb, I wonder what the deal was there.
Poor Ted; he spends all those years on the Cardinals without winning a championship and then they trade him away to the team they beat in the World Series just 2 seasons later. The ironic thing is that that trade was a huge coup for the Brewers, netting them 3 key players of the '82 team.
Wow, I can't believe the set is almost over.
Wow. Asides from the HR totals. His career numbers seem to be very similar, in some cases better, than Carlton Fisk and Gary Carter
I loved Ted Simmons. He was probably the first non-Chicago guy I really followed. Why isn't he in the Hall of Fame? More surprisingly, why isn't it even a matter of discussion? His numbers are right there with the other great catchers.
Should be in the Hall, simple as that.
I was a Cardinal fan in the 70's as a kid, so Ted Simmons being one of the best players through the decade was one of my favorites. Still, I never thought he was the equal of Johnny Bench; he was always second to Bench. He's more like Bert Blyleven or Tommy John. He had "comparable" career stats to some HOF catchers, but on a year-in year-out basis, Ted Simmons was not a HOF catcher.
In his first book, Whitey Herzog claims to have told the Brewers when he made the Simmons trade to the Brewers that the trade would put both teams in the Series.
Brewers got Fingers, Vuckovich and Simmons.
Cardinals used Lezcano (and Templeton) to get Ozzie; Sorenson (and Silvio Martinez) were turned into Lonnie Smith and LaPoint was part of the rotation. David Green had lots of talent, but never was able to stick.
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