(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Curt Simmons...
(1929 - 2022) |
 Philadelphia Phillies-icon and Hall of Famer Curt Simmons passed away
Nederlands
 AMBLER, Pennsylvania (USA) -
Curt Simmons, who pitched in 20 Major League-seasons, including 13 with Philadelphia Phillies, passed away on Tuesday (December 13) at age 93.
The lefthanded pitcher was part of the legendary Phillies-team in 1950, which was nicknamed 'The Whiz Kids' and won the National League-title.
Simmons also played for St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and California Angels.
Through the years, Simmons has been a teammate of several future Hall of Famers.
Curtis Thomas (Curt) Simmons was born on May 19, 1929 in Egypt, Pennsylvania, a community that is located 11 km north of Allentown and is part of the Lehigh Valley Metropolitan Area.
Simmons has always lived in the State of Pennsylvania and also played the majority of his Major League-career there, as he was a pitcher of Philadelphia Phillies in (part of) 13 seasons (1947-1960).
In recent years, Simmons lived in Ambler, which is some 26 km north of Philadelphia.
Allentown still is linked to Philadelphia Phillies, as Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Triple-A team of the organization, is located in that city.
There, the team plays its home-games at Coca-Cola Park.
Simmons was a star-pitcher in the baseball-team of Whitehall High School.
In June 1947, the Major League-team of Philadelphia Phillies played an exhibition game against an All Star Team of High School-players from the Lehigh Valley.
Simmons was the starting pitcher and struckout eleven Phillie-batters.
The game ended with a 4-4 tie.
Two weeks later, Simmons was signed by the Phillies and with 65,000 dollars, he received one of the highest signing bonusses ever of that time.
After having signed, Simmons went on to make his professional debut at what then was the co-called B-level (two levels below Majors) in the Minor League and was 13-5 for Wilmington Blue Rocks with 197 strikeouts.
His impressive debut led to a quick promotion.
And so, on September 28, 1947, Simmons made his Major League-debut, pitching for Philadelphia Phillies on the final day of the regular season at home in Shibe Park.
On that day, the lefthander was the starting pitcher in the second game of a double-header against New York Giants.
Simmons went the distance, struckout nine batters and gave up five basehits in a 3-1 victory.
He struckout wellknown Giants-powerhitter Bobby Thomson twice.
After his successful debut in 1947, Curt Simmons was part of the starting rotation of Philadelphia from 1948 through 1958.
In 1948, his first full Major League-season, Simmons pitched in 31 games (23 starts) and was 7-13 with a 4.87 ERA, but he walked (108) more batters than he struckout (86) in 170 innings pitched.
That all changed from 1949 on.
From then, he struckout more batters than he walked.
...Cover of the book of...
...the 1950 Phillies-season... |
Simmons struckout a career-high of 146 in 1950 in what was one of his best seasons.
Simmons closed with a 17-8 record in what was a great season for Philadelphia.
Because there were a lot of young players on the roster, the team was nicknamed 'Whiz Kids'.
Simmons was in the starting rotation with legendary righthander Robin Roberts, Russ Meyer and Ken Heintzelman.
Jim Konstanty was the prime reliever (74 games, 16-7, 22 saves).
Philadelphia, led by Manager Eddie Sawyer, was 91-63 in 1950 and captured the National League-title, its first since 1915.
Fun-fact, in 1944, the Philadelphia-team added a second nickname besides Phillies.
From then on, the team also was called Blue Jays.
But the name never was popular in Philadelphia and in January 1950, it was officially dropped.
And from then on, Phillies was the lone nickname again for the team.
As National League-champion, Philadelphia Phillies advanced to the World Series against New York Yankees, the champion of the American League.
New York, managed by legendary Casey Stengel, swept Philadelphia in four games, but recorded four small victories.
After winning the opener 1-0, New York then won with scores of 2-1 (10 innings), 3-2 and 5-2.
Curt Simmons missed the World Series, as he was called to active military service in September after the outbreak of the Korean War.
Because of his military service, Simmons also missed the entire 1951 season.
In 2018, a book was written by C. Paul Rogers III, Bill Nowlin, Len Levin and Carl Riechers about the 1950 Phillies-season, called The Whiz Kids Take the Pennant: The 1950 Philadelphia Phillies.
Curt Simmons wrote the foreword.
The seventeen wins in 1950 were the most in his long career at that moment, until he win eighteen in1964 when he was with St. Louis Cardinals.
From 1950 on, Simmons won 12 or more games in six of the seven seasons he played in through 1957.
After having missed the 1951 season, Simmons came back strongly in 1952 when he struckout 141 batters and was 14-8 with a 2.82 ERA, while leading the Major League with six shutouts.
In 1952, Simmons played in his first All Star Game.
He then added sixteen wins in 1953 and fourteen in 1954, striking out respectively 138 and 125 batters.
After going 8-8 in 1955, Simmons won 15 games in 1956, then twelve in 1957.
Simmons again pitched in the All Star Game in 1953 and 1957.
However, Philadelphia was unable to repeat the success of 1950.
It took until 1976 for the team to win the National League East Division and until 1980 to win its next National League-title.
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...Baseball-cards 1957... |
In 1959, Curt Simmons was bothered by arm-problems and threw in only seven games, all in relief (four as closer).
He was 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA and struckout only four batters.
The next season, Simmons threw in only four games (two starts) and this time, he was 0-0 with an 18.00 ERA.
It led to his release on May 17, 1960.
In almost all of his eleven full seasons (and part of his twelfth) at Philadelphia, Simmons played together with righthanded pitcher Robin Roberts and centerfielder Richie Asburn, who both also went on to become legendary players and Phillies-icons.
Roberts was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976, Asburn (who was the Rookie of the Year in 1948) was elected in 1995.
Like Simmons, both also became a fulltime players of the Phillies in 1948.
Roberts remained a teammate through 1960, Ashburn through 1959, he was traded to Chicago Cubs in January 1960.
Roberts frequently led the league in Games Started, Complete Games, Innings Pitched and StrikeOuts.
In 1952, Roberts led the Major League with 28 wins.
In 1950-1955, he had six seasons in a row in which he won at least 20 games.
Ashburn led the league in Basehits three times (221 in 1951, 205 in 1953, 215 in 1958).
Other longtime teammates since his debut were catcher Stan Lopata, short stop/second baseman Granny Hamner and outfielder Del Ennis.
Lopata was traded to Milwaukee Braves in March 1959, Hamner was traded to Cleveland Indians in May 1959 and Ennis was traded to St. Louis Cardinals in November 1956.
Longtime teammates since 1949 were righthanded pitcher Bob Miller and third baseman Willie Jones.
Miller was a teammate through May 1959 (when he was released), Jones through June 1959 when he was traded to Cleveland Indians.
Other teammates at Philadelphia include Smoky Burgess, Bill Nicholson, Wally Post, Andy Seminick, Dick Sisler, Eddie Waitkus and pitchers Turk Farrell and Harvey Haddix.
In one season, Curt Simmons also played together with two players, who went on to become more wellknown in other roles.
In 1959, amongst his teammates was Sparky Anderson, who then played in his lone Major League-season as second baseman.
Anderson became a very successful Manager (26 seasons) and led Cincinnati Reds (1970-1978) and Detroit Tigers (1979-1995).
With Cincinnati, when the team was nicknamed 'The Big Red Machine, he won the World Series in 1975 and 1976.
Anderson, who passed away in 2010, won the World Series with Detroit in 1984.
In the first weeks of the 1960 season, until his release in May, Alvin Dark was a teammate as third baseman.
Dark was traded to Milwaukee Braves in June 1960.
Like Anderson, Dark went on to become a successful Manager for thirteen seasons.
He led San Francisco Giants (1961-1964), Kansas City Athletics (1966-1967), Cleveland Indians (1968-1971), Oakland Athletics (1974-1975) and San Diego Padres (1977).
Dark won the World Series with Oakland in 1974.
Three days after being released by Philadelhia, Simmons was signed by St. Louis Cardinals for whom he then played through 1966.
That was the beginning of a strong comeback on the mound.
In the remainder of the 1960 season, Simmons pitched in 23 games (17 starts, three complete) and was 7-4 with a 2.66 ERA.
After being 9-10 in 1961, Simmons won ten or more games in the following three seasons.
In 1963, he won fifteen games and struckout 127 batters.
But the highlight came in 1964 when he won a career-high of 18 games and was the starting pitcher in 34 games, which also was a career-high.
He struckout 104 batters and finished with a 3.43 ERA.
In 1964, St. Louis Cardinals captured the National League-title to reach the World Series.
This time, Simmons did play in the Championship Final, which coincidentally again was against New York Yankees, which was then managed by another legend, Yogi Berra.
All seven games were needed and St. Louis went on to win the World Series, 4-3.
Simmons was the starter for St. Louis in Game 3.
He then threw eight innings, left the mound with an 1-1 tie and was relieved by Barney Schultz.
New York won the game in the bottom of the ninth on a lead-off, walk-off homerun by Yankee-legend Mickey Mantle.
With St. Louis leading 3-2 in the Series, Simmons also was the starter in Game 6 at home in Busch Stadium.
This time, the lefthander was less successful.
Although Simmons struckout six batters, he also gave up seven basehits and three runs in 6 1/3 inning.
New York added five more runs off of two relievers in the eighth inning and won 8-3.
Simmons was the losing pitcher.
But the next day, St. Louis Cardinals came back and won the all-deciding seventh game with a 7-5 score.
Winning pitcher was legend Bob Gibson, who pitched on only two days rest.
Despite being tired (this was his third start), Gibson went the distance and struckout nine batters to lead his team to the World Series-title.
In 1965, Simmons was 9-15 with a 4.08 ERA, then was 1-1 in the first ten games of the 1966 season.
On May 20 of that year, the lefthander was sold to Chicago Cubs.
In his seven seasons (five full) at St. Louis, Simmons played together with three others legends and future Hall of Famers, being righthanded pitcher Bob Gibson, outfielder/first baseman Stan Musial and second baseman Red Schoendienst.
Gibson was a teammate during his entire stay in St. Louis and was a rising star when Simmons joined the team in 1960.
Gibson, who passed away in October 2020, pitched in 17 seasons (251 wins, 3,117 strikeouts) for St. Louis through 1975 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981.
Musial was the National League Most Valuable Player in 1943, 1946 and 1948.
Until his retirement after the 1963 season, Musial played in 22 years (3,630 basehits) for St. Louis and was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1969.
Musial passed away in January 2013.
Schoendienst played in 19 Major League-seasons through 1963.
He then was a Coach of St. Louis in 1964 and became the Manager in 1965.
Schoendienst, who passed away in 2018, led the team through 1976, then came back as interim-Manager in 1980 and 1990.
He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1989.
In his last seasons at St. Louis, Simmons played together with three other future Hall of Famers, being outfielder Lou Brock (in 1964-1966, Hall of Fame 1985, he passed away in 2020), pitcher Steve Carlton (in 1965-1966, Hall of Fame 1994) and first baseman Orlando Cepeda (1960, Hall of Fame in 1999).
Other wellknown teammates at St. Louis were Ken Boyer, Curt Flood, Alex Grammas, Dick Groat, Julian Javier, Dal Maxvill, Tim McCarver, Carl Sawatski, Bob Uecker, Bill White and pitchers Nelson Briles, Ernie Broglio, Roger Craig, Mike Cuellar, Larry Jackson and Ray Sadecki.
In the remainder of the 1966 season, Simmons was 5-8 for Chicago, pitching in 29 games (15 starts, 7 as closer) with a 4.23 ERA.
Another change followed in the 1967 season.
Through early August, Simmons pitched in 17 games (14 starts) for Chicago and was 3-7 with a 4.94 ERA.
Chicago then sold his contract to California Angels.
In the remainder of the season, Simmons appeared in 14 games for his new club (four starts) and was 2-1.
Simmons was then released after the season in October.
That also ended his Major League-career.
In his short stay at Chicago, Simmons again played with some future Hall of Famers, being short stop Ernie Banks (Hall of Fame 1977), righthanded pitcher Fergie Jenkins (1991), third baseman Ron Santo (2012) and outfielder Billy Williams (1987).
Banks passed away in 2015, Santo in 2010.
Other teammates included Glenn Beckert, Randy Hundley, Don Kessinger and pitchers Ken Holtzman and Joe Niekro.
In July 1966, Simmons was re-united with his former teammate Robin Roberts.
After the 1961 season, the pitcher was sold by Philadelphia Phillies to New York Yankees for whom he never played in the Major League.
Roberts continued his career with Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros.
After being released by Houston in July 1966, Roberts was signed by Chicago Cubs and thus became a teammate again of Simmons.
Roberts was released again in October 1966 and that also ended his long and impressive career.
In the final two months of the 1967 season at California, teammates of Simmons included José Cardenal, Jim Fregosi, Jay Johnstone, Bobby Knoop, Don Mincher and Buck Rodgers.
Fregosi, who passed away in 2014, later was a Manager for 15 seasons at California Angels (1978-1981), Chicago Cubs (1986-1988), Philadelphia Phillies (1991-1996) and Toronto Blue Jays (1999-2000),
Rodgers was a Manager for 13 seasons.
He led Milwaukee Brewers (1980-1982), Montreal Expos (1985-1991) and California Angels (1991-1994).
In his long 20-year Major League-career, Curt Simmons pitched in 569 games (462 starts, 163 complete) and was 193-183 with a 3.54 ERA, including 115 wins for Philadelphia.
He also earned five saves.
In 3,348 1/3 inning pitched, Simmons struckout 1,697 batters, walked 1,063 and gave up 3,313 basehits.
With his 115 wins, Curt Simmons is in fifth place in victories on the all-time list of Philadelphia Phillies behind other club-legends Steve Carlton (241), Robin Roberts (234), Grover Cleveland Alexander (190) and Chris Short (132).
After his career, Curt Simmons managed a Golf Club in his home-town Amber, together with Roberts.
In 1992, Simmons was the fourteenth player to be inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame.
He also was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (1968) and the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame (2011).
Curt Simmons was the last living member of the Phillies-teams from the 1940s and also the last living player of the 1950 team (Whiz Kids) that captured the National League-title.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to the family and friends of Curt Simmons and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(December 16)
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