The lefty ace for the Philadelphia Phillies “Whiz Kids” in 1950 passed away yesterday at the age of 93. He had been the last surviving member of that team following the death of fellow hurler Bob Miller, 94, in 2020.
Here’s his obit by Richard Goldstein in The New York Times and Frank Fitzpatrick in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Simmons began his career as a bonus baby in 1947, beating the New York Giants, 3-1, in a late-September compete game, his only appearance of the year. He went 16-7 for the World Series-bound Phillies in 1950, but was called into the military late in the season at the beginning of the Korean War and wound up ineligible for the Fall Classic, a four-game sweep at the hands of the NY Yankees, despite receiving a 10-day pass so he could attend the festivities (the rosters had already been set by then and he ended up just being able to throw batting practice). Simmons spent the entire 1951 campaign in the service as well.
He was released by the Phillies in May of 1960 and signed by the St. Louis Cardinals with whom he spent seven years, going 18-9 in their pennant-winning season of 1964. He was 0-1 in two games against the Yankees in that Series. Sadly, his death notice in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was only an AP submission.
Simmons pitched for the Chicago Cubs before ending his 20-year career with the California Angels in 1967. Overall, he had a record of 193-183 with a 3.64 ERA in 3,348.1 innings over 569 games (462 starts).
I imagine it must be hard to be the “last surviving member” of anything. All your contemporaries have passed and there’s no one around who can share those memories.
There’s no book by or about Simmons, but he’s included in every publication about that 1950 Phillies squad.
is available on Amazon.com,
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