Curt Simmons, 1929-2022

With the death of a baseball legend, we must close the books on one of the sport's most famous single-season teams.

Curtis Thomas Simmons was born on May 19, 1929 in Whitehall, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. In 1947, Bob Carpenter, owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, arranged for an exhibition match between his team and an all-star team of high school players from the Lehigh Valley. The game was played before 4,500 fans at Egypt Memorial Park in Whitehall, 65 miles north of Center City Philadelphia and 98 miles west of Midtown Manhattan. Simmons started for the high schoolers, and struck out 11 Phillies. An error cost the high schoolers the win, and the game ended 4-4.

Carpenter was impressed enough to offer Simmons a signing bonus of $65,000 -- about $868,000 in today's money. He was brought up to the major leagues, and made his debut on the last day of the regular season, September 28, 1947. Wearing Number 32, he went the distance against the New York Giants at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. He allowed 1 run on 5 hits and 6 walks, striking out 9. The Phillies won, 3-1.

He was given Number 28 for the 1948 season, and wore it for the remainder of his Phillies tenure. After 2 seasons of struggle, it all came together for the Phillies in 1950. The youngest team in the major leagues by average age, they became known as the "Whiz Kids," and won the National League Pennant on the last day of the season. They would be the last all-white team to win the Pennant in the NL. (The 1953 Yankees would be the last in the AL.)

But they had to finish it off without him. He made his last appearance on September 9, a win over the Boston Braves, to advance to 17-8 on the season -- and he was still only 21 years old. But he was drafted into the Korean War, and while he was granted leave to attend the World Series, he did so in the stands in his U.S. Army uniform, not in the dugout in his Phillies uniform.

Team management chose not to appeal to make him eligible for the Series, and this forced manager Eddie Sawyer to make some tough decisions. Starting Robin Roberts, who would have won the Cy Young Award had there been one then, in Game 1 would have given him just 2 days rest on top of 2 days rest, so Sawyer started his best reliever, Jim Konstanty, who had pitched 9 innings of relief on occasion. It almost worked, but the Yankees win, 1-0, and swept the Phillies in 4 straight. If Simmons had been available, the Phillies might have won a game, maybe 2, but it wouldn't have made a difference.

Simmons missed the entire 1951 season in the Army. In 1952, he won 14 games and pitched an MLB-leading 6 shutouts. He won 16 in 1953 and 14 in 1954, becoming a reliable lefthanded counterpoint to the righthanded Roberts, a future Hall-of-Famer. He battled injury in 1955, but won 15 in 1956 and 12 in 1957. He made the All-Star Game in 1952, '53 and '57.

He was injured again in 1959, and the Phillies released him in 1960. Big mistake, one of so many the Phillies have made, a big reason why they won only 1 World Championship between their founding in 1883 and 2007, and 2 Pennants between 1883 and 1979.

He was quickly signed by the St. Louis Cardinals, and was given Number 31. His manager, Johnny Keane, said, "Curt knows the hitters better than anyone in the league. He has the curve, the slider and the change, and he can reach back and get the fastball."

He recovered to go 15-9 in 1963, and 18-9 in 1964. The Phillies led that season's NL Pennant race most of the way, but lost 10 straight games in late September, the last of which was won by Simmons. The Cards went 5-0 against the Phils in games started by Simmons, and in those games, he went 4-0. The Cards won the Pennant by 1 game each over the Phils and the Cincinnati Reds, with Simmons winning the season finale against the Mets on October 4.

He finally had his Pennant, at the expense of his former team. He started Game 3 of the World Series, against the Yankees, and left after 8 innings, tied 1-1. But reliever Barney Schultz gave up a walkoff home run to Mickey Mantle. He started Game 6, but was outpitched by Jim Bouton. The Cards won Game 7 and the Series anyway.

Age caught up with him in 1965, and he was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 1966, and then to the California Angels in 1967. He retired after that season, with a record of 193-182, for mostly struggling Phillies teams, a 3.54 ERA, a 111 ERA+, and a 1.307 WHIP. Stan Musial and Hank Aaron, who, between them, collected 7,402 hits including 1,230 home runs, each called him the toughest pitcher they ever faced -- and that included Roberts, Simmons' 1964 teammate Bob Gibson, Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax and Juan Marichal. In Aaron's case, it also included Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton.

After leaving baseball, Simmons was a partner with Roberts and others in a golf course in the Philadelphia suburb of Ambler, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His wife, the former Dorothy Ludwig, died in 2012. Together, they had sons Timothy and Thomas, and daughter Susan D'Acquisto, leading to 7 grandchildren.

The Phillies named him to the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame in 1993. He was not related to a later Cardinal star, Hall of Fame catcher Ted Simmons. Nor was he related to another member of the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame, Al Simmons, the Hall of Fame left fielder for the Philadelphia Athletics in their 1929-31 dynasty. 

Curt Simmons underwent hip replacement surgery a few years ago, but it didn't go well, leaving him debilitated. His daughter believes it contributed to his death this past Tuesday, September 13, 2022, at his home in Ambler. He was 93 years old. He was the last surviving member of the 1950 Phillies, the last "Whiz Kid."

With his death, there are now:

* 5 living men who played in Major League Baseball during the 1940s: Chris Haughey, Tommy Brown, Carl Erskine, Larry Miggins and Bobby Shantz.

* 15 living members of the 1964 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals: Roger Craig, Dick Groat, Bob Skinner, Tim McCarver, Mike Shannon, Julian Javier, Dal Maxvill, Bill White, Carl Warwick, Gordie Richardson, Ray Washburn, Ron Taylor, Charlie James, Bob Humphreys and Bob Uecker.

* And 19 living members of the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame: Shantz, Greg Luzinski, Larry Bowa, Bob Boone, Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, Garry Maddox, Ron Reed, Bake McBride, Manny Trillo, Juan Samuel, John Kruk, Curt Schilling, Mike Lieberthal, Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, Jim Thome, former manager Charlie Manuel, and former general manager Pat Gillick.