Ted Simmons and Marvin Miller have been elected to the Hall Of Fame

[DeliciousBacon]

I'm surprised they're the only ones off that list who made it in, but both are well-deserved!

 

[Mighty Bombjack]

Marvin Miller should have been in long ago; I've already got his auto. Ted Simmons surprises me a bit, and I will wait for the price spike to subside before looking for one of his.

 

[JVHaste]

I believe I pulled a Simmons auto from 2006 Fleer GOTG product, that was a nice set.

When is Roger Maris getting in?

 

[JVHaste]

double post

 

[Austin]

Ted Simmons got only 3.7 (3-point-7) percent of the vote his first year of eligibility and was removed from the ballot.
Now he's suddenly a Hall of Famer?

Even Harold Baines was on the ballot for 5 years.

 

[smapdi]

I'd put that down to the votes in 1994 having a much different view of catchers than today. Not exactly "sudden" but the product of evolving understanding of the game rather than gut feelings and the player's reputation at the time. Being an exact contemporary of Bench I'm sure didn't help, either, because the comparisons are inescapable.

 

[MrMet]

I never saw Simmons play, don’t know much about him, would love to hear more views on this


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[WCTYSON]

I'd put that down to the votes in 1994 having a much different view of catchers than today. Not exactly "sudden" but the product of evolving understanding of the game rather than gut feelings and the player's reputation at the time. Being an exact contemporary of Bench I'm sure didn't help, either, because the comparisons are inescapable.

I never saw Simmons play, don’t know much about him, would love to hear more views on this

Not only do I think it is one reason that Simmons got overlooked but I think it is the main reason. Bench is widely regarded as the best catcher in MLB history, with his combination of defensive skills and offensive numbers combined. If I have the numbers correct, there are only 18 catchers in the HOF with Simmons now being the 19th; also a few of those 19 never played in MLB. That tells me that catchers are woefully underrepresented in the HOF. There is no denying the position is physically demanding, more so than any other in baseball. Simmons was a model of consistency at his position and taken for granted IMO. The voters allowing him to drop from the ballot in his first year is inexplicable, unless they were only comparing him to Bench and even then I'm not sure how they reached the conclusion they did.

 

[WizardofOz1982]

Simmons fell off the ballot because he was the 4th best catcher in the greatest era ever for the position. 4 of the top 10 catchers of all time basically overlapped each other in Bench, Carter, Fisk, and Simmons. That doesn't mean Simmons isn't deserving but it certainly makes him look worse to those who use the "He wasn't even the best or second best of his era" argument. Move his career 20 years either way and he's the best catcher in baseball by a big margin.

He's top 10 in most career offensive categories for modern catchers. He wasn't Bench with the glove but he was above average. Simmons is the 10th best catcher of all time by fWAR* for those who prefer sabermetrics. He's Top 10 all time whether you prefer stats of the old or new school variety. That's deserving of a place in the Hall of Fame and he should have been in years ago.


*Joe Torre is higher but he played just as much 1B and 3B as catcher.