St. Louis Cardinals’ Top 20 Hitters

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#16 – C Ted Simmons

In recent history, the position of Catcher has been a position where offense has been an after thought, but in the 70s that was not the case. Ted Simmons definitely stakes his claim to the best offensive catcher this team has ever seen.

Simmons was a bit of a staple of consistency during his 13 years as a Cardinal. In those 13 years, Simmons slashed .298/.366/.459 with 541 extra base-hits (332 doubles, 182 home runs, and 32 triples), posting a wRC+ of 126 as a Cardinal.

As a Cardinal, Simmons highest strikeout total came in 1972, which was 57. After that season, Simmons only had 50 or more once. Simmons also had three separate seasons in which he posted a wRC+ above 140 (1975, 1978, 1980). With his best seasons coming in 1975 and 1978. Let’s take a look a the two seasons.

In 1975, Simmons posted his best overall slash line at .332/.396/.491 with 53 extra base-hits (18 homers, 32 doubles, 3 triples) while driving in 100 and posting a wRC+ of 145. After this season, he posted a wRC+ in four out of the next five seasons. This is including 1978, when he slashed .287/.377/.512 with 67 extra base-hits (40 doubles, 22 homers, and five triples), while driving in 80.

Unfortunately for Simmons, after finishing his career as a Cardinal in 1980 and moving on to the Brewers, he made the World Series at the wrong time against the wrong team, losing to the Cardinals in 1982.

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