Simba

I have a pretty complete collection of autographs from great Cardinals players.  Musial, Pujols, Gibson, Brock, Enos Slaughter, I could go on.  There have been 37 players who have appeared for the Cardinals who have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  I have an autograph of all the Cardinals Hall of Famers who appeared for the team after 1950.  

Musial and Pujols are easily my favorites.  

Pujols is not yet in the Hall, but that is just a formality.  He's easily a first ballot Hall of Famer and should probably ended up on almost every ballot cast the year he eligible.  I'd say all of them, but you know there is someone who will leave him off for whatever reason.   

Stan is Stan.  No explanation really needed.  

Some of the players on the official list that the Cardinals have on their website are fairly suspect as to their connection with the team.  Picking a recent example, they have Dennis Eckersley on the list.  I agree that Dennis Eckersley belongs in the Hall, but I do not really associate him with the Cardinals.  I still have his autograph.

I do own Cardinals autographs of Eck, but if their Hall of Fame credentials were earned elsewhere then that is the card that I try to track down.  Eckersley was a Red Sox, Indian, and Athletic.  Same can be said of former Cardinals like Steve Carlton and Orlando Cepeda.  Also on the Cardinals official list, far more connection to the team than players like Eckersley.  In fact, I am not even sure that I own an autograph of Carlton in a Cardinals uniform, only the Phillies.  

At least John Smoltz is not on the list.  Yes, he was on the Cardinals for five minutes, or seven starts in 2009.    

I also try to find autographs of the Cardinals players I believe have an argument to be in the Hall of Fame.  Whether they ever make it or not is not my decision, but I also like to pick up their autographs too.  Recently Rolen and Edmonds have both appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot and failed to get in....

Rolen's career was shortened by injuries, he lost most of his power during the latter years of his career, but still deserves a lot more consideration than he's being given.  Then there is Jim Edmonds....

who is not even on the ballot anymore.  How did that even happen?  I think I have ranted about this on several different posts, so I will spare you a few minutes of your time.  

I like using the Jaffe JAWS scores on Baseball-Reference a lot to see how players compare to Hall of Famers.  Both Rolen and Edmonds are in the top 20 at their positions and have some similar numbers to the players that have been elected to Cooperstown.  

There are some older Cardinals who have similar Hall of Fame arguments as Edmonds and Rolen, the best of the group belonging to former catcher Ted Simmons.  "Simba", as he was known during his playing days, spent thirteen years playing for the Cardinals.  Mainly a player of the 1970s, he had a cup of coffee with the Cardinals in the late 1960s and was also on the team for a short time in the early 1980s.  Simmons is in the team's Hall of Fame and there is a strong argument that he belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  

His case in numbers is below.  Remember on the awards, that his career paralleled Johnny Bench.  Bench played on a winning team, Simmons did not.  Let all the Hall of Fame arguers, especially Cardinals and Reds fans, remember that Barry Larkin only won 3 Gold Gloves, still in the Hall, and he played 11 years of his career while Ozzie was active......

• Simmons appeared in 8 All-Star games 
• Won the National League Silver Slugger in 1980.  
• Received MVP votes in 7 different seasons
• His career WAR totals align with the average of the other 15 catchers already in the Hall of Fame. 
• Simmons retired as the all-time hits leader amongst players at the position
• He is second in RBIs as a catcher behind Yogi Berra
• When he retired he was in the Top 10 for home runs
• and Simmons is 6th in runs scored as a catcher 

He actually came pretty close to getting enough votes during last year's veterans committee meeting, or whatever they call that group of former players now.  

Now, it's not like I have been trying to ignore Simmons cards on my blog, but he's probably the only Cardinals player who is in the Hall, or has an argument to be in the Hall of Fame who has never really had their own post here.  He's been mentioned, had a few cards posted from time to time, but no post with Simmons as the main card.  

Until now.  Someone finally made a Ted Simmons autograph.  Well, one I like enough to own.  He did have an autograph in Panini's Golden Age set, but those cards looked terrible.  

This is a Ted Simmons card.....

This is from this year's Topps Archives set.  He actually has two certified autographs this year, the other is in a Panini product, it's not bad looking, but it is also not on a 1977 Topps designed card.  Definitely in the window of Simba's prime.  

I like the backs of the 1977 Topps cards, so you get to see that too.....

I love that there is a Walt Dropo cartoon on the back of the card.  Great baseball name and the cartoon is looks in line with something Topps would have put on the back of a baseball card in the 1970s.  Simmons actual 1977 card had a cartoon about Jimmy Reese.  

Overall, a really nice card and it checks off a big box for my Cardinals collection.