ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Newly elected Baseball Hall of Famer and six-time All-Star with the St. Louis Cardinals, Ted Simmons, will be joining the likes of Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Bob Gibson and Lou Brock with his own bronze statue outside Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals announced the unveiling and dedication of a Simmons statue outside and the retirement of “Simba’s” uniform number 23 will take place on July 31 before the 6:15 game that night. The tribute will begin at 2 p.m. at the intersection of 8th Street and Clark Avenue.
Other prominent Cardinals to wear the No. 23 include David Freese, Fernando Tatis, Cal Eldred, Anthony Reyes and Marcell Ozuna.
The statue, completed by St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame sculptor Harry Weber, will join the existing 11 statues outside Busch Stadium and will be the first addition to the group since Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith’s statue was unveiled and dedicated in August 2002. Other statues include Hall of Famers Musial, Rogers Hornsby, George Sisler (St. Louis Browns), James “Cool Papa” Bell (St. Louis Stars), Dizzy Dean, Enos Slaughter, Schoendienst, Gibson, Brock and broadcaster Jack Buck.
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Simmons will be officially inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. on Wednesday, September 8 with fellow Class of 2020 inductees Derek Jeter, Larry Walker and Marvin Miller.
Simmons, a Cardinals first round draft selection in 1967, played 13 of his 21 seasons with St. Louis, debuting in 1968 at the age of 19. The switch-hitter batted a career .285 with 248 home runs and 1,389 RBI in 2,456 games played. The eight-time All-Star (six selections with St. Louis) and Silver Slugger award winner ranks among the franchise’s top-10 in career home runs (172), RBI (929), and total bases (2,626), and is still the Cardinals all-time single-season leader in home runs (26 in 1979) and RBI (96 in 1972) among catchers. Following his playing career, which included stints with Milwaukee and Atlanta, Simmons served as the Cardinals Director of Player Development from 1988-91 before taking the GM post in Pittsburgh in 1992.
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