Curt Simmons, retired Phillies baseball star, veteran, and former owner of the Limekiln Golf Club, has died at 93

Curt Simmons, 93, of Ambler, retired Phillies star pitcher, member of the team’s wall of fame and the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia sports halls of fame, veteran, and popular former owner of Prospectville’s Limekiln Golf Club, died Tuesday, Dec. 13, of Alzheimer’s disease at his home.

A left-handed pitcher who spent parts of 13 seasons with the Phillies, from 1947 to 1960, Mr. Simmons was the last surviving member of the famous 1950 Phillies “Whiz Kids” who won the National League pennant and lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series.

He won at least 12 games in a season six times for the Phillies and went on to pitch parts of seven seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, two with the Chicago Cubs, and one with the California Angels. He won 18 games for the 1964 Cardinals, who beat the Yankees in the World Series; was a three-time National League all-star; and retired after the 1967 season with a career record of 193-183. He was 115-110 with the Phillies.

From 1966 to 2019, Mr. Simmons, former Phillies teammate Robin Roberts, and others owned and managed the Limekiln Golf Club in Montgomery County, and he held court there almost daily, recounting his dozen holes-in-one and cruising the course in his custom-designed red-and-white Phillies golf cart. They sold the course to developers in 2019.

Friendly and funny, Mr. Simmons liked to share stories of his colorful life in baseball, and he was quoted often in The Inquirer, Daily News, and other publications. He wore his hair in a crew cut for much of his life and liked to ask others as he grew older: “Did your barber die?”

“With an ever-present twinkle in his eyes and a smile that could melt your heart, he delighted us with tales that were priceless windows into the history of the game,” his family said in a tribute. His son Tom said: “When he would tell his stories, we knew it was magic time.”

Mr. Simmons was a popular spokesperson for the dairy industry during the winter months in the 1950s and was inducted into the Pennsylvania sports hall of fame in 1968, the Phillies wall of fame in 1993, and the Philadelphia sports hall of fame in 2011.

On the field, batters said, his disturbing style of turning his back to them just before he threw the ball made it difficult to hit against him. Managers said his variety of effective pitches kept hitters off balance, and catchers marveled at the speed of his fastball before he had elbow surgery in 1959.

» READ MORE: Curt Simmons and Bob Miller keep Whiz Kids memories alive

He missed part of the 1950 season, including the World Series, and the entire 1951 season to serve in the National Guard during the Korean War, and he was sidelined for a month in 1953 after slicing off part of his left big toe in a lawn mower accident. His biggest disappointment, however, may have come in 1960, when the Phillies, looking for younger players, released him two days before his 31st birthday.

“I’m usually a pessimistic kind of guy,” he told the Daily News in 1983. “But I felt I could still pitch, that I wasn’t even close to being washed up.” And he wasn’t, winning 15 games in 1963 and a career-best 18 in 1964 for the Cardinals.

Curtis Thomas Simmons was born May 19, 1929, in Egypt, Pa., seven miles northwest of Allentown. One of the nation’s best baseball players at Whitehall High School, he won national awards, impressed professional scouts and big-league players, and signed with the Phillies as an 18-year-old for a bonus of $65,000, the largest ever for a high school player at the time.

He married Dorothy Ludwig, a childhood friend and neighbor, in 1951, and they had sons Tom and Tim and daughter Susan, and lived in Philadelphia, Meadowbrook, and Ambler. His wife died in 2012.

» READ MORE: Here is a look back at Curt Simmons' remarkable career

Mr. Simmons also played basketball and football in high school but reluctantly dropped football so as not to jeopardize his blossoming baseball career. He played trumpet in the high school marching band and later for the military.

The Phillies suggested he enlist in the National Guard in 1948 to avoid being drafted as tensions escalated in Korea. But his unit was activated in 1950 when the Korean War began, and Mr. Simmons became the first Major League player to leave the game for active duty in that conflict.

He served in the United States and Germany. “Going into the service was just something you did back then,” Mr. Simmons told the Daily News in 1990. “It was just my bad luck that I got called when I did.”

He liked to say, “The bus is leaving,” when his family lagged behind, and he underwent several hip replacement surgeries over the last few decades. He family said: “He was a devoted dad and grandfather, generous and kind, with a strong work ethic.”

In addition to his children, Mr. Simmons is survived by seven grandchildren and other relatives. Two sisters died earlier.

Visitation with family is to be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 6, at the Sandy Run Country Club, 200 E. Valley Green Rd., Oreland, Pa. 19075. A celebration of his life is to follow at 11:30.