Curt Simmons, All-Star left-hander and the last of the Whiz Kids, dies at 93

Curt Simmons, the beetle-browed bonus baby who debuted as an 18-year-old Phillies flamethrower and later reinvented himself as a crafty soft-tosser in St. Louis, died in his Ambler home on Tuesday. He was 93.

A Lehigh Valley native who ended a spirited bidding war by signing with the Phillies in 1947, Mr. Simmons was the last of the Whiz Kids, the youthful 1950 Phillies team that captured the city’s imagination and the franchise’s first pennant in 35 years. He won 193 big-league games and was a three-time National League All-Star. Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Stan Musial both cited Mr. Simmons as the pitcher who gave them the most trouble.

“It was that motion of his,” Aaron explained in 1987. “He would turn his body, give me a view of his backside, then he would throw and I wouldn’t see the ball until a split second before he would let it go ... then it came floating in like plastic.”

» READ MORE: From the archives: Why Phillies pitcher Curt Simmons missed the 1950 World Series is hard to fathom today

Though often overshadowed by longtime rotation mate Robin Roberts, Mr. Simmons left his mark on two memorable Phillies seasons 14 years apart.

The left-hander won 17 games for the 1950 pennant-winners but missed the World Series when his National Guard unit was activated in September. Fourteen years later, when he went a career-best 18-9 for the world-champion Cardinals, he defeated his former team four times, including an 8-5 win on Sept. 30 that completed the ’64 Phils’ historic 10-game collapse.

Though Mr. Simmons missed all of 1951 while in the military, was limited by an elbow injury to just 10 innings in 1959, and sliced off the tip of his left big toe in a 1953 lawn-mower accident, he managed 103 victories during the 1950s for mostly mediocre Phillies teams.

Then in 1960, at just 31, he was released during a West Coast road trip. Mr. Simmons signed with St. Louis and over the next six seasons won 68 games and helped the Cardinals reach the 1964 World Series. He started twice in that World Series, getting the loss in Game 3 despite limiting the Yankees to one run in eight innings.

Mr. Simmons returned to this area following his 1967 retirement and he and Roberts owned and operated the Limekiln Golf Course in Ambler. He was added to the Phillies Wall of Fame in 1993 and inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

“I had my ups and downs, arm problems and some tough luck like cutting my toe with a lawn mower in 1953 when I was having a good year,” he said in 2014. “But 1964 was certainly a highlight, especially the World Series.”

The population of tiny Egypt was barely over 700, but on the night of June 7, 1947, 6,252 fans gathered in that hamlet just north of Allentown to watch Mr. Simmons, an 18-year-old hometown hero, pitch for his local amateur team in an exhibition game against the Phillies.

Fifteen of the 16 big-league teams were then scouting the teenaged lefty, who had led his Coplay American Legion team to two state titles. As a Whitehall High senior, he’d yielded just 12 hits in 43 innings while striking out 102.

His steelworker father promised the Phillies he’d give them the final offer when the bidding started. As part of that agreement, and as a way to see how Mr. Simmons performed against major leaguers, the Phillies scheduled the Egypt exhibition.

Mr. Simmons struck out the first two batters and ended up with 11 Ks in a 4-4 tie. A few weeks later, Philadelphia signed him for $65,000, then a record bonus. Ex-Phils manager and longtime big-league scout Hans Lobert called Mr. Simmons the best prospect he’d ever seen.

“He has a sizzling fastball and a good curve,” Lobert told The Inquirer.

» READ MORE: The Phillies’ World Series history, from The Inquirer photo archives

Mr. Simmons was promoted from Wilmington to pitch the ’47 Phils’ final game. He shut out the New York Giants for eight innings and struck out nine in a 3-1 victory.

Concerned by his awkward, across-the-body motion, the Phillies tried to adjust his delivery. Mr. Simmons struggled initially, going 7-12 in 1948 and 4-10 in 1949.

He returned to his original windup in 1950 and, along with the 23-year-old Roberts, pitched the young and exciting Phils into first place. He was 17-8 with a 3.40 ERA when he was summoned to military service on Sept. 4, the first major-leaguer called up during the Korean War.

“It hurt like hell to get on that train,” Mr. Simmons said in 2009. “I went from the top of the world to the bottom real quick.”

A day before Game 1 of the ‘50 Series, Mr. Simmons received a pass to attend. But because postseason rosters had to be set in advance, he was ineligible. He did throw batting practice before two of four straight victories by the Yankees, who limited the Phils to a total of five runs.

“I probably put them in a slump,” he said.

Mr. Simmons missed the 1951 season while serving in Germany, but went 14-8 on his 1952 return, was the National League’s All-Star Game starter, and led the league in shutouts with six. Then came the lawn-mower accident in June 1953.

“I was mowing a hill at home and pulled the mower back on my left foot,” Mr. Simmons said. “Fortunately, I had my old Army boots on. I lost about half-an-inch of my big toe, but it truly didn’t bother me that much. When my arm got sore in 1954 and 1955 — that’s what bothered me.”

Despite the lawn-mower setback, in 1954 he posted career bests of 21 complete games and a 2.81 ERA.

But by 1959, the Phils were entrenched in last place and elbow and shoulder ailments had diminished Mr. Simmons’ effectiveness. After four rocky starts in 1960, he was released.

Several teams expressed interest, including the Cardinals, whose manager, Solly Hemus, had played with Mr. Simmons in Philadelphia. The 31-year-old lefty convinced his old teammate he could still win and St. Louis signed him for $30,000, $10,000 more than he’d earned with the Phils the previous year.

By then, at the urging of Phils manager Eddie Sawyer, he’d become a different pitcher, relying on his funky delivery, his offspeed pitches, and his mind.

“I’m a pitcher now, no longer a thrower,” Mr. Simmons said at the time. “My strength is the ability to change speeds and my motion.”

That style made him an effective counterpoint to fireballing Cardinals ace Bob Gibson. He started Game 3 of the 1964 World Series. The score was tied, 1-1, when he was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the ninth despite having driven in St. Louis’s only run with a fifth-inning single. New York won on a home run by Mickey Mantle off knuckleballer Barney Schultz in the bottom of the ninth. He lost Game 6 to Jim Bouton and the Yankees, but the Cardinals won Game 7 behind Gibson.

“Every pitcher should study him,” then-Cardinals manager Johnny Keane said of Mr. Simmons. “He can pace himself. He has the curve, the slider, and the change, and he can reach back and get the fastball. He has the maturity and concentration. He challenges hitters with his mind.”

Mr. Simmons was sold to Cubs in 1966 and finished his career as a California Angels reliever a year later.

He wound up with a 193-183 career record, a 3.54 ERA, and 36 shutouts. Among Phillies pitchers, he ranks fifth all-time in both victories (115) and innings pitched (1,939⅔).

A series of hip surgeries incapacitated him in recent years. He sold the golf course to developers in 2019.

Simmons is survived by his two sons, Timothy and Thomas, and daughter, Susan. He was preceded in death by his wife of more than 60 years, Dorothy, in 2012.