Cardinals To Honor Hall of Famer Ted Simmons

It's not too often when you play professional baseball that you get to make a career out of it. For some it's one-shot-and-your-out. For some players, if they're lucky, they get to the majors out of the minor leagues for a few games. For some they have the talent to move into the majors and they make an impact on the game. One of those individuals will be honored by the St. Louis Cardinals on July 31. His name is Ted Simmons.

The Cardinals will pay tribute to the Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Saturday evening before their game against the Minnesota Twins. The tribute includes the unveiling of the statue that will be placed outside of Busch Stadium, and it will be the retiring of  Simmons Number 23.

At 2:00pm a bronze statue of Ted Simmons will be unveiled and dedicated outside Busch Stadium at the intersection of 8^th Street and Clark Avenue. Simmons 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.

Simmons will be the 15th individual to have his number retired from the organization. His #23 will be the first since Hall of Fame Manager Tony La Russa’s number 10 was retired in May 2012.  Along with ceremonies on July 31, the first 30,00 fans into Busch Stadium will receive a Ted Simmons bobblehead.

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.