1971 Ted Simmons Rookie
PaulMaul
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Why has this card exploded in the last couple of years? I think I paid around $50-60 for a nice PSA 8 sometime in 2016, now it seems to be selling for $250.
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I looked it up, I paid $55 for a PSA 8 in May, 2015.
With the election of Baines, Simmons is a shoo in for the HOF.
He came within one vote last year, of being elected by the veterans committee, for induction in the Hall of Fame.
People now see him as a very possible HOF inductee in the near future.
Steve
Should be a HOFER
The prices were stable for awhile until I noticed seller paddedwarriors1129 (1011) started to list some for sale. He has a PSA 9 listed for $3,399.99. He also listed a PSA 8.5 right around the time Probstein listed one as well, then took it down. If you look at the bid history on all of the 1971 Simmons PSA cards sold, you'll notice a***r (1011) as a bidder. He bid $540 on the Probstein PSA 8.5.
The PSA 8 that just ended on PWCC last night went for $455!
This would be good if I already owned a graded copy. I'll have to see what my raw copy looks like. Maybe it's worth grading now.
Kris
My 1971 Topps adventure - Davis Men in Black
Glad I got this when I did...I wasn’t specifically looking for it at the time, just buying any nice ‘71s I could find.
Great player. Long overdue for HOF consideration. If not for Fisk and Bench (and Munson) stealing the limelight, he probably would have been the premier catcher of the '70s and already in the Hall.
If not for being 4th best at best he would have been the best
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
Sorry but not seeing any numbers or metrics that would lead me to select him for the HOF. Less than 300 HR’s, career .285 average, never led the league in any category. What am I missing. Slightly above average player overall so guess the HOF has lowered the bar.
He will get the Hall Call in December.
Not sure how to rate this - I'm not pushing this one way or the other.
Some stats...
8 time AS
1 Silver Slugger award
WAR position player - 5 seasons top 10
WAR offensive player - 4 seasons top 10
BA - 6 seasons top 10
1 WS appearance - 1982 - no ring
The bar has already been lowered with the induction of Jack Morris and Harold Baines, lol..
I do think Simmons will get in at some point. He was also a very good defensive catcher but largely overshadowed in the NL by Johnny Bench.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
I'm a fan of this thread.
Simmons came close a few years ago, but I think he was 1 vote short. I'm really not sure what's keeping him out.
Average defense?
Been slowing adding to his master set for the last 10+ years. When I started the Master Set it only needed 36 cards!
Now the composite is at 208, with at least 30 more that need added.
Subbed this myself back in the day.
CDsNuts, 1/9/15
I hope he makes the hall of fame . I think he was one of the best hitting catchers of all time . During his prime (71-1980), he averaged .300 and 90 RBI's . The Cardinals were a below average team during that time. He didn't have very much protection in that lineup. He led the NL in intentional walks in 76 and 77. From 75-79 he had 99 intentional walks. He was a threat from both sides of the plate and I do remember him hitting a lot of doubles . Catching all the home games on Astroturf in hot weather must of been no easy task. He had a great swing and didn't strike out that often . To me it always seemed that he hit the ball hard.
Add Gary Carter to the list.
I think that Simmons is the best eligible catcher not in the HoF, but I don't see a huge need to put him in. He's not exactly a glaring omission. I can go either way on him.
And Parker, Garvey, and Murphy.
And what about Thurman Munson? Who was better? Munson or Simmons?
IT CAN'T BE A TRUE PLAYOFF UNLESS THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONS ARE INCLUDED
Simmons was better than all of them (only Munson is in the same ballpark). However, all are far, far better than Baines.
In the current edition of the Bill James Handbook, he names Simmons as the third best player who is eligible for the HOF, but not in ( not counting roiders). The top two are Bill Dahlwn and Lou Whitaker. He considers Ted to be better than 78 players in the Hall.
Bill and Lou don’t belong in the Hall either.
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
The modern era ballots came out today. Love to see Simmons finally get in.
https://espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28012387/which-modern-era-candidates-get-baseball-hall-fame
CDsNuts, 1/9/15
Beautifull card you posted Dave.
The Cardinals were very good in the 60s and 80s but they were pretty bad in the 70s during Simmons time with them. He was one of the few bright spots
Bowman Baseball -1948-1955
Fleer Baseball-1923, 1959-2007
Al
I hope he gets in. Not many catchers reach 2,000 hits let alone nearly 2500. I know people don't like to take into account position but I think you have to factor it in for catchers and great fielding middle infielders like Ozzie Smith and Bill Mazeroski.
Incidentally, I just got back a PSA 8 1971 Simmons Topps and PSA 8 1971 OPC Simmons. I'll try and post them tonight.
Would love to see those!
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
Has become Hall of very noteworthy.
Think Simmons will make it. We will see.
No. After some of the picks the Veterans Committee made in the '70s, the standards have greatly improved. They'll never be that low again.
See Harold Baines from last year.
I did. Baines won't be the typical selection.
Looks like ebay seller paddedwarriors1129 (1253) is back at it bidding on recently ended psa 8 cards to keep raising the standard price of the 71 Simmons psa cards he wants to sell.
Here are the Simmons cards I just got back from PSA.
Awesome pair of cards! Love the backs of the ‘71 OPC.
I have this beautiful PSA 8.5 ‘71 Topps Simmons ready to sell once he gets in:
Beautiful cards from 71 guys - such a hard year to find nice cards.
Simmons has good numbers, but don’t see the case for him being in the HOF on any level. Good not great player who averaged 66 RBI a year and 12 HR a year with a career .285 average. Never lead the league in any category, no WS wins, career postseason .186 average, and threw out a low percent of base stealers. There are no players in the HOF with stats this poor, and zero postseason success. Can’t see any metric that gets him in - period. Dale Murphy has a much better case numbers wise IMO.
That 71 Simmons card looks like a 9.
IT CAN'T BE A TRUE PLAYOFF UNLESS THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONS ARE INCLUDED
Finally! A HOF'er!
CDsNuts, 1/9/15
well I have a psa 6 simmons rookie. I just do not see myself getting a seven just too much for me now. I am glad to see him get in being a lifelong cardinals fan it great see another cardinal in the hall of fame.
WOW! Sweet cards but big difference in grading between the Topps 8 and OPC PSA 8 IMO
So he did get voted in!! Can’t believe Whitaker didn’t though!!
Since we are talking about Simmons but this is not his rookie obviously. I submitted this one myself way back in 2005
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
Congrats to Ted Simmons and Marvin Miller. Crazy on the 1971 set - growing up Garvey was the big rookie from the set. Now there are two HOF rookies that weren’t widely collected in the 80s.
glad Ted got in finally. was really surprised about Lou though. I thought after trammell got in a couple of years ago, Whittaker was almost a shoe in.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
This was Whitaker's first year on the ballot and he had a solid showing with six votes. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets inducted in 2022. It was nice to see Dwight Evans, Dave Parker and Steve Garvey making positive moves in the voting.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/12/ted-simmons-marvin-miller-elected-to-baseball-hall-of-fame.html
"Twelve of 16 votes were required for induction, and each Modern Era committee member could vote for a maximum of four candidates. Simmons (13 votes) led the field while Miller hit the 12-vote minimum on the dot. For Simmons, today’s news represents some relief after his near-miss during the last Modern Era ballot in 2017. Simmons fell only a single vote short of the twelve required for entry into Cooperstown (Miller was also on that 2017 ballot, receiving seven votes).
Of the other eight players on this year’s ballot, Dwight Evans (eight votes), Dave Parker (seven votes), Steve Garvey (six votes), and Lou Whitaker (six votes) all made particularly strong showings, while Tommy John, Don Mattingly, Thurman Munson, and Dale Murphy each received three or fewer votes. These eight players will again be eligible for consideration during the next Modern Era vote in December 2022."
It's interesting, because Harold Reynolds said last night after the announcement that any player who received less than 3 votes (John, Mattingly, Munson and Murphy) would not be eligible again. I found that bizarre, and have not seen it in writing since.
Ted's deserving. His comments after being elected last night were nothing but class. That guy loved the sport and really cherished his time in it and is obviously proud and extremely grateful to finally be in Cooperstown.
Great for Simmons ,I was surprised it did not happen earlier.
I just got a 1971 Simmons graded. Came back PSA 7.
Delivered today. Edit to add pic.