- Posts: 1313
- Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 12:07 am
- Location: Usually Somewhere Else
Sat Aug 17, 2019 10:58 pm
A post by Pacoboy inspired a tongue in cheek response about hothead players...and I recalled this site with a cool story about Al Simmons, with shoutouts to his teammates Foxx, Cochrane, Haas...and some of his talents.
Anyway, I had forgotten about this site. Everyone here has probably been to it before, but here it is anyway. I found it a very enjoyable read.
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/cd6ca572
A sample:
"Tommy Henrich recalled a story Bill Dickey told him about Simmons. In 1928 the A’s were an up-and-coming team. They came into New York late that season for a crucial four-game series with the Yankees. Before the first game, the Yankees were discussing what to do with the A’s big hitters like Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane, Mule Haas, and Simmons. Dickey remembered that somebody thought it would be a good idea to rough Simmons up, to knock him down a little. “So we roughed him up,” Dickey said. “In a four-game series, he had 11 hits, ten of them for extra bases.” Henrich said, “Yeah, they roughed him up all right, and he returned the compliment. He hated the Yankees, but I liked him. I liked the way he would bear down against us.”
"For a right-handed hitter, Simmons had great power on his drives to the right of second base. Hall of Fame second baseman Charley Gehringer told author Donald Honig that Simmons hit the most wicked groundballs to second base. Simmons was pitched outside to negate his pull-hitting power and, as Gehringer described it, “He’d hit to the right side. And he’d slice them. ... He could blister it.” Lefty Grove was another Simmons admirer. “Could he ever hit that ball! One year (1931) he held out until the season started—finally signed for $100,000 for three years—and came into Opening Day, no spring training or nothing, and got three hits. And he was a great (defensive) outfielder.”
Anyway, I had forgotten about this site. Everyone here has probably been to it before, but here it is anyway. I found it a very enjoyable read.
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/cd6ca572
A sample:
"Tommy Henrich recalled a story Bill Dickey told him about Simmons. In 1928 the A’s were an up-and-coming team. They came into New York late that season for a crucial four-game series with the Yankees. Before the first game, the Yankees were discussing what to do with the A’s big hitters like Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane, Mule Haas, and Simmons. Dickey remembered that somebody thought it would be a good idea to rough Simmons up, to knock him down a little. “So we roughed him up,” Dickey said. “In a four-game series, he had 11 hits, ten of them for extra bases.” Henrich said, “Yeah, they roughed him up all right, and he returned the compliment. He hated the Yankees, but I liked him. I liked the way he would bear down against us.”
"For a right-handed hitter, Simmons had great power on his drives to the right of second base. Hall of Fame second baseman Charley Gehringer told author Donald Honig that Simmons hit the most wicked groundballs to second base. Simmons was pitched outside to negate his pull-hitting power and, as Gehringer described it, “He’d hit to the right side. And he’d slice them. ... He could blister it.” Lefty Grove was another Simmons admirer. “Could he ever hit that ball! One year (1931) he held out until the season started—finally signed for $100,000 for three years—and came into Opening Day, no spring training or nothing, and got three hits. And he was a great (defensive) outfielder.”