Getting to Know: Ted Simmons

By: Big Rygg

I realize that, in this case, this may be more of a 'remembering' piece for a lot of our readers. I don't know which way our demographic leans, so I'll do my best to review the playing career and post-playing career of the Milwaukee Brewers' new Bench Coach.

Ted Lyle Simmons made his major league debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in September of 1968 at the tender age of 18. He only played in two games that year, but the Cardinals did win the National League pennant that year.

Simmons, of course, was a catcher, backing up such men as Tim McCarver (who broadcasted the World Series with Joe Buck) and Joe Torre (yes, that Joe Torre) before taking over the starting gig with the red birds in 1971.

He came to Milwaukee in 1981 and was a key member of the 1982 Harvey's Wallbangers that won the American League pennant. Maybe you've heard of that team before?

Simmons finished his career in 1988 as a member of the Atlanta Braves. All told, he amassed 2,472 hits, good for a .285 career batting average. Of those, 666 came as a Milwaukee Brewer. Hmm....

He finished as high as 6th in the MVP voting in his career, including 9th in 1983 with Milwaukee. He was also a two-time All-Star in his time in the Brew City, playing in the mid-summer classic in 1981 and 1983. Altogether, Simmons was an eight-time All-Star and even earned a Silver Slugger Award in 1980.

After baseball, Simmons held a number of front-office jobs with various clubs, including a stint as the general manager in Pittsburgh. One of the players under his general management in Pittsburgh? A skinny Barry Lamar Bonds. Simmons also worked for St. Louis, Cleveland and San Diego.

However, he returns to city and a franchise in which he was a key part for several of it's most successful years.

So, what does Ted Simmons the Bench Coach mean, exactly?

Well, first of all it means that Dale Sveum (bench coach in 2007) will return to the 3rd base coaching duties that he vacated to assume the position on the bench alongside Ned Yost.

What it means moreso to the potential fortunes of the 2008 Milwaukee Brewer baseball team is more intangible than that higher-level responsibility change.

Ted Simmons brings a wealth of baseball knowledge to a club that still has a lot to learn, despite invaluable pennant chase experience gained this year. That hasn't always equated to winning where Simmons has been, but it hasn't hindered the chances of the team's he's been a part of.

The naysayers about this deal will bring up the fact that this is yet another former Brewer (specifically a 1982 Brewer at that), and how much do these guys actually know about baseball and how much is it just that Ned Yost wants to surround himself with guys he knows?

There is some legitimacy to that line of thought, on certain individuals, but the bottom line with Ted Simmons is that he knows baseball. The best part about Ted Simmons is that he won't be taking any stuff from anybody. If he disagrees with Yost, he'll tell Yost about it to his face, man to man. That's an important quality in a bench coach, something that I'm not sure Sveum could do, or that Robin Yount wanted to bother with. Yes, Yount disagreed with Yost on certain things, and so stubborn was Yost in the face of that disagreement that Yount all of a sudden felt a strong desire to "spend more time with his family". That's fine, and maybe that's what happened. But maybe Yost felt he needed to stand up to the franchise icon that even though Yount was right, Yost thought standing his ground was more important.

The point of that little rant is, if Ned Yost thinks that he's going to get 100% agreement out of Ted Simmons, he's sorely mistaken. Hopefully Yost and Melvin brought in Simmons to be that counterbalance to Yost and to have his ideas and suggestions actually listened to and considered.

Here's to a great off season that has gotten going with some good news. Keep that gravy train rolling, Mr. Melvin. I'll take a resigned Cordero next.

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I also hope to do some more of this format of column, because I fully expect at least a couple of new faces to the organization to find their way into Brewer uniforms this off season.

My wish list of free agents? How would Torii Hunter sound? He's said he wants to play in front of a large African-American population. Milwaukee has that. And the money we're not paying Geoff Jenkins would cover most of the $15MM he's looking to average per season.

Also on that list? How about one Curt Schilling? Yeah...he said that Milwaukee is a team that he'd be willing to play for under a one-year contract (presumably for around the $13MM he said that he'd re-up for in Boston).

Anyway, free agency and hole-filling are topics for another time.

Enjoy the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to proudly announce Ryan Braun as the NL Rookie of the Year and Prince Fielder as the NL Most Valuable Player within the next short while.

Until next time...

I.M.W.T.