After the former Cardinals star, one of the top-hitting catchers and switch-hitters of all time, had been knocked off the baseball writers’ Hall of Fame ballot after just one election in 1994, and after he had failed to gain enough favor in three veterans’ elections, the 70-year-old Simmons finally received the ultimate individual prize for a player Sunday.
The Hall of Fame’s Modern Baseball Era 16-man electorate, in an announcement on the MLB Network at the baseball winter meetings in San Diego, gave Simmons 13 of 16 votes, one more than was needed. Simmons joined the late Marvin Miller (12 votes), longtime executive director of the players’ association, as new members of the Hall who will be inducted July 26 in Cooperstown, N.