| THE SABR-ZINE |  |
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| Si Simmons, Oldest Living Professional Baseball Player of All Time, Passes Away |
| By The SABR Office |
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| Si Simmons holding the plaque from the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum and SABR honoring him as the oldest living professional baseball player of all time |
Si Simmons, honored as the oldest living professional baseball player of all time, died October 29, 2006 in a retirement home in St. Petersburg, Fla. He was 111.
Click here for highlight footage of Mr. Simmons video interview with New York Times journalist Alan Schwarz shortly before his passing.
A Fitting Tribute In His Own Time
Before his passing, friends, fans, family and former Negro Leaguers gathered to celebrate the birthday and remarkable life journey of Mr. Simmons.
Simmons, a lefty pitcher for the 1926 New York Lincoln Giants, turned 111 years young on October 14, and SABR members were there to help celebrate his unique longevity with an outpouring of gifts.
"It was the thrill of my baseball research career to present the...plaque for SABR to Si Simmons," said Dave Lambert, a Boston-area genealogist who first discovered that Simmons was still alive.
Following a lead from Lambert, Dr. Layton Revel, a SABR member and the founder of the Texas-based Center for Negro League Baseball Research, met and interviewed Mr. Simmons in May confirming that he was the same lefty pitcher for the 1926 New York Lincoln Giants documented in the SABR Negro Leagues Book and The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. He was found to be alive and well in St. Petersburg, and records show that he first played professional baseball at age 15 in Pennsylvania.
A cookout and picnic lunch led off the day’s events followed by a presentation of the CNLBR award in commemoration of Simmons’s Negro League career. Other awards included the presentation of a plaque from the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum and SABR honoring Silas as the oldest living professional baseball player of all time, an authentic replica Negro League jersey presented by Ebbets Field Flannel and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays presentation of a letter and uniform making Silas an honorary Devil Ray.
Several former Negro Leaguers took part in the event. These players included Eugene "Gene" Holmes, Robert Jenkins, Larry Keys, Hal King, Raydell "Bo" Maddix, Charles McCoy, Bob Mitchell, Odell Norris, Jack Postell, J.B. Rosenburg, Leroy Sykes, Terry Thomas, Johnny Washington, Issac Welch, John Wiggins, Willie "Curley" Williams and Joe Wright.
Simmons Memory Secure in the Annals of Baseball History
"Mr. Simmons’s legacy is an important part of baseball history that deserves to be celebrated," said SABR Research Services Manager Rod Nelson.
Since his Simmons discovery, noted Negro Leagues researcher Wayne Stivers has since uncovered box scores from 1913-1915 describing Simmons' exploits for the Germantown Blue Ribbons and Murdock Grays ballclubs, the predecessors of the powerhouse Homestead Grays. It was also found that Si appeared as late as 1929 with the Cuban American Giants. Mr. Simmons had been featured in the September 26 story "Baseball’s Oldest Old-Timer Opens a Window" (registration req'd) by Alan Schwarz for the New York Times and the August 16 story, “A Senior Among Seniors” by Dave Scheiber of the St. Petersburg Times, and culminated on his birthday with "Humbly, a Baseball Legend Turns 111." Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune reports that Si still enjoys watching the game.
Click here for a vintage image of Si Simmons. (Si identified himself as the second player from the right in the middle row in this photograph of the 1913 Homestead Grays.)
For more information, interested parties should contact Dr. Layton Revel at:
Center for Negro League Baseball Research
P.O. Box 118671
Carrollton, Texas 75011-8671
469-951-8156 (phone)
972-394-4700 (fax)
Chet (Red) Hoff who passed away in 1998 at the age of 107 is regarded as the oldest major league ballplayer, to date.
Currently, the oldest living former major leaguer is Rollie Stiles, who turns 100 on November 17, 2006.
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| Created On: 11.03.06 |
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Page Link: http://www.sabr.org/sabr.cfm?a=cms,c,1971,3,158
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