Time as Pirates GM special for new Hall of Famer Ted Simmons

SAN DIEGO — Ted Simmons is now a Hall of Famer, being elected by the Hall’s Modern-Day Era Committee on Sunday night for his stellar career as a switch-hitting catcher.

In the years after amassing 2,472 hits and making eight All-Star Games during his 21-year career, Simmons had a 1½-year stint as the Pittsburgh Pirates general manager. It wasn’t the best time to have the gig.

When Simmons replaced the fired Larry Doughty in January 1992, the Pirates were coming off back-to-back National League East titles. They won the division again in Simmons’ first season.

However, Simmons was brought to town by then-club president Mark Sauer to cut the payroll by basically breaking up the Bucs.

During spring training in 1992, 20-game winner John Smiley was traded to the Minnesota Twins, and closer Bill Landrum was released. Two-time NL MVP Barry Bonds and ace pitcher Doug Drabek left as free agents after the Pirates lost to the Atlanta Braves in a heartbreaking NLCS.

Simmons resigned as GM during the 1993 season after suffering a heart attack. The Pirates didn’t return to the postseason — or even have a winning season again — until 2012.

During the first day of the winter meetings on Monday — and his first full day as a Hall of Famer — Simmons took a few minutes to reminisce about his time with the Pirates. While he was the bad guy in the eyes of many fans, Simmons has warm memories of Pittsburgh. It was the only GM stint of his 53-year career in professional baseball.

“I can’t tell you or separate what being a general manager in Pittsburgh was for me,” the 70-year-old Simmons said. “That opened up the entire industry to me where I saw how baseball functioned, where it made its money, how it made its money, how it strived to present an acceptable product and put it out on that field for a local fan base.

“I thought the only organization that ever existed in my life was the St. Louis Cardinals, and I spent so much of my time there and loved it. It was great. But once I moved and once I saw how big the place was, Pittsburgh became a really special place for me.”

In addition to his time as the Pirates GM, Simmons has also worked as a farm director, coach and scout in his post-playing career. He currently scouts for the Braves.

Simmons nearly became the Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager in 1998 when they entered the American League as an expansion franchise. However, he never had a desire to be a GM again.

“I’ve seen this industry wide open,” Simmons said. “There isn’t a thing I haven’t seen. There isn’t a thing I don’t understand. Luckiest baseball man in the world. I don’t have the headaches anymore, thank God, but it sure is a beautiful thing to look at and wonder about.”