Harry Simmons (September 29, 1907 – January 14, 1998) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

executive, writer and historian. He worked in Minor League Baseball for the International League from 1946 until 1966, first in New York City then in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. He then worked in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

for the Office of the

Commissioner of Baseball The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as "organized baseball". Under the direction of the Commiss ...

until his retirement in 1982. Simmons was nicknamed "Mr. Baseball" and is an inductee of the

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (french: Temple de la renommée du baseball canadien) is a museum located in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. The museum commemorates great players, teams, and accomplishments of baseball in Canada. H ...

Biography

Simmons' early interests in baseball derived from the Sunday afternoon games he attended with his father. After graduating from Morris High School in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, he worked in several jobs while developing a deep interest in baseball history, rules, and statistics. By the 1930s, he was spending a lot of his free time in the New York Public Library researching old newspapers about the early accounts of matches. At that time, he developed a friendship with Ernest Lanigan, a baseball historian and Information Director of the International League. During the 1930s, Simmons developed a deep interest in

baseball statistics Baseball statistics play an important role in evaluating the progress of a player or team. Since the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and normally players act individually rather than performing in clusters, the sport lends itsel ...

and history. He was the first to compile 19th century win-lost records for pitchers in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

. The guides of that period had not published this information. He carefully checked each box score of each game listed in the newspapers of that era: '' Sporting Life'' and ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

''. The results were published over several issues of ''Baseball Magazine''. From 1940 to 1942, Simmons selected the top baseball performer of the day for the popular radio show "

Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing". He was also ...

." While in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, he continued his research and while at Camp Pickett, Virginia, was able to work at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

in Washington, where he compiled records from 1876, debuts of prominent players, batting records of pitchers, rare fielding gems and items for ''The Sporting News'' record book. He contributed original work to the top baseball writers of the day: J. G. Taylor Spink, Leonard Gettlson, Hy Turkin, S. C. Thompson, and Lee Allen. He studied journalism at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York on the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

after leaving the army. In 1951, Simmons was called as an expert witness to testify before a congressional committee on the history of the

reserve clause The reserve clause, in North American professional sports, was part of a player contract which stated that the rights to players were retained by the team upon the contract's expiration. Players under these contracts were not free to enter into an ...

. The Celler House Judiciary Committee probed monopoly influences in organized baseball. In 1965, he appeared in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

television show '' To Tell The Truth'' and managed to receive no votes when asked, "Will the real Mr. Simmons please stand up". In 1968, Simmons contributed a 26,710 word essay on the topic of baseball which was printed in the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'' for many years.

International League

Simmons joined the International League during the 1946 season. On his first day on the job, league president

Frank Shaughnessy Francis Joseph "Shag" Shaughnessy (April 8, 1883 – May 15, 1969) was an American athlete and sports executive. Shaughnessy played both baseball and football and was an executive in baseball, football and ice hockey. He was born in the United S ...

asked him to go to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

to present

Sherm Lollar Sherm is a shortened version of the given name Sherman and may refer to: People *Sherm Chavoor (1919-1992), American swimming coach *Sherm Cohen (born 1965), American storyboard artist *Sherm Feller (1918–1994), American musician and sports an ...

with the league's

Most Valuable Player Award In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

for the 1945 season, when Lollar had a .364

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

with 34

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s. Simmons hopped on a train and in front of 45,000 fans made the presentation that afternoon. He indicated that he was extremely nervous speaking in front of a crowd that size. That year, Jackie Robinson joined the

Montreal Royals The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club (Class AAA) of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; p ...

, and Simmons became quite involved in handling the press in its hunger for stories about Robinson. When Simmons started at the International League, he held conferences for the umpires of the league to discuss the rules and review calls which had been made. He soon realized that some of the umpires were of the opinion that they "don't have to know the right answer unless the managers do". He started to compile some of these odd plays which the umpires would ask him about, and in 1949, he submitted "a pack of these nutcrackers" to ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

'' under the title "So You Think You Know Baseball". The series became very popular; one of the solutions brought 7,000 letters of protest to the magazine. Nearly all were actually plays, "though a few were the results of bad dreams". The series ran until 1961, and later was published in ''

Baseball Digest ''Baseball Digest'' is a baseball magazine resource, published in Orlando, Florida by Grandstand Publishing, LLC. It is the longest-running baseball magazine in the United States. History and profile It was created by Herbert F. Simons, a spor ...

''. The series was published in book form, first in 1960, and sold 500,000 copies in many editions. Over the years, Simmons gained more International League responsibilities in handling player trades, dealing with the press, scheduling the games, the hiring, firing and movement of the umpires, settling disputes among the clubs, handling the financial side of league operations, and staffing the office. During the late 1950s, Shaughnessy became frequently ill, and Simmons was essentially running the league by himself. In early 1953, the league office was moved to Shaughnessy's home town of Montreal. Simmons quickly became a popular figure in Montreal baseball circles and gave many speeches to local community groups. He made many close friends among the sports writers and sport figures in both Montreal and Toronto. He moved his family north in 1954 to settle in the suburb of

Cartierville, Quebec Cartierville is a List of neighbourhoods in Montreal, former district in north end Montreal, Quebec, Canada, located in the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville. Cartierville is bordered to the north by the Rivière des Prairies, to the south by the b ...

. The family retained this residence until 1995. One of Simmons' tasks at the International League was to develop the league schedule. In March 1953, when the Boston Braves moved to

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

, National League president

Warren Giles Warren Crandall Giles (May 28, 1896 – February 7, 1979) was an American professional baseball executive. Giles spent 33 years in high-level posts in Major League Baseball as club president and general manager of the Cincinnati Reds (1937–1951 ...

called on Simmons for some quick schedule changes. The next year found Simmons developing both the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

and National League schedules. He was the major league schedule maker from then until 1982, when the required travel started to take its toll. Simmons also completed the schedules for numerous minor leagues, the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

, soccer leagues, and international hockey tournaments. After the 1960 season, when the Montreal Royals folded (becoming the

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

) and Shaughnessy retired, the league offices were moved back to New York City. Simmons received consideration to succeed Shaughnessy, but the position went to Tommy Richardson, then president of the Eastern League. Simmons, who remained with the International League through the 1965 season, decided to keep his residence in Montreal; he regularly spent three days a week in Montreal until retiring from his subsequent role with Major League Baseball.

Commissioner's Office

In late January 1966, Simmons resigned from the International League and took a role in the Office of the

. His official duties included supervision of club player contracts, co-ordination of retirement plans for both leagues, player service and pension records. He frequently was called upon for advice from the Commissioner and wrote speeches for the many functions attended by commissioners

William Eckert William Dole Eckert (January 20, 1909 – April 16, 1971) was a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force, and later the fourth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from to . Personal life, career, and death William Eckert was born ...

and

Bowie Kuhn Bowie Kent Kuhn (; October 28, 1926 – March 15, 2007) was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, 1969, to September 30, 1984. He served as legal counsel for Ma ...

. He acted as a general consultant to club owners and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

s who needed advice. He also served on the Major League Rules Committee for many years, where he suggested changes and wrote new rules. Since Simmons had many friends in the baseball circles in Montreal, and knew everyone of importance in the game, it was only natural that he was called upon for assistance when the city was ready for a major league franchise, the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

. He directed Gerry Snyder of the mayor's office on how to go about getting the franchise and recommended the hiring of

Jim Fanning William James Fanning (September 14, 1927 – April 25, 2015) was an American-Canadian catcher, manager and front office executive in Major League Baseball. Often called "Gentleman Jim", Fanning was the first general manager of the Montreal Expo ...

and John McHale to run the club.

, former general manager of the Expos, wrote:

"During Mr. Simmons time as a baseball executive every Major League owner and executive knew him on a first name basis. He not only was a keen advisor to the commissioners he worked for, but was a counsel and advisor to Major League Executives as well. Mr. Simmons was unheralded—his picture never made the cover of ''The Sporting News''—but I had an office next to his when I started the Major League Scouting Bureau, and I witnessed this man's contribution day after day. His contributions were an equal to any who graced the cover of a sports magazine."

Death and legacy

In 1979, Simmons was awarded the "

King of Baseball King of Baseball was a ceremonial title awarded annually from 1951 to 2019 by Minor League Baseball to recognize an individual for their longtime dedication and service to professional baseball. It was awarded during baseball's Winter Meetings ...

" title at the annual baseball

Winter Meetings Representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 Minor League Baseball affiliates convene for four days each December in the Winter Meetings to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees in ...

, held in Toronto. This prestigious award is given annually to an individual who has made a major contribution to Major League baseball. In 1990, Simmons was awarded the

SABR The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

Salute, which is given to a member whose research has contributed significantly to baseball knowledge. Simmons died at a care center in

New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. About an hour from Manhattan by train, the town is considered part of Connecticut's Gold Coast. The town is bound ...

, in January 1998 at age 90. in 2007, Simmons was elected to the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere arou ...

in Israel.

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

In 2002, Simmons was inducted into the

. In the more than 50 years that he was involved in baseball, Simmons collected thousands of items related to the development of the game from its earliest times. These included his correspondence with people involved in every level of the game; memos, letters, and speeches from the commissioners office from the 1920s to the 1980s; notes and memos from his days as the major league schedule maker, letters from fans of his "So You Think You Know Baseball" series; articles from the International League; a significant collection of baseball memorabilia, and a major collection of baseball publications and books. The collection was donated in 1998 to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame by his son, David, who is a resident of Toronto. It has been called one of baseball's most eclectic, exciting and diverse collections. The collection is housed in the Harry Simmons Memorial Library, which was opened on April 25, 2019.

Biography

International League

Commissioner's Office

Death and legacy

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

References

Further reading