Twenty-five years ago, Ted Simmons was six votes of the requisite 5 percent needed to stay on the Hall of Fame ballot.
One and done, as they say.
Except he wasn’t — the Modern Baseball Era Committee on Sunday voted to enshrine the former All-Star catcher alongside sports labor pioneer Marvin Miller.
And Simmons, a former Padres bench coach, thanks the sabermetric community for bringing his candidacy back to life long after he wrote it off.
“The comparisons that come from the statistics in general is what makes this game part of what it is, so exciting to so many people,” Simmons said Monday afternoon.