Long before he was immortalized in Cooperstown and bronzed in front of Busch Stadium, Ted Simmons was just a boy who wanted to be a catcher. Well, a catcher, sure, but specifically one catcher.
“In Detroit, Bill Freehan was the guy, in the way that Molina, today, is the guy,” said the legendary Cardinals catcher Simmons, 73, who still resides in St. Louis.
On a May Tuesday in 1963, the rookie Freehan caught a kid making his first start. A lefty named Mickey Lolitch. The game was the first of 324 that Lolitch and Freehan would both start for the Tigers.