Silas Simmons

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Silas Simmons

|image=Si Simmons.jpg

|caption=Simmons in 1913

|position=Pitcher / Outfielder

|bats=Left

|throws=Left

|birth_date={{birth date|1895|10|14}}

|birth_place=Middletown, Delaware, United States

|death_date={{death date|2006|10|29}} (aged {{age in years and days|1895|10|14|2006|10|29}})

|death_place=St. Petersburg, Florida, United States

|debutleague=Negro leagues

|debutyear=1913

|debutteam=Homestead Grays

|finalleague=Negro leagues

|finalyear=1929

|finalteam=Cuban Stars

|stat1label=

|stat1value=

|stat2label=

|stat2value=

|teams=

|highlights=

}}

Silas Joseph Simmons (October 14, 1895 – October 29, 2006) was an American professional baseball player for African-American teams in the pre-Negro leagues era. He became the longest-lived major league player in history, surpassing Red Hoff, who died at age 107 in 1998.

Career

Simmons was a five-foot-ten, left-handed pitcher/outfielder, and began playing for the Germantown Blue Ribbons, a semi-pro team, in 1911.{{cite news |last1=Carter |first1=Andrew |date=October 10, 2006 |title=Oldest old-timer on top of his game |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68059949/oldest-old-timer-on-top-of-his-game/ |work=The Orlando Sentinel |location= |pages=A1, A10 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite web |title=Negro Leagues - R-S 2018-04 |url=https://irp.cdn-website.com/33d0c3d0/files/uploaded/R-S%202018-04.pdf |access-date=19 March 2024 |website=Center for Negro League Baseball Research |page=353}} In 1913, the Blue Ribbons became a professional team and were renamed the Homestead Grays, a team that quickly became a Negro leagues powerhouse.

In 1926, Simmons pitched for the New York Lincoln Giants of the Eastern Colored League and appeared in at least one game in 1929 for the New York-based Cuban Stars (East) of the Negro National League. During his career, Simmons played on the same team as Hall of Famer John Henry Lloyd and against Hall of Famers Judy Johnson and Biz Mackey. Simmons ended his baseball career soon after 1929.

Personal life

Simmons was married in Philadelphia by Rev. John L. Lee on September 15, 1915, to Mary L. "Mamie" Smith (July 19, 1896 – ca. 1944).{{cite news |date=September 17, 1915 |title=Marriage licenses issued |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68061635/marriage-licenses-issued/ |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |page=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |last1=Moore |first1=Waveney Ann |date=October 10, 2001 |title=Man's 106 years full of pride, love, baseball |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68060627/mans-106-years-full-of-pride-love/ |work=Tampa Bay Times |location= |page=6}} He and his wife Mary had five children and settled into life as a porter. He later became an assistant manager at Rosenbaum's Department Store in Plainfield, New Jersey. After 29 years of marriage, Mamie died in approximately 1944.

In 1957, Simmons married his second wife, Rebecca Jones (1901 – August 20, 1997).

Simmons worked for R. J. Goerke Co. during the early 1960s, and was among the employees to receive an award for safety.{{cite news |date=September 23, 1961 |title=Store Employes Visit United Fund Agencies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68062583/store-employes-visit-united-fund/ |work=The Courier-News |location=Bridgewater, New Jersey |page=11 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |date=October 9, 1964 |title=Safety award |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68062651/safety-award/ |work=The Courier-News |location=Bridgewater, New Jersey |page=14 |via=Newspapers.com}}

In 1971, he retired to St. Petersburg, Florida. After 40 years of marriage, Rebecca died at the age of 96 in 1997.

Rediscovery and death

In the fall of 2005, David Allen Lambert, a genealogist at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, alerted fellow baseball historians associated with the Negro leagues, who proceeded to interview Simmons, a link to early baseball. In May 2006, Dr. Layton Revel, founder of Texas-based Center for Negro League Baseball Research, met and interviewed Simmons.{{cite news |last1=Schwarz |first1=Alan |author-link=Alan Schwarz |date=September 26, 2006 |title=Baseball's Oldest Old-Timer Opens a Window on the Past |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/sports/baseball/26oldest.html |work=The New York Times}}

Revel organized a 111th birthday celebration for Simmons in 2006, which included approximately 30 former Negro leagues players from around Florida. A plaque was presented to Simmons on his birthday on behalf of the Society for American Baseball Research. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays also gave Simmons a team jersey with number "111."

Simmons died 15 days later at the Westminster Suncoast Nursing Home in St. Petersburg, having outlived all five of his children.{{cite news|last1=Schwarz|first1=Alan|title=Silas Simmons, 111, Veteran of Baseball's Negro Leagues, Is Dead|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/sports/baseball/01simmons.html|date=November 1, 2006|work=The New York Times}} At the time of his death, Simmons had nine grandchildren, several great-grandchildren, and many great-great-grandchildren.

Simmons is also one of the two known professional athletes to have been born in the 19th century and died in the 21st century, the other being Karl Swanson (1900–2002).

References

External links

{{Baseballstats|br=s/simmosi01}} and [https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=simmo01si- Seamheads]

[https://web.archive.org/web/20061116220548/http://www.nlbpa.com/simmons_silas.html Biography of Silas Simmons from the Negro League Baseball Players Association website] (archived)

Category:African-American centenarians

Category:American men centenarians

Category:American supercentenarians

Category:Men supercentenarians

Category:Homestead Grays players

Category:New York Lincoln Giants players

Category:Baseball players from St. Petersburg, Florida

Category:Sportspeople from Middletown, Delaware

Category:Baseball players from New Castle County, Delaware

Category:1895 births

Category:2006 deaths

Category:20th-century African-American sportsmen