Joe Simmons

Joe Simmons was a pioneer for the Jim Leylands and Ron Washingtons of the game, men who are affectionately referred to as “baseball guys.”  Simmons was a great fielder but an inconsistent hitter who managed to catch on with pro teams throughout the 1860s and 1870s. As a manager, he was a firm disciplinarian who also drank to a fault. He was also one of the first full-time professional umpires in the history of baseball with the American Association.

His greatest mark on history was signing Bob Higgins to the Syracuse Stars in 1887, making Joe Simmons the last man to sign and debut a Black ballplayer to an affiliated professional club until Branch Rickey.1 He was involved in the first seasons of the National Association, the National League, and the American Association. Simmons was a trailblazer because he was one of the first men to possess that much-beloved “baseball guy” ability of always being around, albeit never in the same place for too long.

Joe Simmons was born Joseph Simmons Chabriel,2 most likely on June 13, 1846. It was believed that Simmons had been born in New York City, but intrepid researcher Larry DeFilippo uncovered a ship manifest dated December 1847, listing a 1½-year-old Joe Chabriel as a passenger along with his mother and father.3 Therefore, Joseph was likely born in France and immigrated to New York while he was still an infant. His parents were both listed as French immigrants in the 1850 census. His father, Adolph Chabriel, was listed as a cook. Joseph’s mother, Adriane, was a homemaker. He was the oldest of four children, followed by Julia (born in 1850), Adolph (born around 1852), and Adrian (or Adrien, born around 1861).4

Very little is known about Joseph’s life before 1865. A blurb in the Cincinnati Enquirer from 1882 mentions Joe Simmons writing a private letter, so we can infer that he had some form of schooling.5 He also understood mathematics well enough to be left in charge of the finances for multiple baseball clubs. We know that he began going by the last name “Simmons” by the time he began playing organized baseball in 1865.

Simmons never made mention of serving in the American Civil War. There was a Joseph Simmons who enlisted in 1862, when the ballplayer was 16, and served with the 5th New York Heavy Artillery unit.6 The unit was made up of recruits from New York City, Brooklyn, and the surrounding areas. The signature on record for the serviceman does differ significantly from the one on Simmons’s marriage certificate from 1873. Of interest, Simmons began to appear in the baseball record within two months of General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.

Simmons’s first appearance in a game report came in the Brooklyn Eagle on June 7, 1865.7 He played second base for the Gothams of New York against the Enterprise Club of Bedford, Brooklyn. recording three runs and four outs.8 The game itself was a remarkable one: a 19-18 victory for the Gothams in 13 innings.9 Simmons hit the only home run of the game and also hit a run-scoring triple in the bottom of the ninth to ignite a five-run Gotham rally.10 Simmons appeared in a handful of matches for the Gothams in 1865. There is no evidence that he played club baseball in New York in 1866.11

Simmons reappeared in New York as a member of the Empire club in 1867. His first box score was in the July 12 Eagle, a 53-10 loss to the Oriental club.12 On September 2, he pitched for the only time in his professional career, suffering a 32-19 loss to the Atlantic of Brooklyn.13

Simmons was engaged as a substitute by the new champions of baseball, the Union of Morrisania, at the beginning of the 1868 season. By that point, he had established himself as a reliable substitute for the serious clubs across the New York City area. Today, he would be called a utility player; he had already started at least one game at every position except catcher and first base. However, he hadn’t achieved starter status anywhere. If Simmons had stayed in New York, his professional career may not have lasted long past the 1868 season.

As fate would have it, Joe Simmons was taken on the Union’s Midwest tour as a substitute.14 The club made its way to Chicago for a game on August 12. The Excelsiors of Chicago were the Windy City’s first attempt at a nationally competitive nine, having joined the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1867. Because the sport was still new to the region, the Chicago club bolstered their ranks with East Coast imports such as former Eureka of Newark pitcher Harry Lex and a former Mutual of New York, John Zeller.

Zeller was rounding the bases during the August 12 contest when he suffered a catastrophic injury. The New York Herald described the injury as a “broke(n) knee pan … so serious in nature that he will in all probability be crippled for life.”15 Needing a replacement, the Excelsiors recruited Simmons from the Union on August 17.16

Joe Simmons was now a starter for the first time in his career, and he flourished as a veteran in an area of the country that was still learning the game. In a September 18 game against a Detroit club, the Chicago Tribune wrote, “Simmons led the score at the bat, and in the field was the most useful man of the nine.”17 On September 21 he played second base in a match against Harry Wright’s famous Cincinnati Red Stockings. The Tribune lauded Simmons’s defensive effort while criticizing pitcher Harry Lex for not doing enough to support Simmons’s fielding.18

Unfortunately for Simmons, the Excelsiors folded at the end of the 1868 season, and he found himself stranded in the Midwest without a job in baseball throughout 1869, even after he led the entire Association with six runs scored per game in 1868.19 Before the beginning of the 1870 season, a representative for the Forest Citys of Rockford, Illinois, tracked down Joe Simmons in Chicago, where he had taken a job driving a horse cart.20 The Forest Citys were looking for another outfielder who could meet the club’s high defensive standards.21 It’s hard to imagine that Rockford could have found a more qualified man for the job.

A Brooklyn Daily Times article published during the 1870 season raved about the “machine-like” movements of Rockford in the field, before specifying that they weren’t so great at fielding grounders, but “were at home on balls flying through the air.” 22 Simmons, entrusted with center field, was the motor of the Forest City machine. Simmons also brought hot hitting to the Green Stockings. On May 19 he hit a ball over the outfield fence against the Niagara of Buffalo. It would have been his first career out-of-the-park home run, except he missed second base on the trot and was called out. 23 

Simmons played center field in a championship-deciding match against the Atlantics of Brooklyn on August 29. Rockford had previously defeated the defending champions on May 31, meaning that the return match was Rockford’s chance to win the pennant. It was a tightly contested 12-inning affair that the Chicago Tribune headline declared “The Most Remarkable Base Ball Game on Record.”24 Simmons made his contribution in the top of the 12th inning when Brooklyn’s Jack McDonald hit a fly ball to straightaway center field “nearly out of sight.” Simmons chased the drive down and “took it in splendid style.”25

Simmons started all 56 of Rockford’s games in 1870 and led the team in total bases.26 However, he was not re-signed by Rockford for the 1871 season. Instead, Simmons joined the Chicago White Stockings for the first season of the National Association, baseball’s first professional league. He shifted to right field to accommodate the White Stockings’ incumbent center fielder, Marshall King.27

The Chicago Tribune positively glowed about the acquisition of Joe Simmons after witnessing the team practice through March. The paper was especially smitten with his fielding at first base, even though he was primarily an outfielder. Simmons “is fully the equal of Joe Start, who is esteemed the first first baseman in the country,” the paper declared.28

Simmons was quickly given the chance to earn his plaudits when he took over the position in the third inning of Chicago’s first game of the preseason on March 26. The Tribune was not restrained in its assessment: “Simmons’ play at first was the admiration of every one. He was simply superb.”29 In the eighth inning, Simmons was given the lion’s share of credit for turning a rare triple play. With men on first and third, the batter hit to second base, where captain Jimmy Wood recorded the force out and then tossed to Simmons at first for the second out. Seeing the runner at third take off for home, Simmons threw the ball to catcher Charlie Hodes, who made the tag at the plate for the third out. The opposing club reportedly took “some minutes” to understand what the call on the field was, but eventually “appreciated the play, and complimented its authors.”30

Simmons finished the 1871 season with very respectable fielding numbers: His fielding percentage was fourth in the National Association among regular outfielders, at .894, well above the league average of .832. But he also slashed an anemic .217/.223/.279 with an OPS+ of only 40. Simmons was informed that he would not be re-signed by the White Stockings before the 1871 season had ended.31 Even though Simmons was no longer playing for the White Stockings, Chicago businessman Tom Foley (no relation to former Rockford teammate of the same name) still thought enough of Simmons to put him in charge of one of his billiard halls during the offseason.32

By the end of April 1872, Joe Simmons had found employment with another NA club, the Forest Citys of Cleveland. The Cleveland club started the year off terribly. After the team lost to the Mansfield club of Connecticut on May 22, the Forest Citys’ owner called the team back early from their East Coast trip.33

At the beginning of June, Cleveland restructured the team. Simmons was moved from the outfield to first base, where he subsequently played 15 games for the new Forest Citys. His fielding percentage was a tick over the league average at .938, being charged nine errors and credited with 11 double plays. He also improved at the plate, although he still turned in a below-average 87 OPS+ on a .256/.264/.333 slash line. The Cleveland squad didn’t finish the 1872 NA season; they disbanded after two straight losses to the Boston club in August.

Simmons did not play during the 1873 season, but he umpired one NA contest, an August matchup between the Philadelphia Whites and Boston Red Stockings, won by the latter, 11-8.34 It’s no great mystery why Simmons was agreeable to both clubs. Boston featured his former teammates Al Spalding, Bob Addy, Ross Barnes, and George Wright; Philadelphia had 1871 White Stockings alumni George Zettlein and Jimmy Wood.

A month before that game, on July 16, Joseph married Julia Farrell, a first-generation Irish-American and the second of three daughters born to Thomas and Julia Farrell of Cincinnati.35 Thereafter, the couple had three children. Their first was a boy named George, born in 1874. Second son Arthur was born in 1877; daughter Julia arrived in 1879.36

In the March 23, 1874, edition of the New York Tribune, Joe Simmons was announced as the new starting second baseman for the National Association’s Baltimore Canaries.37 By March 28, however, the Clipper published an updated version of the Baltimore roster which did not include Simmons.38 What happened in between is unknown, but it was evidently not severe enough to damage Simmons’s relationship with the Canaries. He umpired a Baltimore-Chicago matchup on August 26.39

Simmons started the 1875 season with the NA’s Keokuk (Iowa) Westerns, where he served as captain. He was 29 years old, already making him one of the oldest players in the NA, where the average age was 24.7. He was the oldest player on the Westerns by three years and four months. His outfield partners were 23-year-old Charley Jones and 20-year-old Billy Riley. He also started three games in place of Westerns first baseman John Carbine, then only 19 years old. Keokuk endured a 1-12 start to the season before collapsing financially at the end of June.40 It was the last time Simmons played for a major-league club.

On May 5, 1876, Simmons umpired the first 1-0 game in National League history, a St. Louis Brown Stockings victory over the Chicago White Stockings.41 Shortly thereafter, Simmons began his 1876 season as a member of the semipro St. Louis Stocks. As he always had, he filled in wherever he was needed and continued to play through injury. The June 5 Daily Missouri Republican noted that Simmons was starting at catcher and played well behind the plate despite “a badly battered fore finger which he carried.”42 Later that season, Simmons took two foul balls to the head in consecutive innings. The first one he managed to shake off “amidst the applause of the audience.”43 The second time, he still did not leave the game but instead moved to center field.44

On June 8, Simmons hit three singles and a triple, and he scored three runs in a 10-9 victory over the rival St. Louis Reds.45 The strength of this performance was enough to earn him a contract with a stronger semipro club, the Columbus Buckeyes. On June 19 he was stationed in right field as Columbus beat George Wright’s Boston club of the newly formed major National League, 7-5.46

Columbus followed up the victory with another impressive win over the NL’s Hartford Dark Blues on June 30. Simmons drove in Columbus’s first run in the second inning with a base hit off future Hall of Famer Candy Cummings.47 On August 14 Columbus beat another National League squad. This time it was the Cincinnati Reds who were felled by a score of 8-3. Simmons, playing at first, was “tip top, putting out ten and playing without an error.”48 He also had three hits, including a two-RBI triple in the fifth inning. 49 His best defensive effort came at first base on October 15, supporting Ed “The Only” Nolan as the 20-year-old threw a one-hitter against the St. Louis Reds. Simmons was credited with 14 of the 27 putouts. He made no errors. “Joe played first admirably,” wrote the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, “and batted well, as he usually does.” 50

Simmons left Columbus for upstate New York in 1877. He transitioned into a part-time player and manager for the Rochester Flour Cities of the minor-league International Association. Accusations of gambling, game fixing, and drunkenness constantly hovered over his charges throughout 1877 and 1878.51 The club disbanded after the 1878 season, but Simmons stayed put in Rochester and purchased a billiard hall.52 The May 3, 1879, edition of the New York Clipper reported, “Joe Simmons is acting as the agent of a patent-medicine firm of Rochester, N.Y., attempting to secure a professional nine for that city.”53

The patent-medicine firm belonged to Asa T. Soule, patent owner of “Asa T. Soule’s Hop Bitters and Invalid’s Friend.”54 Soule purchased the recently disbanded Capital City club of Albany and entered the nine as the “Rochester Hop Bitters” for the 1879 season of the minor-league National Association.  Simmons served as manager. The Hop Bitters only made it to June before disbanding and then re-forming as an independent club.

By August 1880, Joe Simmons had been babysitting uninspired Rochester teams for close to four seasons, including an 1879 tour of California. Simmons had always been considered a reliable person to this point in time. But 15 years of trying to make a living in the unstable world of 19th-century professional baseball seemed to crack him. After receiving a wire from Soule for monies meant to pay player salaries and other team expenses, Simmons pocketed the cash and disappeared. Soule tried to locate Simmons but was unsuccessful.55

Simmons lay low until March 1882, when an opportunity arose for him to escape Rochester for St. Louis. That month he was announced as one of three full-time umpires for the new major league, the American Association.56 Previously, the umpire was someone agreed upon by the two teams just before the start of the game. The AA was the first league to hire full-time umpires, making Joe Simmons one of the first in that role in the history of professional baseball.

Managing was a tough job, but umpiring proved even more so. Simmons was calling a game between the St. Louis Browns and Philadelphia Athletics on August 15 when he was struck in the face by a foul ball in the second inning.57 Despite “a lump under [his left eye] the size of a hen’s egg,” Simmons did not miss any time.58 If the play on the field didn’t get him, the cranks in the stands were still liable to try. After a game in Cincinnati, “Joe Simmons came near being mobb[e]d … on account of a decision that was declared by many impartial witnesses to have been a just and correct one.”59 Simmons should have considered himself lucky. Shortly after that incident, another AA umpire was accosted in Cincinnati, hit in the head with a rock, and reportedly “badly hurt.”60

Despite the danger, Simmons applied to be an umpire again in 1883, but he was not retained by the AA.61 Thus began another five-year stretch of managing. He started with the Trenton (New Jersey) club of the Inter-State Base Ball Association before taking over the Wilmington (Delaware) Quicksteps in 1884. He had earned a good reputation during his playing career for his intelligence, and that reputation was further strengthened. “Joseph Simmons [was] a noted ballplayer but of late years classed among the best managers on account of his executive ability and excellent judgment at all times,” proclaimed the Wilmington Daily Republican. “Mr. Simmons deals kindly but firmly with his men, and will require each player to live strictly, up to the rules.”62

Simmons was also described as a manager who was active in coaching his team during games. “He worked his fingers, twisted his legs, flourished his handkerchief, pulled his mustache and contorted himself generally,” reported the Meriden (Connecticut) Journal. “All he needs now is a hand-organ alongside of him to make the farce complete.”63 Though it was said to look silly, Simmons’s hyperactive approach helped his players progress. An 1886 profile in the Philadelphia Times stated, “[Joe] has probably developed more of the good players now in the [National] League and [American] Association than any other manager.”64

In May 1887, Joe Simmons was brought in to manage the Syracuse Stars of the International League. Simmons had managed the Waterbury club, featuring a Black catcher named Moses Fleetwood Walker, during the previous season. The two men had gotten along without incident.65 Early in Simmons’s Syracuse tenure, he signed a 19-year-old Black pitcher named Robert Higgins. Higgins was the last Black player to debut for an integrated affiliated club until Jackie Robinson.66

It seems that Simmons could put aside any prejudice he may have had when it came time to assemble a starting nine. If his number one priority really was strict living, as the Wilmington Daily Republican suggested, then it makes sense that he welcomed players like Walker and Higgins.67 Black players in the 19th century did not have the luxury of exhibiting ungentlemanly conduct while in an integrated environment. Simmons probably didn’t give too much thought to how racism influenced the behavior of Walker and Higgins, but he clearly appreciated their characters.

Simmons brought Higgins onto a roster full of men who had played in the Southern League, which led to racial tension.68 When Simmons arranged for a team portrait on June 5, two of the white members of the Stars were no-shows, refusing to be photographed with Higgins. Simmons confronted one of the men, pitcher Doug Crothers, and the confrontation escalated to fisticuffs. Simmons released Crothers on July 2.69 Simmons’s racial tolerance was commendable for the time. Unfortunately, it was also around this time that his drinking spiraled out of control.

Simmons did not have a wild reputation for imbibing during his playing days. This may be best established by an 1871 Chicago Tribune article that published the supposed “drinking statistics” of the White Stockings.70 Those stats probably carry zero empirical credibility, but they do provide insight into how player habits were perceived by the reporters who traveled with the club. Simmons was credited with 55 glasses of beer and 18 “drinks” of whiskey in 1871, far behind the mark of 110 whiskies set by Bub McAtee and the 276 glasses of beer credited to George Zettlein.

As his time in baseball wore on, Simmons grew more dependent on the bottle. Whatever self-control he once possessed had evaporated by the time he was managing the Stars. “It is said that Simmons is drinking harder than ever,” reported the Sunday Leader of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1887.71 “Joseph Simmons … is in Syracuse without a dollar,” stated the Hamilton Spectator at the beginning of 1888. “The root of the trouble is whiskey. Simmons is a competent manager when sober.”72 Simmons hit rock bottom in 1889. That year the Wheeling Daily Register reported that he had been arrested for mistreating his wife, Julia.73

Simmons still managed to secure a job umpiring for the International Association in August 1889, but it was clear that he was no longer up to the task. “Poor Joe Simmons will hardly do for an umpire,” stated the August 13 Hamilton Spectator. “He is blind in one eye, and can’t judge balls and strikes.”74 Simmons found one more job in baseball, as manager of the Wilmington Peach Growers of the Atlantic Association in 1890. The team underachieved and Simmons was dealt the ignominy of being fired midgame on July 31.75 He made his way back to Syracuse, where he lived with his son George. He was listed in Syracuse directories at various times as a laborer, painter, printer and varnisher from 1893 through 1899.76

Joe Simmons did not keep in touch with anybody in baseball after his retirement. His former Forest Citys teammate, Fred Cone, erroneously claimed in an 1899 retrospective that Simmons had moved west and made a fortune.77 Simmons was telegraphed an invitation to play in Rockford’s “Harry Wright Day” game in 1896, featuring George Wright and Al Spalding, but Simmons did not make an appearance.78

On July 29, 1898, Joseph’s brother Adrian was killed while crab fishing in Newark Bay. A steam ship piloted by Captain Rowe of the Stephens & Condict Transportation Company struck the drawbridge where Adrian was standing. He fell into the bay and drowned. Captain Rowe was charged in a civil suit with gross carelessness and neglect.79

Related to this incident, the last time Joseph Simmons appeared in the public record during his life was also the first time he appeared under his birth name. In the September 11, 1900, Jersey Journal, the upcoming term calendar was published for the local trial court. One of the cases listed is “Joseph Chabriel, admr., vs Stephens & Condict Transportation Co., et al.”80 It seems probable that Joseph Simmons reverted to the surname that he shared with his brother for the sake of claiming damages. The disposition of the matter, however, is unknown. There is no record of the case being heard or a record of a settlement.

Joe Simmons died on July 24, 1901, in Jersey City, New Jersey. He is buried in an unmarked grave at Bayview-New York Bay Cemetery in Jersey City. 81

Acknowledgments

This story was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Larry DeFillipo.

Photo credit: Joe Simmons, Baseball-Reference.com.

Sources

Historical records and guidance provided by library staff in Cleveland (OH), Rockford (IL), Jersey City (NJ) and Rochester (NY) were invaluable to the author’s research. Baseball-Reference.com, Protoball.org and Joe Simmons’s minor-league coaching page on StatsCrew.com were also consulted. Newspaper archives were accessed via Newspapers.com, Genealogybank.com, and the New York Clipper archives in the University of Illinois Digital Newspaper collection. Special thanks to Bill Nowlin, Gregory Wolf, and Rory Costello for their early feedback.

Notes

1 Jerry Malloy. “Out At Home,” SABR 50 at 50 (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2020), 50-76.

2 Joseph’s surname was misspelled “Chabiel” on the 1850 census form, but his sister Julia had the last name spelled correctly. The National Archives in Washington, DC; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850: Home in 1850: New York Ward 5, New York, New York; Roll: 537; Page: 183b.

3 “New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1920”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:27G5-RT4 : Sun Jan 12 22:50:39 UTC 2025), Entry for Joseph Chabric, 1847.

4 We don’t have census records for the Chabriel family in 1860, so there is no concrete data that proves Adolph and Adrian Chabriel were Joseph’s siblings. Circumstantial evidence strongly suggests they were: For one, they were given Joseph’s parents’ names. Also, when Adrian died in 1896 due to an accident involving a steam ship, Joseph would appear in lawsuits against the ship’s owner. See again, the National Archives in Washington, DC, above; “Censured Capt. Rowe: Inquest Held in Case of the Death of Adrian Chabriel,” Jersey City Jersey Journal, August 13, 1898: 5; Jersey Journal, December 12, 1900: 9.

5 “They Are Right Too,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 22, 1882:2. Retrieved from Protoball on December 23, 2024. https://protoball.org/clipping:opposition_to_Horace_Phillips

6 “United States, Civil War Soldiers Index, 1861-1865”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FS8V-CPN : Thu Feb 13 01:49:47 UTC 2025), Entry for Joseph Simmons, from 1861 to 1865. Accessed March 27, 2025.

7 The Brooklyn Eagle credits Simmons in the box score as “Simonds.” The June 17 box score in the New York Clipper calls him “Symonds.” We can reasonably infer that the man in question is Joe Simmons because he begins being identified under his correct name in the June 17 Eagle, and no player named “Symonds” or “Simonds” is mentioned in any previous report. See “Base Ball,” Brooklyn Eagle, June 7, 1865: 2; “An Unprecedented Game at Hoboken,” New York Clipper, June 17, 1865: 75.

8 The game report in the June 17 New York Clipper credits him with three outs; See again, “An Unprecedented Game at Hoboken,” above.

9 “An Unprecedented Game at Hoboken,” above.

10 “Base Ball,” Brooklyn Union, June 7, 1865: 3.

11The September 21 Brooklyn Eagle published a blurb about a game between the Creighton and Stonewall clubs of Norfolk, Virginia. The story noted that “(a)mong the players in each of these clubs, are several New York and Brooklyn young men, who have settled in the South.” The bottom of the story mentioned that the umpire was a Mr. Simmons, of the Creighton club. “Base Ball in the South,” Brooklyn Eagle, September 21, 1866; 2.

12 The Eagle does mention that the Oriental grounds sloped dramatically in left field, where the ball would run down into a swamp, so they likely played a part in the margin of defeat. The box score called Simmons “Simmonds.” It also omitted the field position for Simmons and one other player, so he either played center or right field; “Sports and Pastimes,” Brooklyn Eagle, July 12, 1867; 3.

13 “Atlantic vs. Empire,” Brooklyn Eagle, September 3, 1867: 2.

14 “The Union Club,” Brooklyn Eagle, July 27, 1868; 2.

15 “Base Ball Notes,” New York Herald, August 16, 1868; 7.

16 “Base Ball Notes,” New York Herald, August 18, 1868; 3.

17 ““Excelsior Base Ball Club, of Chicago, versus the Detroit Club – a Drawn Game” Chicago Tribune, September 19, 1868; 1.

18 “Sporting,” Chicago Tribune, September 22, 1868; 1.

19 Marshall D. Wright, “The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870.” (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2000): 188.

20 National Chronicle, June 4, 1870. Retrieved from Protoball on December 23, 2024. https://protoball.org/clipping:an_amateur_club_taking_gate_receipts;_a_player_given_a_position

21 It’s possible but unconfirmed that the Forest Citys were tipped off to Simmons’s ability by Tom Foley, his former teammate with the Excelsiors. Foley had joined the Rockford club in 1869.

22 “Base Ball,” Brooklyn Daily Times, May 31, 1870; 3.

23 “Base Ball,” Buffalo Daily Republic, May 20, 1870; 2.

24 “The Most Remarkable Base Ball Game on Record,” Chicago Tribune, August 30, 1870; 4.

25 “The National Game,” Rockford (Illinois) Register, September 3, 1870; 8.

26 Wright, “The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870.” 297.

27 “Base Ball,” Chicago Tribune, March 1, 1871, 4.

28 “Base Ball,” Chicago Tribune, March 25, 1871; 4.

29 “Base Ball,” Chicago Tribune, March 27, 1871; 1.

30 “Base Ball,” Chicago Tribune, March 27, 1871; 1.

31 “The New White Stocking Nine,” Chicago Tribune, September 22, 1871; 1.

32 It’s fair to wonder how much business they were doing after the Great Chicago Fire on October 8-10; “The Ball Season of 1872,” Chicago Evening Post, April 1, 1872; 1.

33 “Base Ball,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 23, 1872; 3.

34 “Boston vs. Philadelphia,” New York Clipper, August 30, 1873; 170.

35 The National Archives in Washington, DC; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860: Home in 1860: Cincinnati Ward 13, Hamilton, Ohio; Roll: M653_976; Page: 324; Family History Library Film: 803976.

36 Year: 1880; Census Place: Rochester, Monroe County, New York; Roll: 862; Page: 13; Enumeration District: 073.

37 “Base-Ball,” New York Tribune, March 23, 1874: 3.

38 “The Baltimore Club,” New York Clipper, March 28, 1874: 410.

39 “White Stockings and Baltimores,” Chicago Tribune, August 27, 1874; 8.

40 ““The Championship Record”,” New York Clipper, June 26, 1875; 98.

41 “Base Ball. St Louis Wins a Game,” Chicago Tribune, May 6, 1876: 2.

42 “Base Ball,” (St. Louis) Daily Missouri Republican, June 5, 1876: 8.

43 “The National Game,” Cleveland Daily Leader, September 5, 1876: 8.

44 Simmons was not wearing a catcher’s mask. The mask was invented after the 1876 season.

45 “Stocks and Reds,” Daily Missouri Republican, June 9, 1876; 8.

46 “Columbus Gets Up and Howls,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 20, 1876; 8.

47 “And Still Another,” Columbus Dispatch, July 1, 1876; 4.

48 “Base Ball,” Columbus Dispatch, August 15, 1876; 4.

49 “Base Ball,” Columbus Dispatch, August 15, 1876; 4.

50 “Nolan’s Curves,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 16, 1878: 8.

51 Priscilla Astifan, “Baseball in the 19th Century, Part V.” Rochester History, Vol 64, No. 4., Fall 2022.

52 Priscilla Astifan, “Baseball in the 19th Century, Part V.” Rochester History, Vol 64, No. 4., Fall 2022.

53 “Later Baseball Notes,” New York Clipper, May 3, 1879: 43.

54 A more contemporary account would describe Soule’s medicine as “little more than cheap whiskey.” See William Hogan, “Holbrook Looks Back on Age of Quackery.” San Francisco Chronicle, October 21, 1959: 42.

55 Tim Wolter, “The Rochester Hop Bitters,” The National Pastime, Vol. 17, (1997), 38-40.

56 “Baseball,” New York Clipper, July 15, 1882: 266.

57 “The Ball Field,” The Philadelphia Times, August 16, 1882: 3.

58 “The National Game,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 17, 1882: 8.

59 St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 9, 1882; 4.

60 “Baseball,” New York Clipper, September 23, 1882: 431.

61 “No Lack of Material for Umpires,” Boston Globe, February 18, 1883: 8.

62 “Base Ball Matters,” Wilmington (Delaware) Daily Republican, April 5, 1884; 1.

63 “The Base Ball Field,” Meriden (Connecticut) Journal, July 30, 1886: 2.

64 “Base Ball News,” Philadelphia Times, November 14, 1886; 11.

65 The relationship between Simmons and Walker was good enough that Simmons’s name came up at Walker’s trial for second-degree murder. Walker testified that he was at the saloon where the incident took place because he was looking to pass along news to Simmons, per David W Zang, Fleet Walker’s Divided Heart (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1995), 76-77.

66 Malloy, “Out at Home.”  

67 “Base Ball Matters,” Wilmington (Delaware) Daily Republican, April 5, 1884; 1.

68 Malloy, “Out at Home.”  

69 Malloy, “Out at Home.”  

70 “More Valuable Statistics,” Chicago Tribune, August 19, 1871: 4.

71 “Doings on the Diamond,” (Wilkes-Barre) Sunday Leader, September 18, 1887: 8.

72 “Sporting News,” Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator, January 31, 1888: 1.

73 “Baseball,” Wheeling (West Virginia) Daily Register, March 21, 1889: 4.

74 “Comments on the Games,” Hamilton Spectator, August 13, 1889: 4.

75 “Manager Joe Simmons Released,” Philadelphia Inquirer. August 1, 1890: 3.

76 Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

77 “Baseball Thirty Years Ago – What Has Become of the Members of the Forest City Ball Team of 1870,” Lima (Ohio) News, July 15, 1899: 5.

78 “Will Have a Special Car,” Chicago Inter Ocean, April 10, 1896; 1.

79 “Censured Capt. Rowe: Inquest Held in Case of the Death of Adrian Chabriel,” Jersey Journal, August 13, 1898: 5.

80 “The Term Calendar,” Jersey Journal, September 11, 1900; 10.

81 Find a Grave, database and images (http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13424461/joseph_s-simmons) Accessed December 23, 2024.