![]() ![]() “God, those were some good days,” Miller said. Often, he’ll guide Simmons back into the past, to a dramatic pitch or a night on the road. ![]() He eventually returned to the University of Detroit, where he became Michigan’s winningest Division I baseball coach.ĭuring their phone calls, Miller, also a widower, is the more sentimental of the two. In 1958, with a lifetime record of 42-42, Miller retired. That led to persistent shoulder problems, He was never the same. But Miller hurt his back in June when he slipped on North Philadelphia Station’s steps. The 6-3 pitcher was sensational, winning his first eight decisions. “He could hit a dime with that curveball,” Phillies coach Benny Bengough said at the time. In 1950, he was a 23-year-old right-hander with an unflappable demeanor and a sweeping curveball. After two successful minor-league seasons, he arrived in Philadelphia in September 1949. Discharged in 1947, he played baseball at the University of Detroit until the Phillies signed him a year later. “And there was an old lady who lived there and liked to cook for us.”Ī Detroit native, Miller enlisted in the Army in 1944 and saw combat in the Philippines. “We were close to a lot of restaurants in Germantown,” he said. ![]() It was, Miller said, “the perfect place for us.” Bob Miller's son Bob Jr.Īsked why they chose that location, Simmons said, “that’s just where they told us to live.” He’s just thankful he and Curt are still around and can share their stories. It bothers Dad that we’ve lost so many Whiz Kids. Separated by 600 miles but connected by the tissues of memory, Simmons and Miller talk on the phone every few weeks, as much to stave off the gathering darkness as to reminisce. Their bodies are deteriorating, their minds fading, their familiar worlds shrinking, but like leaves clinging stubbornly to a tree in late autumn, these last two Whiz Kids continue to embrace each other and their long-ago glory. Of the 32 players, five coaches, and a manager who that year wore the Phillies’ first red-pinstriped uniforms, only two survive – Simmons and 94-year-old Bob Miller, who in 1950 won 11 games and finished second in voting for NL rookie of the year. » READ MORE: Whiz Kids cast a spell on Phillies fans that endures 60 years later And death has gradually decimated a roster whose hallmark was its vitality. Phillie splayer who drank 60 beers series#Their significance in Phillies history has been dimmed by the franchise’s five subsequent World Series appearances. Even Whiz Kids, it turned out, get old and die and are forgotten.įew remain who watched them play. Their reputation, one sportswriter predicted as recently as 2010, “would echo down the corridors of history.”īut in the end, baseball teams are as ephemeral as golf courses and those corridors are nearly silent. Their unexpected success and beguiling nickname made the Whiz Kids enduring local heroes. Seventy years ago, Simmons won 17 games as the surprising Phillies captured the franchise’s only pennant between 19. The tendrils of time have nearly obliterated the Whiz Kids, the beloved 1950 Phillies team that Simmons and several other 20-somethings – Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn, Del Ennis – led to a National League title. The disappearing golf course isn’t the only slow and painful loss he’s been experiencing. “I don’t like to sit out there anymore,” said Simmons. Now, nine months later, the course is virtually unrecognizable, its idled fairways and greens shrouded by seasons’ worth of uncut grass and weeds as tall as two-irons. Last December, that vicarious pleasure ended for the 91-year-old Phillies Wall of Famer when the developers who bought the 206-acre layout for $18 million closed it for good. Miller.Īfter a third left-hip surgery in 2012 made golfing impossible, Curt Simmons enjoyed sitting behind his Horsham home and watching players traverse the fourth hole at Limekiln Country Club, the public course he and partners purchased in 1966. Miller and Curt Simmons for their roles as pitchers on the famed Phillies Whiz Kids. This story first appeared in August to celebrate Mr. Editor’s note: Bob Miller died Friday at 94. ![]()
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