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1924 Al Simmons Philadelphia Athletics Signed Rookie Contract
"Bucketful Al" was his nickname, Alois Szymanski was his birth name, and Al Simmons was his baseball name, but under any name, Hall of Fame outfielder Al Simmons could hit. Cy Perkins, a teammate of Simmons on the Philadelphia Athletics said, "I've always considered him (Simmons) next to Ty Cobb as the best hitter I saw." Presented is Al Simmons' rookie 1924 signed contract with the Philadelphia Athletics. Always a favorite of the Philadelphia Athletics' Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack, Simmons earned his "Bucketful Al" nickname from his consistently hitting with his foot "in the bucket," as Simmons, a right-handed batter, hit with his left foot pointed towards third base. Usually a sure recipe for a low batting average, hitting in the bucket worked wonderfully for Simmons. He batted .334 lifetime in 20 Major League seasons, with six teams, mostly for the Athletics - for 12 seasons spread over three tours with the club. Simmons won AL batting titles with the Athletics in 1930 (.381) and '40 (.390). He was a major part of Connie Mack's 1929-31 Athletics, who won three straight AL crowns. Simmons helped the Athletics to a pair of World Series crowns, and he hit 306 home runs in his career. Simmons still holds the MLB record for most single-season hits by a right-handed batter (253). The signed Simmons 1924 contract is on very thick 8.5x11" paper, and it is four pages long. It had previously been folded into thirds, most likely for mailing purposes, and the folds remain. When folded into thirds, the front page of the contract reads, "American league Player's Contract/The American Base Ball Club of Philadelphia with Al. Simmons of Milwaukee, Wisconsin". The contract is signed on the front page by the American League President at the time, Hall of Fame executive Ban Johnson. The contract is dated by stamp as "MAR 3 - 1924." The contract carries the seal of the Philadelphia Athletics, and the typed amount of Simmons' salary for the year is "4,125.00." In his rookie 1924 season, Simmons played in the most games on the Athletics (152). He hit .308 and blasted eight home runs, second on the club. The contract exhibits darkening from the passage of time, and there are a number of tiny partial tears near the borders. The contract is dated "29th February," in blue ink from a fountain pen in an unknown hand. Simmons has signed the contract, signing in blue ink from a fountain pen. Simmons signed as "Al. H. Simmons." While the Simmons signature is large and clearly written, there is a blurring of part of the signature, most likely from the contract being folded before the signature was completely dry. The signed contract initially came directly from a Simmons family member. It comes with a PSA/DNA LOA for the signatures of both Simmons and Ban Johnson.
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