Harry 'Suitcase' Simpson honored at memorial service in West Hill

By Jamie Jones

Harry “Suitcase” Simpson had plenty of stops in his life. Atlanta, England, Mexico, New York City. But his final resting place is Dalton.

Simpson, who grew up in Dalton, was among Major League Baseball’s earliest black players and one of the city’s most well-known athletes. About 75 people attended a monument dedication on Saturday at West Hill Cemetery to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Simpson’s death. The event was also a celebration of his life, which spanned 54 years and more than a decade of professional baseball with teams in the Negro, minor, major and Mexican leagues. Family members from as far away as Ohio, Maryland, New York and Virginia attended.

“He was a baseball player, but he was also my father, and that’s what I’ll remember most,” said daughter Harion Renee Simpson Davis, who now lives in Maryland.

The memorial stands about 4 feet high and rests just above Simpson’s grave marker, which is on a hill on Suitcase Simpson Drive overlooking the city. On the front of the memorial is a color photo with Simpson in uniform as a member of the Cleveland Indians and an etching recounting his life. The back of the monument bears another picture of Simpson during his playing days, along with his baseball statistics and a poem that was in his obituary. The original grave marker is a nondescript, flat headstone issued by the Veterans Administration.

Son Kerry Simpson made the trip from New York and unveiled the monument with his brother, Gary Simpson.

“It’s kind of teary,” Kerry Simpson said after the ceremony. “It would have been really nice if he could have been here to see the monument. Sometimes you have to pass and go on to a better place before better things are found out about you.”

Simpson began his professional career with the Philadelphia Stars of the Negro League. His MLB career started in 1951 with the Cleveland Indians and continued for nine years as a first baseman and outfielder with stints with the Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and finally with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1959. He played in the 1956 All-Star game beside future Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Warren Spahn and Ted Williams. That season Simpson finished 11th in the Most Valuable Player voting, batting .293 with 21 home runs and 105 runs batted in. He also played in the 1957 World Series with the Yankees. He led the American League in triples in 1956 with 11 and 1957 with 9.

After Simpson retired from baseball, he moved to Akron, Ohio and worked for Goodyear. He also became a devout Christian and spread the Gospel with many he encountered. He died on April 4, 1979.

The monument project was undertaken by the Suitcase Simpson Memorial Committee and was spearheaded by Minnie Marsh, whose maternal grandfather was the brother of Simpson’s mother. The committee included nine other Dalton residents. The grave site is also featured in the new Cemetery Tour brochure of West Hill and is available at the Visitor Center inside the Freight Depot in downtown Dalton.

Dalton native Melvin Pender, Simpson’s cousin, said he was always proud to say he had a family member playing professional baseball. He and his friends would often imitate Simpson while they played baseball. Pender would go on to fame of his own by winning the gold medal in the 4x100 meter relay at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

“I talk to Hank Aaron quite a bit — I used to work with Hank when I worked for the Atlanta Hawks (as director of community affairs) — Hank and I would have lunch and he would talk about Harry ‘Suitcase’ Simpson and I’d say, ‘Why did you call him that?’” Pender said.

Larry Waters, a retired Dalton Middle School teacher, donated many Simpson items he purchased on eBay to the Emery Center for a display. There are several theories about the origin of the “Suitcase” nickname, he said.

Some say it was given for being frequently traded and playing in several different cities. However, according to the 1951 Cleveland Indians Sketch Book a sportswriter bestowed the nickname after a Toonerville Trolley comic strip character. But his first nickname, which is also inscribed on his memorial, is “Goodie.” He earned that moniker for his willingness to help his friends and neighbors in Dalton.

Dalton native Elbert Easley recalled playing baseball when there were no youth leagues. Easley was a member of the Dalton Tigers, the first black baseball team organized in Dalton in the 1930s. Simpson also played on the team. There were baseball fields near the current National Guard Armory on Crawford Street, one on Chattanooga Avenue near the Crown Cotton Mill and at the former Dalton Community Center.

Easley said Simpson was “a great person to be around” and often joked with friends. Off the baseball field, Simpson enjoyed hunting and fishing. But when the baseball game started, “he was a different person,” Easley said.

“Where the name Suitcase comes from, I don’t know,” Easley said. “A lot of people ask me that, but it was not from Dalton, some place on the road. But, Goodie, that was the man. Nobody knew him by Harry. Everybody called him Goodie. Very nice person. I was glad to meet him and he taught me, and other young kids. When they weren’t playing they taught us.”

Dalton Mayor David Pennington called Simpson “one of Dalton’s most famous sons” and said he is tied with Pender as being the city’s most famous athlete.

“I think this occasion also shows the draw of our community,” Pennington said. “With a nickname like ‘Suitcase’ he obviously traveled a lot of places, lived in a lot of great cities, but he decided he wanted to spend his eternity in Dalton, Ga., with this wonderful view.”