Simpson started his Major League career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, first getting a taste of Big League ball in 1975 with nine games before appearing in 23 games during the 1976 season.
In ‘76, Simpson collected four hits over 30 at-bats, hitting an anemic .133 with a double and two runs scored while playing all three outfield positions.
He’d go on to play two more seasons for the Dodgers, never getting much playing time for the National League champs over those two years, before finding himself in Seattle, where he would get to play more over the course of the next four years.
Between 1979 and 1982 he averaged about 110 games a year before ending up with the Kansas City Royals in 1983 in what would end up being his last year as a Major League player.
Overall, Simpson finished his nine-year career with a .242 average based on his 338 hits in 1397 at-bats, with 166 runs scored and 124 runs batted in, while also leaving his mark on a pre-teen kid who’d constantly see “Joe Simpson” on what seemed every other card in the early-80’s.