{{Short description|English baseball player (1863–1908)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Sim Bullas |image=Sim bullas tintype.jpg |position=Catcher |birth_date={{Birth-date|January 11, 1863}} |birth_place=England |death_date={{death date and age|1908|1|14|1863|1|11}} |death_place=Cleveland, Ohio, United States |bats=Right |throws=Right |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=May 2 |debutyear=1884 |debutteam=Toledo Blue Stockings |finalleague = MLB |finaldate= June 23 |finalyear=1884 |finalteam=Toledo Blue Stockings |statleague = MLB |stat1label=At bats |stat1value=45 |stat2label=RBI |stat2value=0 |stat3label=Home runs |stat3value=0 |stat4label=Batting average |stat4value=.089 |teams= * Toledo Blue Stockings ({{Baseball year|1884}}) }}
'''Simeon Edward Bullas''' (January 11, 1863 – January 14, 1908) was an English born professional baseball player who played catcher in the American Association for the 1884 Toledo Blue Stockings.
American newspapers state that Bullas was born in Cleveland, Ohio,<ref name=star>{{cite news|title=Star Catches In Old Days|work=The Plain Dealer|date=January 19, 1908|page=13}}</ref> on January 1, 1863 <ref name=chambersbaseball>{{cite news|last=Chambers|first=Gail|title=Professional Baseball Players Buried in Woodland Cemetery|work=Woodland Guardian|date=Spring 2016|pages=10–11|access-date=April 17, 2017|url=http://www.wcfcle.org/newsletter/Woodland_Guardian_Spring_2016.pdf}}</ref> although Baseball Reference points to evidence that he was in fact born in Dudley, Staffordshire, England and emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio as a young child<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bullasi01.shtml | title=Sim Bullas Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More }}</ref> As a teenager, he won notice playing for the Malleables and the Shamrocks, two Cleveland amateur teams. He signed with a minor league team in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1883, and played for minor league teams in Oil City, Pennsylvania; Hamilton, Ontario; and Newcastle, Delaware. He made his major league debut with the Toledo Blue Stockings, but left after a year to play for the Chattanooga Lookouts.<ref name=star>{{cite news|title=Star Catches In Old Days|work=The Plain Dealer|date=January 19, 1908|page=13}}</ref>
Bullas left baseball in 1887 and began working in a foundry in Cleveland owned by British industrialist Francis Ley. In 1892, Ley sent Bullas to the United Kingdom to catch for the Derby Baseball Club, a professional baseball team in the National League of Baseball of Great Britain. After a single season there, he returned to Cleveland. In 1893, former professional baseball players in Cleveland organized a one-off team to play against other retired veterans in other cities. Bullas was loaned to the "old leaguers" team from Detroit, Michigan, who lacked a catcher.<ref name=star />
From 1890 until his death, Bullas worked as a stagehand and ticket takers at the Euclid Avenue Opera House in Cleveland.<ref name=star />
Sim Bullas died of pneumonia<ref name=chambersbaseball /> at his home in Cleveland on January 14, 1908.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sim Bullas Is Dead|work=The Plain Dealer|date=January 15, 1908|page=6}}</ref> He was buried in Woodland Cemetery in Cleveland.<ref name=chambersbaseball />
==External links== {{reflist}} {{Baseballstats|br=b/bullasi01|brm=bullas001sim}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullas, Sim}} Category:Toledo Blue Stockings players Category:19th-century baseball players Category:1863 births Category:1908 deaths Category:Major League Baseball catchers Category:Major League Baseball players from England Category:English baseball players Category:Youngstown (minor league baseball) players Category:Hamilton (minor league baseball) players Category:Chattanooga Lookouts players Category:Burials at Woodland Cemetery (Cleveland) Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Ohio