American baseball player (1937-1991)
Baseball player
Chris Short
|
---|
Short in 1973
|
Pitcher
|
Born:
(
1937-09-19
)
September 19, 1937
Milford, Delaware
, U.S.
|
Died:
August 1, 1991
(1991-08-01)
(aged 53)
Wilmington, Delaware
, U.S.
|
Batted:
Right
Threw:
Left
|
|
April 19, 1959, for the Philadelphia Phillies
|
|
September 18, 1973, for the Milwaukee Brewers
|
|
Win?loss record
| 135?132
|
---|
Earned run average
| 3.43
|
---|
Strikeouts
| 1,629
|
---|
|
---|
|
|
|
|
Christopher Joseph Short
(September 19, 1937 ? August 1, 1991), nicknamed "
Styles
", was an American
professional baseball
pitcher
, who played in
Major League Baseball
(MLB) for the
Philadelphia Phillies
(1959?1972), and
Milwaukee Brewers
(1973). He threw left-handed, and batted right-handed.
Early life
[
edit
]
Short was born in
Milford, Delaware
, on September 19, 1937. He was the son of Issac Short, a Delaware judge who had attended the
University of Pennsylvania
.
[1]
Short attended
Lewes High School
for three years, where he played
center
on the basketball team and pitcher on the baseball team. In his 1955 season at Lewes, he finished with a 9?1 record, allowing 23 hits, 6 walks, and striking out 121 batters.
[2]
In 1956, he was the fourth leading scorer in Delaware high school basketball, finishing the season with 374 points.
[3]
He graduated high school from the
Bordentown Military Institute
.
Baseball career
[
edit
]
Short made his first appearance on the mound on April 19, 1959, against the
Cincinnati Reds
, appearing in the 2nd inning to replace Jim Owens. He allowed five runs on four hits while striking out three and walking three in 3.2 innings.
[4]
Short was considered a top pitcher from 1964 through 1968 with the Phillies.
[5]
He was 17?9 in 1964, with a 2.20 ERA in 220
2
⁄
3
innings pitched. It was his career-best ERA and was third in the league behind only
Sandy Koufax
(1.74) and
Don Drysdale
(2.18). Teammate
Jim Bunning
was 5th that season with a 2.63 ERA.
Juan Marichal
finished 4th (2.48). That year, however, the Phillies and Short suffered a historic collapse in the pennant race. After leading by six and a half games with 12 to go,
manager
Gene Mauch
decided to start his two aces, Bunning and Short, for eight of the last 12 games. Short pitched respectably despite the heavy workload, giving up only six earned runs in 18 innings over his final three starts. But weak hitting, ineffective relief pitching and poor defense (the team committed 17 errors in a 10-game losing streak
[6]
) doomed Philadelphia. The Phillies lost three games in a row to the hot St. Louis Cardinals, who won the
NL
race by 1 game and defeated the New York Yankees in the
1964 World Series
.
On October 2, 1965, Short threw 15 shutout innings at
Shea Stadium
, striking out 18
Mets
only to receive a
no-decision
. The game would end in a scoreless
tie
after 18 innings.
[7]
Short ended up winning 55 games from 1964 through 1966, topping off with a 20?10 record in 1966. A back injury during the 1969 season would curtail his season while also proving to hurt his career.
[8]
Short's contract was purchased by the
Milwaukee Brewers
from its then-
Triple-A
affiliate
Evansville Triplets
on April 5, 1973.
[9]
His final appearance on the mound was on September 18, 1973, against the
Cleveland Indians
. He entered in relief of
Jim Colborn
in the ninth inning, trying to preserve a 5-4 lead with a runner on second base. Facing
John Ellis
, Short allowed a home run as the Indians won the game 6-5.
[10]
In 15 seasons, Short finished with a 135?132 record, just over a .500
winning percentage
(.506). He had a career
ERA
of 3.43 and 1629 career
strikeouts
in 501 games (308 starts). He allowed 886
earned runs
in 2325
innings pitched
.
[11]
He was only ejected once, on May 25, 1971 (a game in which he was not pitching), for bench jockeying.
[12]
Short ranks 4th among Phillies pitchers all-time in wins (132), 5th in games appeared in (459), 3rd in games started (301), 19th in complete games (88), 4th in shutouts (24), 4th in innings pitched (2253), and 4th in strikeouts (1585).
[13]
After baseball
[
edit
]
In 1979, Short was inducted into the
Delaware Sports Hall of Fame
.
[14]
Between 1985 and 1988, Short taught young pitchers at Suburban Baseball Camp, which was held at Barness Park in Warrington, Pennsylvania. He suffered from
diabetes
in his later years, along with trying to support his three sons. While working for a Wilmington insurance agency in October 1988, he suffered a ruptured brain
aneurysm
, lapsing into a coma. He died on August 1, 1991, in a convalescent home, having never regained consciousness. He was posthumously named to the
Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame
the following year.
[15]
In 2016 Short was one of 16 new members inducted to the
Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame
.
[16]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"
'64 Phillies: The sad tale of Chris Short"
,
philly.com
- ^
"Big Winner For Lewes".
The News Journal
(Wilmington, Delaware). June 4, 1955.
- ^
"Curran Second To Burns For Scoring Toga".
The News Journal
(Wilmington, Delaware). March 16, 1956.
- ^
"Philadelphia Phillies at Cincinnati Reds Box Score, April 19, 1959"
,
baseball-reference.com
- ^
"Baseball Reference"
.
Baseball Reference
. Retrieved
July 7,
2022
.
- ^
"Baseball Reference Phillies Schedule and Results 1964"
.
Baseball Reference
. Retrieved
July 7,
2022
.
- ^
"Oct 2, 1965, Phillies at Mets Play by Play and Box Score"
.
baseball-reference.com
. sports-reference.com. October 2, 1965
. Retrieved
July 10,
2015
.
- ^
"Philography:Chris Short"
,
thatballsouttahere.com
, 31 October 2014
- ^
"Chris Short Joins Brewers,"
The Associated Press
(AP), Thursday, April 5, 1973.
Retrieved October 2, 2021
- ^
"Milwaukee Brewers at Cleveland Indians Box Score, September 18, 1973"
,
baseball-reference.com
- ^
"Baseball Reference Chris Short overview"
.
Baseball Reference
. Retrieved
July 7,
2022
.
- ^
"Retrosheet game summary"
.
Retrosheet.org
. Retrieved
July 7,
2022
.
- ^
"Major League Baseball Phillies All-Time Records"
.
MLB
. Retrieved
July 7,
2022
.
- ^
"Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame"
.
desports.org
. Retrieved
2019-10-14
.
- ^
"Chris Short, Pitcher, 53"
,
The New York Times
, 1991-08-02
, retrieved
2019-10-14
- ^
"Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame-2016"
,
www.phillyhall.org
External links
[
edit
]