Chris Short
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Christopher Joseph "Style" Short (September 19, 1937 - August 1, 1991) was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies (1959-1972), and in his final year, for the Milwaukee Brewers (1973). He was a left-handed pitcher, but batted righty. He was born in Milford, Delaware.
Short was considered a top pitcher from 1964 through 1968 with the Phillies. He was 17-9 in 1964, with a 2.20 ERA in 220 and 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 heartbreaking loss in the pennant race. After leading by 6 games with 10 to go, manager Gene Mauch decided to start his two aces, Bunning and Short, for seven of the last ten games. Short pitched well, giving up only six earned runs in 18 innings over his final three starts. But weak hitting, poor relief pitching and atrocious defense (the team committed 17 errors in those 10 games) 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 went on to defeat the New York Yankees in the 1964 World Series.
Short ended up winning 55 games from 1964 through 1966, topping off with a 20-10 record in '66. He ended his career on September 18, 1973 with the Brewers. Back problems cut his career a little short.
In 15 seasons, Short finished with a 135-132 record, just over a .500 winning percentage. 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.
Short died in Wilmington, Delaware. He suffered a ruptured aneurysm, lapsed into a coma, and never regained consciousness. He had 3 sons.
