Robert Earl Short (July 20, 1917 — November 20, 1982) was an American businessman, sport teams owner and politician.
Short graduated from the College of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota before getting his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. He enlisted the Navy during World War II, rising from ensign in 1942 to commander before he resigned in 1946. He married the former Marion D. McCann in 1948 and they settled in Edina, Minnesota.[1]
Short practiced law for several years and started to invest in business ventures after buying an interest in a small trucking line. He built the company into a major freight carrier known as Admiral Merchants Motor Freight. He later expanded into real estate and the hotel business. From these investments he started into his purchase of professional sports teams.[1]
Short was a long time supported of the University of Notre Dame and served as a member of the school's Law School Advisory Council from 1974 until his death in 1982, when he was succeeded by his wife in both business and at Notre Dame (she also served nine years on the board of trustees of what became the University of Saint Thomas). He endowed the Robert and Marion Short Chair in Law at the Notre Dame Law School, where his son attended.[1]
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Short bought the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association in the late 1950s and moved the team to Los Angeles in 1960. He later sold the team in 1965 to Canadian magnate Jack Kent Cooke.
Outbidding comedian Bob Hope, Short then bought the Washington Senators Major League Baseball franchise in the autumn of 1968. The Senators had just finished in the American League basement and were last in the majors in attendance. Short immediately installed himself as the team's general manager and hired Hall of Famer Ted Williams — the major leagues' last .400 hitter — as its field manager for 1969.
Miraculously, the '69 Senators improved by 21 games and posted 86 victories en route to the only winning season the expansion-era version of the club would experience in its 11-year lifespan. Williams coaxed career-best batting averages out of a number of Washington hitters. With a winning team, Williams as a drawing card, and the 1969 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, the Senators almost doubled their 1968 attendance, to over 918,000 paid spectators.
But it was a one-year wonder. The 1970 edition won only 70 games and fell into the basement of the American League East Division. Players began to complain about Williams's approach to managing — and batting. At season's end, Short dealt his best starting pitcher and the left side of his infield to the Detroit Tigers for erstwhile 30-game-winner Denny McLain, who had spent most of the 1970 campaign suspended because of gambling allegations. The deal--alleged by onetime Senators broadcaster Shelby Whitfield to have been made in order to secure the Tigers' vote in favor of the Senators' eventual move to Texas--turned Detroit back into contenders, while McLain was a monumental bust, losing a league-worst 22 games.
The Senators' attendance sunk back to near-1968 levels and Short successfully petitioned the AL to move the franchise to Arlington, Texas, where it became the Texas Rangers in 1972.
The Senators' move to Texas would make Short one of the most reviled figures in Washington sports. During the final Senators game at RFK Stadium on September 30, 1971, the fans let their feelings known about Short, unfurling two giant vertical banners that read "Short Stinks". Fans would later storm the field near the end of the game, resulting in a Senators forfeit. During the Washington Nationals' final game at RFK Stadium on September 23, 2007, a similar scene unfolded. Nationals' fans unrolled a series of three banners vertically spelling out "Short Still Stinks", in nearly the same place in the stadium that the two banners hung 36 years earlier. Luckily the game otherwise finished without major incident and unlike the infamous 1971 game, did not need to be forfeited.
In Texas, Short is infamously remembered for drafting high school phenom David Clyde and rushing him into the majors to sell tickets, blowing out Clyde's arm within two years. The Rangers remained a cellar-dwelling unit and did not begin to win consistently until he sold them to a new local ownership group headed by Brad Corbett in 1974.
Entering politics in 1946, Short first unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress, and lost again in a run for lieutenant governor in 1966. He also served as treasurer of the Democratic National Committee during Hubert Humphrey's presidential campaign, remaining involved in the DNC for a number of years. His political career is best known for his run as the Democratic candidate for a United States Senate in 1978.[1] In the Democratic primary, he narrowly upset Congressman Donald M. Fraser, but soundly lost the general election with 35% of the vote against Republican David Durenberger. During the campaign, his anti-abortion position led to strife within the traditionally strong state party. He was a longtime member of the Democratic National Committee.
| Preceded by George Selkirk |
Washington Senators/Texas Rangers General Manager 1968–1972 |
Succeeded by Joe Burke |
| Preceded by James Lemon 1963–1968 |
Owner of the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers 1968-1974 |
Succeeded by Brad Corbett 1974–1980 |
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