Chris Short

Who was Chris Short?

Christopher Joseph "Style" Short was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, and in his final year, for the Milwaukee Brewers. 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 and Don Drysdale. Teammate Jim Bunning was 5th that season with a 2.63 ERA. Juan Marichal finished 4th. That year, however, the Phillies and Short suffered a heartbreaking loss 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, poor relief pitching and atrocious defense 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.