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PHILLIES, Philography

Philography: Tony Taylor

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My Philography series of mini-bios highlighting the careers of the most interesting and important individuals throughout Philadelphia Phillies history continues with this 23rd entry.

Links to the previous 22 entries, which include such notables as Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Richie Ashburn, Dick Allen, Jim Bunning, Larry Bowa, Darren Daulton and many more can be found below.

In 2002, Tony Taylor became the 24th person overall and the first-ever Hispanic player to be honored with a place on the Phillies Wall of Fame. He has since been joined by Juan Samuel (2008) and Bobby Abreu (2019) as Hispanic players honored among the franchise immortals.

Sports columnist Milton Richman, who became the sports editor at UPI and was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Taylor Spink Award in 1981, said of Taylor back in 1975: “Tony Taylor has a special way with people. It doesn’t matter who they are, other ballplayers, fans, or the press. He’s to the Phillies what Ernie Banks was to the Cubs.”

That “special way” – his friendliness, positive personality, and willingness to share a knowledge of and passion for the game that he loves – is what has always endeared Taylor to Phillies fans, especially those who got to enjoy his years as a player with the team during two stints and a long-time association with the club as a coach and goodwill ambassador.

Taylor played for 19 seasons in Major League Baseball, 15 of those in a Phillies uniform from 1960-71 and then from 1974-76. Though his career ended more than four decades ago, Taylor is still 12th on the Phillies all-time hits, 16th in steals, and 17th in runs scored on the franchise leader boards. Only four men – Schmidt, Ashburn, Bowa, and Jimmy Rollins – have played more games in a Phillies uniform.

Born Antonio Nemesio Taylor Sánchez on December 19, 1935 in Central Alava in the Matanzas province on the island of Cuba, Taylor was raised there and began playing baseball as a young boy. He would eventually get to enjoy the game alongside his younger brother, Jorge.

Central Alava was “a quiet place,” Taylor said in 1970 per a more detailed bio piece on him by Rory Costello and Jose Ramirez for SABR. “Nothing to do but play ball or swim in the river. As a boy I went to school and worked in my cousin’s butcher shop. I liked chemistry. If I didn’t go into baseball, I would have become a chemist for a sugar company.”

During the mid-late 1950’s, Taylor turned professional. He was officially a member of the San Francisco Giants beginning in 1954, and played the next few years in both the Cuban professional league and in the U.S. minor leagues, building a reputation as a slick-fielding shortstop.

After playing with Dallas in the Texas League during the 1957 season, the Chicago Cubs selected Taylor from the Giants in the December Rule 5 minor league draft. He was then immediately installed as the Cub’s starting second baseman and leadoff hitter at just age 22.

Taylor’s glove proved far more advanced than his bat during his rookie 1958 season in the Windy City. But that glove was good enough to keep him in the starting lineup. The following year, Taylor’s offensive production took a step forward. His average jumped 55 points to the .280 mark and his slugging percentage rose nearly 80 points, with Taylor nearly doubling his number of extra-base hits.

He opened the 1960 season still as the starter at second base with the Cubs, but that wouldn’t last long. On May 13, 1960, Taylor was dealt to the Phillies along with catcher Cal Neeman, with the Phils sending their starting first baseman, Ed Bouchee and young starting pitcher Don Cardwell to Chicago.

Taylor quickly became a fan favorite at Connie Mack Stadium. He hit .310 over his first 56 games as new manager Gene Mauch‘s starting second baseman with 16 extra-base hits , 17 RBIs, 31 runs scored, and a dozen stolen bases. That performance earned Taylor his lone career National League All-Star nod.

The young Phillies won just 59 games in that 1960 season, finishing in last place in the National League. But over the next few seasons they slowly built a contender under Mauch.

A core group of players that included outfielders Johnny Callison, Tony Gonzalez, and Wes Covington, catcher Clay Dalrymple, shortstop Bobby Wine, and pitchers Chris Short and Art Mahaffey all grew up together during the early 1960’s with the Phillies.

In 1962 the club finished 81-80, their first winning season in nearly a decade. The following year they upped it to 87 wins and a fourth-place finish. Then two big moves set the Phillies up to become legitimate contenders.

A big trade with Detroit in December 1963 brought in the veteran ace starting pitcher that the team needed in right-hander Jim Bunning. And a 22-year-old Dick Allen was handed the starting third base job as a rookie.

The addition of that big arm and bat to the maturing, talented, tight-knit core proved to be an exciting and winning mix and they led the National League for much of that summer. On Father’s Day, Bunning tossed the first Perfect Game in Phillies history as the Phillies downed the Mets by 6-0. An incredible play at second base by Taylor with one out in the bottom of the 8th inning helped make that historic gem at Shea Stadium possible.

Holding a 6 1/2 game lead with just a dozen left on the schedule, the Phillies organization printed up tickets for their first World Series appearance since 1950.

As even Phillies fans who weren’t around to experience the disaster are well aware, that Fall Classic appearance wasn’t meant to be. The team suffered through an infamous collapse, losing 10 straight games and 13 of 15. Though they won their final two games, the 1964 Phillies would finish a tantalizing one game out, in second place.

That group would never win a pennant, but they were a winning ball club. The Phillies enjoyed a winning record for six consecutive seasons from 1962 through 1967. Taylor was a starter during that entire period. As the 1960’s came to a close, that winning core began to age and was traded away, the club’s performance deteriorated on the field, and Taylor slid over to third base. In 1969 the Phillies would win just 69 games.

During spring training in 1970, the SABR bio describes what Taylor called “the biggest moment in my whole life.” His mother and sister, and his sister’s husband and children, arrived in Miami from Cuba. Taylor had been trying to get them out since 1962. “They led a difficult life. They did not believe in the Communists and were not given food and clothing. They had to buy things in the black market.”

In that 1970 season the Phillies played their final year at old Connie Mack Stadium. The former Shibe Park had been the club’s home since 1938, and had been the home of the American League’s Philadelphia Athletics from 1909-54. But the brand new Veteran’s Stadium was being built in South Philadelphia and would become the Phillies new home for the 1971 season.

Taylor spent that final year at Connie Mack serving as a utility player at age 34 on a rebuilding Phillies ball club, with youngsters Denny Doyle and Bowa taking over the starting roles in the middle infield.

On a Sunday afternoon in that final summer at the old ballpark, Taylor enjoyed a moment that would live on in Phillies history. It was August 2 and there were just over 10,000 fans at the start. Most were no longer there as the Phillies came to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning, trailing the San Francisco Giants by 6-3.

Larry Hisle led off with a double off Giants starter Ron Bryant and Doc Edwards followed with a base hit, moving Hisle to third base. When pinch-hitter Terry Harmon worked Bryant for a walk, the bases were suddenly loaded.

Giants skipper Charlie Fox went to his bullpen, calling in southpaw Mike Davison as Taylor stepped to the plate. In his 13th big-league season, Taylor had just 60 career home runs at that point. This moment would produce number 61 as Taylor blasted the first-ever walkoff grand slam in Philadelphia Phillies franchise history.

Taylor would open the first 1971 season at The Vet still with the Phillies, but would not finish the year with the team. On June 12 he was dealt to the contending Detroit Tigers for a pair of minor league prospects, neither of whom would ever reach the big-leagues. He would serve as the backup to Dick McAuliffe at second base with Detroit over the next three years.

It was with those Tigers where he would make his lone playoff appearances, starting and playing the full Games 2-5 in Detroit’s heartbreaking loss to the eventual World Series champion Oakland A’s. Taylor was just 2-15 in that 1972 ALCS, and went 0-4, striking out twice, in the decisive 2-1 victory for Oakland. In fact, he flew out to center field against Vida Blue for the final out with the tying run on base in the bottom of the 9th inning for the final game at Tiger Stadium.

In December 1973, Taylor returned to the Phillies, signing as a free agent at age 38. He would close out his playing career as a utility player and pinch-hitter over three final seasons in Philadelphia as the club finally returned to contending status in the mid-1970’s. This was when I saw Taylor play in person, in that twilight of his career.

Per the SABR bio, a July 1974 AP account included the following: “All Tony Taylor has to do is stick his head out of the Phillies’ dugout and the fans go wild.” This feeling too was mutual. “I love those people,” said Taylor of the Veterans Stadium fans. “If a guy gives one hundred per cent they cheer for you. They know baseball, and they know whether a player is playing hard or not.”

During an early 1976 slugfest at Wrigley Field, Schmidt drilled home runs in four consecutive at-bats during an 18-16 victory for the Phillies over the host Cubs. Per Larry Shenk, the Phillies Hall of Famer and all-time greatest player used one of Taylor’s bats to blast what proved to the the final game-winner in the top of the 10th inning.

As the 1976 Phillies captured the club’s first National League East Division crown, Taylor missed much of the season’s first three months injured, returning for the stretch run. Between games of a doubleheader in Montreal after the Phillies had clinched the division, Allen gave manager Danny Ozark an ultimatum – include Taylor on the postseason roster or Allen wouldn’t play. The skipper forged a compromise, naming Taylor as a coach for the NLCS in which the Phillies were swept out by Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine.

Following that season, Taylor formally retired as a player and became the Phillies first base coach from 1977 through 1979. Over the winter in 1978-79, Taylor managed the Águilas del Zulia club to a spot in the Venezuelan Winter League finals.

During the 1980 and 1981 seasons, Taylor served as a roving infield instructor. He won the first of three career World Series rings as a member of the organization when the Phillies captured the first championship in franchise history in that 1980 season.

Through most of the 1980’s he bounced around the organization, serving as a minor league manager and a roving instructor. Per the SABR bio, his personal life suffered a setback during this period when Taylor went through a divorce from wife Nilda during this period. He then returned to the big club in the role of first base coach with the 1988 and 1989 Phillies.

Taylor moved on to become a coach with the San Francisco Giants and the expansion Florida Marlins during the 1990’s. In 1999, the Marlins brought him back to the big-leagues where he served in the role of first base and infield coach. During this period he earned a second World Series ring when the Marlins captured the 1997 title. He would get a third when the Fish again won the championship in 2003.

In April 2004, Taylor was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame. Following one final season as the Marlins bullpen coach in 2004, Taylor officially and finally retired from baseball. Since that time he has enjoyed his retirement living in Miami, a home for many in the Cuban-American community.

This past August, Taylor attended the Phillies Wall of Fame ceremony at Citizens Bank Park when his friend Abreu was inducted. While in Philly for those Alumni Weekend celebrations, Taylor suffered a series of strokes.

Per a report by Matt Breen in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the 83-year-old Taylor wanted to return to Miami, and was transported from Jefferson Hospital to the airport. The Phillies paid for a team of nurses to accompany him and his second wife, Clara, on a private flight home.

“The Phillies have done great,” Clara said per Breen. “They were wonderful. He’s doing therapy and progressing really slow but hopefully well.” Numerous former Phillies teammates and club officials, including owner John Middleton, stayed in close touch on his return home. “It was overwhelming…He’s aware of everyone who has been calling,” said Clara per Breen.

That caring and concern from the Phillies organization and fan base is a reflection on the decades of good will built up between themselves and Tony Taylor. Here is to hoping that he is able to recover and continue to enjoy life, again returning one day to walk out onto the field in Philadelphia and continue this long-time genuine love affair.

 

PHILOGRAPHY SERIES

Click on the “date” in order to read the Philography piece. Click on the individual name to view their stats page at Baseball Reference

10.17.2014 – Greg Luzinski

10.24.2014 – Mitch Williams

10.31.2014 – Chris Short

11.07.2014 – Von Hayes

11.14.2014 – Placido Polanco

11.21.2014 – Jim Konstanty

11.28.2014 – Dick Allen

12.06.2014 – Dick Ruthven

12.12.2014 – Grover Cleveland  Alexander

12.20.2014 – Darren Daulton

12.13.2015 – Larry Bowa

1.09.2016 – Sherry Magee

1.26.2016 – Kevin Stocker

2.10.2016 – Granny Hamner

2.15.2016 – Edith Houghton

12.27.2016 – Bob Boone

1.19.2017 – Mike Lieberthal

2.02.2017 – Red Dooin

11.29.2018 – Richie Ashburn

2.03.2019 – Jim Bunning

2.10.2019 – Mike Schmidt

12.09.19 – Steve Carlton

PHILLIES, Philography

Philography series of Philadelphia Phillies mini-bios to resume

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It was October 2014 and I was writing for another site when I decided to begin a series of mini biographies on important figures in Philadelphia Phillies history.

Over the next few years and across a handful of different writing outlets, that series which I named “Philography” would continue to accumulate entries, a few during each off-season.

This year the tradition continues, beginning next week with what will be the 22nd entry in the Philography series. The new entry will highlight the career of the greatest pitcher in Phillies history, Steve Carlton.

To get Phillies and overall baseball history fans ready, below are links to the previous 21 pieces. These bios will usually key on the individual’s playing career, but I try to provide more personal and professional background if widely available.

I hope that you will find the series increases your enjoyment of baseball and the Phillies in particular, and come back for the new entries. There will be one each month during December, January, February, and March.

Click on the “date” in order to read the Philography piece. Click on the individual name to view their stats page at Baseball Reference.

PHILOGRAPHY SERIES

 

10.17.2014 – Greg Luzinski

10.24.2014 – Mitch Williams

10.31.2014 – Chris Short

11.07.2014 – Von Hayes

11.14.2014 – Placido Polanco

11.21.2014 – Jim Konstanty

11.28.2014 – Dick Allen

12.06.2014 – Dick Ruthven

12.12.2014 – Grover Cleveland  Alexander

12.20.2014 – Darren Daulton

12.13.2015 – Larry Bowa

1.09.2016 – Sherry Magee

1.26.2016 – Kevin Stocker

2.10.2016 – Granny Hamner

2.15.2016 – Edith Houghton

12.27.2016 – Bob Boone

1.19.2017 – Mike Lieberthal

2.02.2017 – Red Dooin

11.29.2018 – Richie Ashburn

2.03.2019 – Jim Bunning

2.10.2019 – Mike Schmidt

 

MORE RECENT PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES CONTENT:

PHILLIES

1971 Phillies: My first team

 

 

 

 

 

I was just nine years old when a then ultra-modern sports cathedral known as Veteran’s Memorial Stadium, also known as Veteran’s Stadium or more simply “The Vet”, opened virtually in my South Philly back yard.

And it was the 1971 Phillies team, the first to play on a new Astroturf surface, that became the first Phillies team I ever followed.

My friends and I were fans of The Vet even before the place officially opened. We would ride our bikes to the stadium on the nice March days prior to it’s opening, and on many days even once it did open. We rode our bikes around the concourse, picking up speed, and then would hit the long, sloping pedestrian access ramps at full speed. The effect would be like putting our bikes on turbo-powered boosters.

My dad took my brother, Mike, and I to a Phillies formal “Opening Day” event for The Vet. This was not an actual game, but took place prior to that first game. We had seats somewhere in the upper deck, probably around what was the 600 level.

1971 Phillies
Veteran’s Stadium opened for that 1971 Phillies season

I clearly remember being in awe of the place. Everything was shiny and new at that point. The gleaming white concrete outer pillars. The surreal-looking green Astroturf artificial playing surface. The brown dirt of the base cutouts.

There were dancing fountains of green water in center field. A giant, 13-star Colonial era flag unfurling above them. Revolutionary War characters Phil and Phillis shooting off a cannon along the outfield walls. And what seemed like a massive computerized scoreboard.

I had never been to old Connie Mack Stadium, something that I still jokingly hold against my dad in our conversations. The neighborhood of that old ballpark around 21st and Lehigh had become so dilapidated during the late-60’s, when I was a little kid but old enough that I would have appreciated a trip there, that my dad just felt it was too unsafe to take us. And besides, he was not a big baseball fan back then. Golf and basketball were his sports.

But here we were at The Vet for this special Opening Day, because it was new, and it was an event that was close to our home. For that nine year old me, it was love at first sight. I was in love with the place, but I had still never seen a baseball game in real life. That would be a love that would last to this very day.

The Phillies began playing at the stadium just days later, and the 1971 Philadelphia Phillies team would become the very first that I would follow in my lifetime.

In the true Opening Game, on April 10th, 1971, the Master of Ceremonies for pre-game festivities and introductions was a new broadcaster in town by the name of Harry Kalas.

The Phils defeated the expansion Montreal Expos by a 4-1 score, with future Hall of Famer Jim Bunning getting the win, and all-time Phillies player/coach great Larry Bowa registering the first hit at The Vet.

1971 Phillies Montanez
Center fielder Willie Montanez banged 30 homers and finished 2nd in the 1971 NL Rookie of the Year vote.

The 25-year old Bowa would eventually grow to become one of my favorite players. But that first year my actual favorite players were a little second baseman named Denny Doyle, and a hot dog  of a center fielder named Willie Montanez.

Doyle was a scrappy 26-year old, playing his second season in the big leagues and as Bowa’s double play partner. Montanez was an exciting 23-year old who hit 30 home runs and finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting that season.

The manager of those Phillies was named Frank Lucchesi, a little olive-skinned Italian who fit right in with South Philly. Unfortunately the second year skipper would only last until halfway through the following season.

In that first year at The Vet, Lucchesi had a mixture of veterans and kids to call upon in both his lineup and on his pitching staff. That lineup was led by 32-year-old veteran first baseman Deron Johnson who would bang out 34 home runs and register 95 RBIs, and 29-year-old catcher Tim McCarver, who would later become a famed broadcaster.

Otherwise, this was a young ball club. Besides Bowa, Doyle, and Montanez there was 23-year old third baseman John Vukovich, 21-year-old left fielder Oscar Gamble, and 25-year-old right fielder Roger Freed.

The Phillies bench was also fairly young, with only 35-year-old fan favorite infielder Tony Taylor having much experience. That bench also included 24-year-old infielder Don Money, who hit the very first home run in Vet Stadium history.

The others who left an impression on me included infielder Terry Harmon (27), outfielder Ron Stone (28), catcher Mike Ryan (29), outfielder Larry Hisle(24), and outfielder Mike Anderson(20). And then came a September call-up from the minors for a prodigious 20-year-old slugger named Greg Luzinski.

The pitching rotation was led by Bunning, who was then 39-years-old in the final season of his Hall of Fame career. Bunning would make just 16 starts in that 1971 season. The last of those was a horrible appearance at the Astrodome in mid-July in which he would yield four earned runs on seven hits in lasting just a single inning.

Bunning also made 13 relief appearances, and it was as a relief pitcher that Bunning wrapped up his career with a two-inning stint at The Vet on September 3rd against the New York Mets.

Another veteran in that rotation was lefty Chris Short. A decade earlier, Bunning and Short had nearly helped lead the Phillies to an NL Pennant. Now they were both aging and in decline. Short was now 33-years old, and would go 7-14 across 26 starts in what would be his final year as a regular starting pitcher.

Also in the rotation for the 1971 Phillies was their up-and-coming stud, a 25-year old named Rick Wise. The right-hander would win 17 games for a team that won just 65, and would be traded just prior to the following season for a left-hander named Steve Carlton.

Filling out the rotation were Barry Lersch and Ken Reynolds, both of whom were back-end starters by today’s lingo. Veteran Woodie Fryman was strong as a swing-man who both started and relieved.  Joe Hoerner was an effective lefty closer for that Phillies team. The bullpen also had a quintet of good-looking 20-somethings in Bill Champion, Dick Selma, Bill Wilson, and Wayne Twitchell.

Those were my first Phillies. I watched them as much as I could on TV in those days, though not many games were broadcast other than on Sunday afternoons.  More often, I listened that summer for the first time to the excellent work being done from the radio booth by the team of veteran By Saam, former player Richie Ashburn, and the newbie Kalas.

My Dad got us out to The Vet for a couple of games before the end of that 65-97 season. But the losing record really didn’t matter to me at that point. I had been introduced to a new game, a new stadium, a new team, a new love.

I had no way of knowing at that time, but a bunch of those first 1971 Phillies in my life would become enshrined as part of a team Wall of Fame that had not even been established yet. That group included Bunning, Short, Bowa, Vukovich, Luzinski, and Taylor.

In just a few years, they would start to win at The Vet. Carlton and minor league reinforcements named Mike Schmidt and Bob Boone would join Luzinski and Bowa to form a winning core. It all began for me with those 1971 Philadelphia Phillies, and the opening of Veteran’s Stadium.

PHILLIES, Philography

Philography: Chris Short

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Chris Short was a mainstay in the Phillies rotation during the 1960’s

Chris Short was an outstanding lefty starting pitcher who in these parts is forever associated with the ill-fated 1964 Phillies.

But he had a lengthy career in Philadelphia, a Phils pitcher for parts of 14 seasons spanning Connie Mack Stadium in the 1950’s and Veteran’s Stadium in the 1970’s.

For a 6-year stretch, from 1963 through 1968, he was one of the top starting pitchers in all of baseball.

Short was also an interesting story off the field. His nickname was “Style”, given him by teammates because he actually lacked any in his dress. He was described in a recent article by Frank Fitzpatrick as “different…in a harmless way” by former road roommate and fellow Phillies pitcher Art Mehaffey, and as “happy-go-lucky” by fellow Phils pitcher and Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Bunning.

Born in Milford, Delaware, Chris Short’s talent difference was first noticed on the field as a teenager. A standout at Bordentown Military Institute in New Jersey, where his father, a judge, had sent him to instill some discipline, Short signed with the nearby Phillies as an amateur free agent in June of 1957 at age 19.

Short began in the Phils’ farm system at Johnson City in that summer of 1957 as a 19-year old. He was wild, as are many young lefties, but his talent was obvious. Over the next two season, Short would work his way steadily up the club’s organizational ladder. He made 76 starts from 1957-59 at 3 levels, accumulating a 34-24 record with a modest ERA, and allowing significantly fewer hits than innings pitched.
In 1959, Short got his first taste of life in the Big Leagues. He made 3 early season appearances with the Phillies, getting one start each in April and May. He would get beaten up to the tune of 19 hits in 14.1 innings, amassing an 8.16 ERA, and with just a 8/10 K/BB ratio, but would go on to a successful year with AAA Buffalo.
Short began the 1960 season back at AAA, but it didn’t last long. Just a week into the season he got the call back to the Majors, and would spend the rest of the season there with the parent Phillies. Used exclusively as a lefty reliever through June 2nd, Short made 11 appearances out of the pen and was having success. In 17.2 innings he was 2-0 and had allowed just 14 hits.
It was then that manager Gene Mauch decided to give the lefty a shot in the rotation. During June and July of 1960, Short made the first 10 starts of his Big League career. 2 of his first 4 outings were complete game victories over the Chicago Cubs, one at Wrigley Field and the other at Connie Mack.

Short would slow down, losing his next 7 starts, including an 0-5 July. Sent back to the bullpen, he again thrived, with a 2.61 ERA during 20 games in August and September, allowing just 26 hits in 31 innings. When 1960 finished, Short had appeared in a total of 42 games, 10 of them starts, and had allowed 101 hits in 107.1 innings with a 3.94 ERA. He wasn’t dominating, but he was more than surviving as a 21 year old.

During the 1961 and ’62 seasons, Short continued to bounce back and forth between the rotation and the pen. Battered a bit in 1961, he regained some equilibrium with a solid 1962, and finally in 1963 at age 25, Chris Short became a full member of the starting rotation with the Phillies. He made 27 starts, going 9-12 with a 2.95 ERA. He also had amassed 198 innings, striking out 160 batters.

The “Whiz Kids” team had won the 1950 NL Pennant, and their successors hung around the .500 mark for most of the next half dozen years, finishing between 3rd and 5th place. But from 1958-61, the club finished in last place each year, with each season successively worse, sinking from 69 to 64 to 59 to a low of 47-107 in 1961. But along with Short’s improvements, the entire Phillies team was finally beginning to show signs of life.

The 1962 Phillies didn’t fair much better in the standings, finishing in 7th. But it was better than last place, and their final record was actually a winning one at 81-80. It would prove a sign of things to come. The 1963 Phillies would go 87-75, finish in 4th place, and with some young, exciting players like NL Rookie of the Year Richie Allen the future was finally looking brighter.

In 1964, Chris Short became an NL All-Star for the first of what would be two times. He also received some NL MVP votes for a season in which he would finish 17-9 with a 2.20 ERA, pitching 220.2 innings over 42 games, including 31 starts. The Phillies that year ran out to a big lead in the National League, and appeared primed to return to the World Series for the first time in 14 years. And then the infamous collapse came.

In the final week of that 1964 season, manager Gene Mauch pitched his top two starters, Bunning and Short, on two days rest not once, but twice each. Bunning would be completely bombed in his starts. Short didn’t pitch so poorly, but following a complete game victory over Houston on September 14th that raised his record to 17-7, he would not win again. The Phils famously let a 6 1/2 game lead with 10 to play get away.

Still, the Phillies appeared poised to be one of the top clubs in the National League for the next few years. It never materialized. Though they had a winning record each year from 1965-67, giving the club a stretch of 6 straight winning seasons during the 60’s, they wouldn’t again come close to winning a Pennant.
Short fully established himself among the top hurlers in the game during that era. His seasons during that period were key pieces to the Phils’ winning run. He went 18-11 in 1965, pitching a career-high 297.1 innings with a 2.82 ERA. In 1966, Short again received MVP votes during his only 20-win season. He went 20-10 with a 3.54 ERA, pitching 272 innings across a career-high 40 starts.
His 1967 campaign was the 2nd All-Star season of his career, but injuries cost him an entire month from late-May through late-June. As a result, his record was just 9-11. But he fashioned a 2.39 ERA, allowing just 163 hits in 199.1 innings. In 1968, Short was again strong, going 19-13 with a 2.94 ERA and tossing 269.2 innings. As the 1969 season approached, Chris Short was just 31 years old, and appeared set to ring out his successful decade with another strong year.

It was 1969, the “Summer of Love” in the United States, that would prove anything but for Short and the Phillies, and that would in fact prove to be the beginning of the end for his career. That year, Short suffered a back injury that would require surgery. Though he would pitch in parts of the five seasons from 1969-73, he would never again be the same level of pitcher as his mid-60’s dominant peak.

It all started innocently enough. He lasted just 4 innings in his first outing in Chicago on April 8th. His next start was not for a week later, home at Connie Mack against the Mets. Short battled through 6 innings against the Mets 22-year old rookie phenom Gary Gentry, but the Phils trailed 3-1. In the top of the 6th, Short got Amos Otis to ground weakly to 3rd, and then struck out the last two hitters he faced, Ron Swoboda and Jerry Grote. In the bottom of the inning, Short was lifted for a pinch-hitter, Johnny Briggs. He would not appear again in 1969.

1969 became a lost year for Chris Short, with the surgery knocking him out, and it was a lost season for the Phillies, who in the first year of a new divisional setup would finish in 5th place out of 6 teams in the new National League East Division. In fact, it would mark the first of 5 straight seasons that the Phils would finish either 5th or 6th in the new setup.

Short was able to return for the 1970 season, the team’s final one playing in Connie Mack Stadium. The old ballpark at 21st and Lehigh Avenue had been in existence since 1909 when it opened as Shibe Park, the name it would carry until 1953. The Phillies had left Baker Bowl at Broad & Lehigh and moved into Shibe, the home of the Philadelphia Athletics in those days, in 1938. In his 1970 comeback, Short went 9-16, making 34 starts and pitching 199 innings for a 5th place team. It wasn’t the strong seasons that he had been pitching, but he was healthy and was able to take his turn the team ended the Shibe/Mack Era.

When the Phillies opened Veteran’s Stadium in 1971, Chris Short was not just a regular member of the starting rotation, he was their Opening Day starter at Pittsburgh. He would pitch at The Vet for the first time a week later, on April 13th, 1971, losing to those same Pittsburgh Pirates.

Short would finish 7-14 in 1971 with a 3.85 ERA. He pitched 173 innings across 26 starts. But at the end, he was being eased out. After getting ripped in what was his final start at Pittsburgh on August 30th, Short was relegated to the bullpen, and from there he made just 4 appearances in September.

Short wrapped his 14-season Phillies career in 1972
1972 Topps, Short’s last Phillies card

 

1972 would prove to be Chris Short’s swan song in a Phillies uniform. He was used exclusively as a lefty reliever out of the bullpen, and in fact seemed to be settling into the role. Struggling at first, he was excellent over his final dozen appearances. Short registered a 1.72 ERA in those 12 games, striking out 14 and allowing just 11 hits in 15.2 innings. But it was a game on June 27th that sealed his final fate in Philly.

June 27th, 1972. First game of a doubleheader between the Phils and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Cubbies started former Phillie and future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins. The Cubs had a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the 6th, and Phils starter Jim Nash was in trouble thanks to some awful defense.

With runners at 1st and 3rd and nobody out, manager Bob Skinner called on Short to put the fire out. Instead, Short’s two walks (one intentional) and a wild pitch helped it blaze into a 3-run inferno. It would be the final appearance by Short in a Phillies uniform after 14 seasons stretching back to the 1950’s.

Chris Short was released by the Phillies in October of 1972. He signed a month later as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers. In 1973, Short appeared in the final 42 games of his career with the Brewers, including 7 starts. His last win as a starter came on June 1st at Milwaukee County Stadium, a 5-3 Brewers victory in which Short went 6 innings, scattering 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4 to beat the Chicago White Sox.

His actual final game was not so glorious. On September 18th against the Cleveland Indians he failed to retire a batter. Called on to protect a 5-3 Brewers lead in the bottom of the 9th with 2-on and nobody out, Short yielded a 3-run walkoff homerun to pinch-hitter John Ellis. It would be Chris Short’s final time on a pitching mound.

Short retired from baseball at age 35 with a final record of 135-132 across parts of 15 seasons in Major League Baseball, 14 of those with the Phillies. Hit pitched in 501 games, 308 as a starting pitcher. In his 2,325 innings he struck out 1,629 batters and yielded 2,215 hits. His career ERA was a respectable 3.43, and he had even accumulate 18 Saves along the way.

To this day, Short is high on the Phillies all-time career pitching lists: 4th in Wins (132), 4th in Games (459), 3rd in Starts (301), 4th in Shutouts (24), 4th in Innings (2,235), and 3rd in Strikeouts (1,585) and he was selected to the Phillies Wall of Fame in 1992. In 1979, Short was inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame.

Short never got to see his plaque on that Phillies Wall of Fame. He was inducted posthumously after dying tragically young, on August 1st, 1991. He battled health issues for years, including diabetes. Alone in his office, working as an insurance agent, Short had suffered a brain aneurysm in 1988. Hospitalizations and rehabs followed, but Short never recovered, finally succumbing at just age 53.
Chris Short is considered by many to be a bit star-crossed, his story somewhat tragic, particularly due to the circumstances of his post-baseball career and his life’s shortened and difficult ending.
But it must always be remembered that Chris Short also lived the dream. He not only reached the pinnacle of his profession in Major League Baseball, but he became an All-Star, was one of the best pitchers for the entirety of the decade of the 1960’s, and in 1964 very nearly helped lead his team to the top. He should be remembered fondly always by Phillies fans everywhere.