The Phillies Nation Top 100: #21 Chris Short
The Phillies Nation Top 100 continues today with #21. Our mission is to assess the Top 100 Phillies players of all time using impact to the Phillies, individual achievement, team achievement, traditional stats, and analytics as our criteria. The list was compiled by Ian Riccaboni and Pat Gallen with input from the rest of the Phillies Nation staff.
From this point forward, each weekday, we will reveal two Phillies from the PN Top 100 in separate posts. To view the players listed thus far, please click here. To view the 2008 iteration of the list of Greatest Phillies of All Time as compiled by Tim Malcolm, please click here.
Please check back tomorrow morning for #20.
Years: 1959-1972
132-127, 3.38 ERA, 1.283 WHIP in 2253 IP
Previous Rank: 21 (No Change)
fWAR Phillies Rank: 7th among pitchers, 20th among Phillies
Signature Season: Went 17-9 with a 2.20 ERA in 1964
Memorable Moment: Threw 15 shutout innings against the Mets on October 2, 1965
All-Star (1964, 1967)
The 6’4″ lefty from Milford, DE Chris Short finds himself scattered across many Phillies all-time pitching leader boards. Short ranks fourth in innings pitched, wins, and complete game shutouts, and third in strikeouts in Phillies club history. Somewhat lost in history is the fact that Short was among the best pitchers in the National League during his stay with the Phillies. From 1959 through 1972, the versatile Short was 15th in the NL in wins, seventh in appearances, seventh in games started, sixth in innings pitched, and 64th out of 185 in ERA.
Shorts solid accomplishments often went undetected while pitching in the same staff as the legendary Jim Bunning. Short would make two All-Star teams including one in his finest season, 1964, where he would go 17-9 with a 2.20 ERA. Like many of the Phillies, the carriage turned back into a pumpkin for Short in September 1964 where he went just 3-2 with a 3.00 ERA in the month. Not horrible at all but definitely a downgrade from the other-worldly pitching he had going through August 26 (14-6, 1.69 ERA).
Short passed away on August 1, 1991 after slipping into a coma from a ruptured aneurysm. Short was inducted on to the Phillies Wall of Fame in 1992.
