#259 Bill Short - Cincinnati Reds

William Ross Short
Cincinnati Reds
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  5'9"  Weight:  170
Born:  November 27, 1937, Kingston, NY
Signed:  Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1955 season
Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1960; Baltimore Orioles 1962, 1966; Boston Red Sox 1966; Pittsburgh Pirates 1967; New York Mets 1968; Cincinnati Reds 1969

Died:  February 2, 2022, Sarasota, FL (age 84)

Bill Short pitched professionally for 15 seasons with his only full season in the majors coming in 1968 with the Mets.  Short peaked in 1959 when he was 17-6 with a 2.48 ERA for the Richmond Virginians, then the Yankees' top farm team, winning International League MVP honors.  He'd make 10 starts for the Yankees in 1960, appear in five games for the Orioles in 1962, and then not return to the majors until July 1966.  In his one season with the Mets, Short relieved in a career-high 34 games, pitching to a 4.85 ERA over 29 2/3 innings.  After four appearances with the Reds in 1969, Short joined the Pirates as a minor league pitching instructor in 1970, a job he'd hold for a few years before leaving baseball.  Short was 5-11 overall in the majors with a 4.73 ERA in 73 games pitched.

Building the Set / Card #246
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

In mid-March last year, over a year ago at this point, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set.  That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon.  I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.

This is the 169th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York.  My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside.  After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far.  With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298.  The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me $1.25.

The Card / Reds Team Set / Accuracy Index -12

Short is shown hatless and wearing a Pirates jersey, in a photo taken at the same time as the photo used for his 1967 Topps card.  It's also the same exact photo used for his 1968 Topps card.  The back of the card does a good job of summarizing Short's career to date, his big 1959 season and the elbow injury that likely curtailed his big league career.

Accuracy Index:  Short's problematic card features a photo used before (-4), a Pirates uniform (-5) and the lack of a hat (-3).

1969 Season
The Reds selected Short from the Mets on December 2, 1968 in the annual rule 5 draft.  He'd spend most of the season pitching for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, where he was 12-7 with a 3.86 ERA over 27 appearances.  Recalled briefly in early June, Short pitched in four games for the Reds, allowing four earned runs over 2 1/3 innings for a 15.43 ERA.

1960 Topps #142

1961 Topps #252

1962 Topps #221

1967 Topps #577

1968 Topps #536

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1960 Topps #142
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6):  1960-1962, 1967-1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1969 Topps #259
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  19 in the Beckett online database as of 2/16/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database

#258 Jackie Hernandez - Kansas City Royals / #260 Reggie Jackson - Oakland Athletics