Short work at the plate

Back in the days of yore when pitchers actually hit during games – kids, you can Google that – some of them are known as good hitters.

Alas, most are not.

In fact, many of them simply are really bad.

And then there is Chris Short, the Philadelphia Phillies’ left-hander who often makes bad-hitting pitchers look good.

Chris Short

Short, who spends 14 seasons from 1959-72 pitching for the Phillies and hits all of .126 as a hitter during that time.

He strikes out in 28 percent of his career 697 at-bats and never once hits a home run.

His highest batting average comes in 1962, when he hits .222 with eight hits in 36 at-bats.

Inexplicably, half of those hits come 63 years ago today in Milwaukee, where 10,238 witnesses at County Stadium see Short go 4-for-4 with two singles and two doubles off the normally brilliant Warren Spahn, who typically during his Hall of Fame career flosses with anemic hitters like Short.

Turns out that Short’s fourth and final hit in this Sunday afternoon game off the great Spahn is a ground single to center field to score Ruben Amaro from second base, give the Phillies a 4-1 lead and chase Spahn from the game.

As for Short, he lasts one batter into the bottom of the eighth before leaving, having scattered two runs on seven hits with closer Jack Baldschun then recording the final sixth outs to preserve Short’s ninth victory of the 1962 season.

As for Spahn, he is one of the game’s better-hitting pitchers during his 21-year career with 35 home runs, a total that ranks third on the all-time list behind only Wes Ferrell (38) and Bob Lemon (37).

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