What’s Wrong With This Card – Chris Short

I am posting this on September 15, 2011, in honor of my first visit to Philadelphia. I’ll be off to see the Phillies in a few minutes. I’m excited about seeing Citizens Bank Park.

I remember Chris Short very well. He was a tall, hard-throwing left hander who had a great fastball. I don’t remember his curve or slider that well, although I know he had them in his tool kit. At his peak, from 1963 to 1967, he was a highly successful pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Injuries took their toll and from 1968 to the end of his career he just wasn’t the same. He courageously labored on for several more years in an attempt to regain his old magic; he never did and retired from the game after the 1973 season.

Some of you old baseball fans will remember that he played on the famous 1964 Philadelphia Phillies team that had one of the biggest collapses in the history of major league baseball. Safely perched in first place with a 6½ game lead and only twelve games left in the season, the Phillies poor defense and so-so bullpen caught up with them and they lost ten straight games. I imagine it was bitter medicine to sit idly by wondering what happened while the St. Louis Cardinals won their pennant and went on to defeat the New York Yankees in the World Series.

So what’s the story with this 1969 Topps Chris Short baseball card? Is there an error? Is there an error in judgment? Does the photograph portray an appropriate image? Have you figured it out? If so, please let me know.

In each installment of this ongoing series, I will present a baseball card for your review. If you study the card carefully you will find something about it that is not quite right. Once you’ve determined what it is, please identify it in a comment. I will identify the readers who correctly identified the incorrect aspect of the card in an upcoming post. Thank you, and have fun.