Ed Short

Quality 0.50 · 0 views · Updated 2 months ago

title: "Ed Short" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1919-births", "1984-deaths", "chicago-white-sox-executives", "major-league-baseball-general-managers", "sportspeople-from-chicago", "united-states-army-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "united-states-army-officers", "military-personnel-from-illinois"] topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Short" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Ed Short
birth_date
birth_place	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Skokie, Illinois, U.S.
occupation	American professional sports executive
years_active	1950–1973
::

Early career and wartime service

After graduating from Roosevelt High School in Chicago in 1937, Short attended Wright Junior College. He worked for the Chicago Tribune and was a publicity man for Chicago Stadium in 1940–41. He then served in the United States Army during World War II, attaining the rank of captain, and was a radio broadcaster after the war, including a stint as sports director of WJJD-AM, Chicago. He joined the White Sox in 1950 as publicity director, and later was named the club's traveling secretary. Despite his having worked in administrative positions, rather than in baseball operations, he was promoted to succeed Hank Greenberg as the Chisox' general manager late in the 1961 season. But, as a GM, Short was noted for his bold moves.

Rebuilding the White Sox

In his first off-season, he traded aging White Sox stars Billy Pierce, future Baseball Hall of Famer Minnie Miñoso and Roy Sievers to the National League for younger players. After the campaign, Short swung one of the biggest deals of the off-season, sending Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio and outfielder Al Smith to the Baltimore Orioles for Aparicio's Baltimore counterpart, Ron Hansen, young third baseman Pete Ward, power-hitting outfielder Dave Nicholson and future Hall of Fame knuckleball pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm. Hansen, Ward and Nicholson became regulars in 1963. Wilhelm would be Chicago's bullpen ace for six seasons (1963–68) and compile an earned run average of 1.92 in 361 games and innings pitched in a White Sox uniform. That winter, Short also released Cooperstown-bound veteran pitcher Early Wynn, then stalled at 299 career victories. Short also would trade another White Sox legend and future Hall of Famer, Nellie Fox, and release nine-time AL All-Star and 3x Gold Glove Award catcher Sherm Lollar after the 1963 campaign.

However, Short believed that the best trade he ever made happened in January 1965, a three-way deal also involving the Kansas City Athletics and Cleveland Indians. In that transaction, the White Sox acquired ace left-handed starting pitcher Tommy John and centerfielder Tommie Agee.

The White Sox were serious pennant contenders in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1967. They finished second in the ten-team American League from 1963 through 1965, and were edged out by the New York Yankees for the 1964 AL pennant by a single game.

Swift decline after 1967 pennant race

The White Sox of the mid-1960s relied on pitching, speed and defense. In addition to Wilhelm, and, later, John, the team's pitchers also included starters Gary Peters, Juan Pizarro and Joel Horlen. Short also obtained left-handed knuckleball ace Wilbur Wood, who starred first in the bullpen and then, as a starting pitcher, won 20 games four times during his 12-season (1967–78) White Sox career.

But after competing for the 1967 pennant into the last week of the season, the 1968 White Sox started poorly and signaled the beginning of three years of desperate struggle at the gate and on the field. In 1968 and 1969, the White Sox played one game against every other AL opponent at Milwaukee County Stadium, which was wooing an expansion or relocated MLB team —such as the White Sox — at the time. At Comiskey, the Chisox drew an average of only 7,493 (1968), 6,633 (1969) and 6,115 (1970) fans per game. After an ownership transition from Arthur Allyn, Jr. to his younger brother John, and with the team's record at 49–87 and en route to a franchise-worst 56–106 finish, Short was dismissed and replaced by Stu Holcomb on September 1, 1970.

In his final job in professional sports, Short served as general manager of the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association.

He died in Skokie, Illinois, aged 64, on July 16, 1984.

Short developed a reputation for being humorless and impersonal. Chicago sportswriter David Condon, supposedly quoting a friend, commented "An empty cab pulled up, and out stepped Ed Short."[Chicago Tribune, September 27, 1969, sec.2, p.1]

References

[http://www.baseballamerica.com/execdb/?show=exec&eid=shorted01 Baseball America Executive Database]
Obituary, ''The Modesto Bee'', July 17, 1984
[https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/18/obituaries/ed-short-a-former-official-of-the-white-sox-dies-at-64.html Obituary], ''The New York Times'', July 18, 1984
[http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/wsoxatte.shtml Baseball Almanac]
[https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/03/archives/gutteridge-is-released-as-white-sox-manager.html "Gutteridge Is Released As White Sox Manager," ''United Press International'' (UPI), Wednesday, September 2, 1970.] Retrieved December 10, 2021
[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19700903&id=MLRVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4899,642248 "Gutteridge fired; Adair assumes job," ''The Associated Press'' (AP), Thursday, September 3, 1970.] Retrieved December 10, 2021

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::