John Hoffmann Writes About Rick Short

[weams]

For eight years John Hoffmann covered the minor leagues for several newspapers, magazines and on a daily basis for the Hangout. He also had an in depth weekly column on minor league baseball that was posted on the Hangout every Sunday.

John moved back to his hometown St. Louis in 2006. Since then he has been an editor for a traffic reporting service, a political and news columnist for AOL, plus did some sports writing. He is also the PA announcer for a local college basketball and baseball team. Since 2009 he has run a website focusing on local suburban news and politics, but always had some room for entertainment and personalities.

This winter John decided to write about some of the more interesting baseball players he met while writing for the Hangout for his St. Louis area readers and try and find out what they are doing now. We will be running a number of his pieces.

Read the article here.

[weams]

Read this, if you enjoy this type of insight, please comment and John will continue his series for us.

[weams]

Link doesn't work when trying through Tapatalk. Might just be me? Sounds like a cool piece, I'll keep trying.

http://www.orioleshangout.com/article/5440/john-hoffmann-on-rick-short

[weams]

Getting a server runtime error.

Anyone else? Not me.

[weams]

Getting a server runtime error.

For eight years John Hoffmann covered the minor leagues for several newspapers, magazines and on a daily basis for the Hangout. He also had an in depth weekly column on minor league baseball that was posted on the Hangout every Sunday.

John moved back to his hometown St. Louis in 2006. Since then he has been an editor for a traffic reporting service, a political and news columnist for AOL, plus did some sports writing. He is also the PA announcer for a local college basketball and baseball team. Since 2009 he has run a website focusing on local suburban news and politics, but always had some room for entertainment and personalities.

This winter John decided to write about some of the more interesting baseball players he met while writing for the Hangout for his St. Louis area readers and try and find out what they are doing now. We will be running a number of his pieces.

RICK SHORT: A .400 HITTER Rick was one of the nicest guys I covered in nine years and someone even jaded sportswriters would actually root for. Despite being 6-foot and 200 pounds, Short was stuck with a nickname of "Shorty." He was born in Elgin, Illinois, but later moved to Peoria after marrying his wife, Karen.

A 1998 Baseball Card when he played in Frederick for the Keys.

A 2000 Baseball Card when Rick played for the Bowie Baysox.

Rick was taken in the 33rd round of the 1994 draft by the Baltimore Orioles. That would not be a draft round where you find a prospect. However Short had college numbers for a higher draft pick if he had been playing college somewhere other than Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL. In his sophomore and junior years Short was consistent. He hit .373 both years.

Rick should have been very valuable to a National League team, but not so valuable to an American League team. The guy could hit anywhere he played. He could also play five different positions in the infield and outfield. This means he could be used for double switches in the National League where there was not a designated hitter and stay in games after pinching hitting for a pitcher. Unfortunately he was under contract to the American League Baltimore Orioles, where the designated hitter creates less demand for versatile players .

Short was hurt because he was line drive hitter and not a big run threat. Also he did not have a lot of speed on the base paths and despite being able to play five positions capably he did not have a lot of range.

These scouting reports slowed Rick from advancing quickly despite winning batting titles in the minor leagues. On June 22, 2000 Short hit a triple against the Reading Phillies. It was just the second triple he had hit 645 minor league games and 2,322 at bats. He would hit just six more over the next nine years.

His first year after being drafted he played for Bluefield in the short 3-month long Appalachian League where he hit .301. In 1995 he played for three different minor league teams. He hit .418 in 98 at bats for High Desert of the California League.

He played two full seasons for the Frederick Keys (Francis Scott Key is buried across the street from the ballpark in Frederick, Maryland), hitting .312 and then winning the league's batting title with a .319 average the next year. Usually if you have one very good year for a minor league team you are promoted to the next level the next year. For Rick he needed two good years to earn a promotion.

In 1999 he was playing Double-A ball for the Bowie Baysox. He hit a solid .314. That was not good enough for a promotion to Triple-A in 2000. He found himself back at Bowie.

Rick's wife Karen would come out and spend the summer with him for all his home games. Unlike the girlfriends of 1st round draft picks, dressing like models whose boyfriends signed for seven figure bonuses, Karen was a regular person from the Midwest who was friendly with a good sense of humor. When I was covering Bowie games I would often leave the press box and go out in the stands to sit with her to talk Midwest stuff for an inning or two.

In the off-season Rick went home to Peoria where he worked regular jobs. One year he was working at the Peoria Sheriff's Office as he finished up his Criminal Justice Degree. He worked in the detective unit, helped process servers and worked with deputies in the jail.

"Working at the jail was depressing. It was almost like being in jail," Rick told me.

The next year he was working on the night sports desk at the daily Peoria newspaper, getting high school football and basket scores complied.

"Some nights I thought my job was to be the person for the editor to yell at if a high school coach didn't call us with a score," he said.

When baseball started up the Bowie Blade newspaper hired Short to write a diary of what it was like to be a minor league baseball player. Here is maybe my favorite as Rick wrote about being on road trip to New England as the bus drove past New York City.

As we approach New York City, the bus has broken into a low buzz. Most of the guys have risen from their naps and the movie that is playing is no longer important. The shades on the bus-windows are all raised and the skyline in the distance becomes clearer.

First baseman Tom Hage, who is from the Bronx, is immediately bombarded with questions about the city. It's fun to watch the guys from different countries as the city, which they probably have only heard stories about, passes by.”

The year after that he was a substitute school teacher. He told me the following: "If a kid would tell me that that 'teacher' s can't do something' I'd tell them I was not really a teacher that I was a baseball player so they can't fire me if I do that."

In 2000 Short had a shot of winning another minor league batting championship, He was hitting .331 at Double-AA Bowie and was in a race with one other Eastern League player for the top batting average. But with two weeks to go in the season he got called up to Triple-A Rochester and the other player beat him with a .335 BA.

At the end of the year Short's contract with the Orioles was over and he signed a minor league deal with the Chicago Cubs, but it was back to the minors for Shorty. He played at Triple-A Des Moines. He only hit .275.

In 2002 he signed with the California Angels and hit .356 for the Salt Lake City Stingers leading the Pacific Coast League in hitting. That accomplishment still did not land Short a major league job, at least in the United States.

In 2003 he was playing in the Japanese Major Leagues for the Chiba Lotte Marines. Rick played outfield and hit a solid .303, plus he made the most money in his career to that point.

While Japanese teams have translators at the stadium for American players, they are on their own away from the ballpark. As usual Karen and their daughter joined him in Western Japan.

He would later tell me that the toughest thing for him and Karen to do during the season was go grocery shopping. Since they could not read Japanese and were unfamiliar with Japanese trademarks they would have to spend as long as 3 hours searching supermarkets looking for cans and boxes that had a picture of the product on the box or label.

When his team was in Tokyo I had a friend of mine, Takashi "Bert" Shimada, a retired Sony Corporation executive who wrote books on baseball including American minor league baseball, interview Rick before a game with the Tokyo Giants. Bert said Rick was shocked to have someone wanting to interview him for a baseball website in Maryland.

The next year Shorty was back in America and began the 2004 season back in the minor leagues playing for the Omaha Royals, the Triple AAA club of the Kansas City Royals. After 40 games he was traded to the Montreal Expos and sent to Edmonton were he hit .336. He was not called up to the soon to be non-existent Expos. The next year in 2005 the Expos were the Washington Nationals.

Many players start retiring at age 32. Few players are hanging around in the minor leagues at 32. In 2005 at age 32 Rick Short was still trying to reach his dream of playing in the big leagues. He started the season with the Washington National's Triple-A team the New Orleans Zephyrs. For most of the season Short was hitting above .400, something that had never been done in the modern era of baseball in the Pacific Coast League.

Finally it happened and on June 10, 2005 Short got called up to the big leagues. He pinch hit that night in the fifth inning in a game at RFK Stadium against the Seattle Mariners. I was working in the press box about 18 miles away covering a Bowie Baysox game.

When Rick came up to bat someone had a radio tuned to the broadcast of the game. Everyone in the press box except the scoreboard operator stopped what they were doing to listen. Rick didn't disappoint us. In his first major league at bat he lined a RBI single to left field. We let out a yell and the PA announcer told the 3,000 fans at Prince George's County Stadium that Shorty got a hit and the Baysox hardcore fans went nuts.

The next day the Nationals needed a roster spot for a pitcher and sent Rick back to the minors.

He finished the regular season with the Zephyrs, who luckily were on the road when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. While Rick did not hit .400 he had the highest modern-era batting average in the history of the Pacific Coast League of .383 which still stands today.

In September when the rosters expand the Nationals did call Rick back up to the big leagues. He played in 10 more games as a pinch hitter or at second base. He was six-for-15 hitting, an even .400 average when he injured and was forced to have surgery.

When he recovered he did not return to the big leagues, at least not in America. His contract was sold by the Nationals to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan.

Rick was a big star in his second stay in Japan. In three full seasons he hit .314, .330 and .332. He was so popular with fans of the Golden Eagles in Japan the team had a Rick Short bobble head night.

Here is a youtube video link of Short hitting a rare triple for the Golden Eagles in Japan:

In 2009 he only played in 61 games and his batting average dropped to .255 and he retired. He ended his playing career having hit .357 in NCAA D-I College, .319 in the minor leagues, .314 in the Japanese Major Leagues and a mere .400 in the American Major Leagues.

I know Rick made good money in Japan. He and Karen were not flashy status seeking people, so I have a suspicion he has a nice nest egg for his family of three kids. He is back in northern Illinois and is a scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks covering the upper Midwest.

Hopefully he can find the next Rick Short, who we would hope could get to the big leagues sooner and get more than 16 at bats.

* This additional thought on Rick Short came from former Bowie Baysox radio play-by-play man Dave Collins. "It can be difficult when you have a guy named Short who plays every infield position but shortstop. When you say, 'There's a ground ball hit to short,' it always needs some clarification.," said Collins.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'd very much like him to continue this. When I used to write for the Hangout John's columns were a regular feature here. I believe I briefly met him in the Baysox pressbox, probably circa 2004. His columns were often like this, obscure but interesting ballplayers.

[weams]

I'd very much like him to continue this. When I used to write for the Hangout John's columns were a regular feature here. I believe I briefly met him in the Baysox pressbox, probably circa 2004. His columns were often like this, obscure but interesting ballplayers.

I'll pass that on. He has one in the inbox for me that I'll run in the next few days.

[Tony-OH]

I'd very much like him to continue this. When I used to write for the Hangout John's columns were a regular feature here. I believe I briefly met him in the Baysox pressbox, probably circa 2004. His columns were often like this, obscure but interesting ballplayers.

John is planning to update many of the players he covered back in the day and we plan to run them. He's always a fun read!

[Tony-OH]

BTW, Shorty was definitely one of my favorite players to cover back in the day as well. Along with Howie Clark and Steve Bechler, those guys were always fun to talk to and always good guys. I rooted for all of them to make it to the majors. Shorty definitely got the short end of the stick back in the day. I realized how unfair things are in baseball sometimes when Carlos Casimiro was called up to the big leagues and Shorty at the time still hadn't gotten his callup.

Regardless, he'll always be a .400 major league hitter. not many guys can say that!

[Scotto]

Great article, I'd almost forgotten about "Shorty"! Always pulled for him, he was a frequent topic as I recall in the earlier days of the Hangout!

[Scotto]

Always enjoyed Johns coverage, too, glad he'll be contributing a bit again!

[scOtt]

* This additional thought on Rick Short came from former Bowie Baysox radio play-by-play man Dave Collins. "It can be difficult when you have a guy named Short who plays every infield position but shortstop. When you say, 'There's a ground ball hit to short,' it always needs some clarification.," said Collins.

That's both hilarious and thought provoking.

[Baroquen131]

That was a fun read. Looking forward to more.

[InsideCoroner]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. I hope John is able to do more of these profiles.

[Frobby]

I can't believe it's been almost ten years since John moved away and discontinued his columns here. He really gave you a feel for life in the minors. Kind of like Doc Shorebird's occasional pieces, except John's stuff appeared so regularly. You really felt you knew the players, not merely their stats and prospect status.