1968 Topps #536 Bill Short
About Bill Short
Card #536, another high number, lists Short with the Mets, who had bought him from the Pirates after the 1967 season. He survived a spring camp in which 18 pitchers chased 10 jobs and then stuck all year, his longest stay with one big-league club: 34 games, 29 2/3 innings, three losses and one save. His second outing was the April 15 marathon at the Astrodome, where he finished the 12th and got one out in the 13th of a scoreless game the Astros finally won on an error in the bottom of the 24th.
William Ross Short, a 5-foot-9 left-hander from Kingston, New York, was signed by Yankees scout Paul Krichell in 1955 out of Newburgh Free Academy. He climbed from the Class-D Appalachian League through the Evangeline League and Binghamton, breaking out in 1959 at Triple-A Richmond, where a 17-6, 2.48 year made him an International League All-Star and the league's Most Valuable Pitcher. After Army service from October 1959 to April 1960 he won his April 23 Yankees debut as a starter against Baltimore, but a strained elbow and, in 1961, surgery for bone chips and spurs stalled him; the Orioles took him in the November 1961 Rule 5 draft. He spent the next four and a half years in the Baltimore system, mostly at Triple-A Rochester. Apart from a six-start recall to the Orioles in 1966, every big-league inning he threw after 1960 came in relief, for Baltimore, Boston, Pittsburgh, the Mets and finally Cincinnati in 1969. He finished 5-11 with a 4.73 ERA in 73 games, 16 of them starts, including a six-hit shutout of Minnesota on July 1, 1966, the only shutout of his career. He later served as a Pirates minor league pitching instructor, entered the International League Hall of Fame in 2009, and died in 2022 in Sarasota, Florida.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · Retrosheet (1) · Retrosheet (2)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 305 | 12 | 80 | 150 | 43 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| SGC | 22 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted. Slabs of the yellow team-letter #49 and #66 are 1968 Milton Bradley game cards and are not counted here.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1968 Topps cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #401 New York Mets
More New York Mets cards:
- #27 Gil Hodges
- #45 Tom Seaver
- #63 Dick Kenworthy
- #92 Ed Kranepool
- #114 Ron Swoboda
- #132 Bud Harrelson
- #177 Mets 1968 Rookie Stars
- #191 Dan Frisella
- #211 J.C. Martin
- #236 Tug McGraw
- #254 Cleon Jones
- #277 Jerry Buchek
- #292 Art Shamsky
- #313 Al Weis
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #536 card?
It is card #536 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Short of the New York Mets.
Is 1968 Topps #536 a scarce card?
It is a high number card from the seventh print series, #534-598, by the checklist-card division. The last two series together (#458-598) carry only a modest premium; no short-print list exists.
How many cards are in the 1968 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 606 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 without a gap and no printed number carries two different cards; eight cards - six of the seven checklists, #10 AL Pitching Leaders and #400 Mike McCormick - carry a catalogued print variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, Beckett, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-12.