Larry Christenson, Phillies World Series champ, dies at 72 while on family fishing trip
Larry Christenson, a right-handed pitcher who spent his entire 11-year MLB career with the Phillies, died Friday, the team announced.He was 72.According to the team, Christenson died while on a family fishing trip in his native Washington state.
No further details were given.Larry was very special, the guy that kept in touch with all of us, he always had a smile on his face, he never forgot a moment he spent with you,” Schmidt said.“His passing will leave a hole in all of our hearts.
May he rest in peace.” Christenson was drafted third overall in 1972 out of Marysville High School and made his big league debut the following year.He was a Phillies rotation regular until his retirement in 1983.Philadelphia won the National League East five times during Christenson’s career and made the playoffs a sixth time during the strike-split 1981 season.
The Phillies won the World Series in 1980 and won the league pennant in his final season.During a three-season run of division titles in 1976-78, Christenson went 23-25 over 66 games, starting 64, and struck out 233 batters.He maintained a 3.71 ERA in that span, including a career-best 3.24 in 1978, the same year he started Game 1 of the NLCS.As a member of the 1980 World Series-winning club, he started 14 games and struck out 49 batters with a 4.03 ERA in the regular season.
He struggled in the postseason, though, allowing four runs while only recording one out in a Game 4 start against the Royals.He allowed three runs in two appearances in the NLCS against the Astros.Perhaps his best season, though, came in 1982, when the Phillies finished second in the division behind the Cardinals.
Christenson started 33 games with a 3.47 ERA.He struck out a career-high 145 batters, second on the team behind Cy Young Award winner Steve Carlton.“My heart is heavy today,” former Phillies shortstop Larry Bowa said.
“LC was a tremendous teammate, an outstanding pitcher and a true friend.Win or lose, he was always the life ...