Shorty Des Jardien

Paul Raymond Des Jardien

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 5", Weight 205 lb.
• School University of Chicago
• High School Wendell Phillips High School
• Debut May 20, 1916
• Final Game May 20, 1916
• Born August 24, 1893 in Coffeyville, KS USA
• Died March 7, 1956 in Monrovia, CA USA

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Biographical Information

Desjardien with the University of Chicago baseball team in Japan, 1915

Paul "Shorty" Des Jardien, who got into one game with the Cleveland Indians in 1916, is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame [1].

Desjardien is, as of 2009, the last of six major league players who are remembered with the first name "Shorty". In his case, he was called Shorty because he was so tall - 6' 5".

He was born in Coffeyville, KS, in southeastern Kansas very near to the Oklahoma border. He attended the University of Chicago at the same time as Stan Baumgartner and Charlie Blackburn.

Desjardien also played for Marshalltown in 1916, posting a 1.62 ERA.

During World War I he was a lieutenant in the infantry.

His unusual last name is spelled in a number of different ways in Census records; his father originally came from Canada where the surname was likely the relatively common "Desjardins", which is virtually impossible to pronounce correctly in English, hence the strange and various spellings.

Related Sites

• Shorty Des Jardien at the SABR Bio Project