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Larry Richard Christenson (born November 10, 1953), nicknamed "L.C.", is an American former professional
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...
, who played his entire
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
(MLB) career for the
Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...
(1973–1983).


Early life

Christenson attended Marysville High School in
Marysville, Washington Marysville is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States, part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The city is located north of Seattle, adjacent to Everett on the north side of the Snohomish River delta. It is the second-largest ci ...
where he was noted more for his basketball than baseball skills. He struck out 143 batters in 72 innings and had an earned run average (ERA) of 0.28 in his
senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...
year.


Career

Christenson was selected third overall in the first round by the Phillies in the 1972 MLB draft, just one day after his graduation. A short time later, he began his professional career with the Phillies’
Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
(MiLB) Pulaski Phillies of the
Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wooden ...
. Both his first MiLB and MLB hits were home runs and he is tied with
Rick Wise Richard Charles Wise (born September 13, 1945) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher between and for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Re ...
for most home runs (11) by a pitcher in Phillies history. Christenson made his MLB debut on April 13, 1973, beating the
National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
(NL)-rival
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...
, 7–1, while pitching a
complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...
. At the time, he was the youngest player in MLB at age 19; he would remain so until 18-year-old
David Clyde David Eugene Clyde (born April 22, 1955) is an American former left-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who played for five seasons with the Texas Rangers (1973–1975) and Cleveland Indians (1978–1979). He is noted for his once promising ...
debuted for the Texas Rangers, that June 27. Christenson would bounce back and forth from the majors to the minors until 1975, when the Phillies called him up to stay. He went 11–6 that season and would become a key cog on Phillies teams that would win three straight NL Eastern Division titles (1976–1978). Christenson would have his best seasons those three years: 1976, going 13–8 with a 3.68
earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
(ERA); 1977 (his best season), when he went 19–6 with a 4.06 ERA, winning 15 of his last 16 decisions; and 1978, where he slipped to 13–14, despite posting a career-best ERA of 3.24. In the
1978 National League Championship Series The 1978 National League Championship Series was a best-of-five matchup in Major League Baseball’s 1978 postseason between the West Division champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the East Division champion Philadelphia Phillies. It was the tenth e ...
, Christenson was the Phillies’ Game 1 starter. Thereafter, injuries would begin to plague Christenson's career. He began the 1979 season on the
disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 Major League Baseball season, 2019 season, it was known as the disabl ...
(DL), with elbow problems, missing the first month. Later, that June, Christenson broke his
collarbone The clavicle, collarbone, or keybone is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on each side of the body. The clavicle is the ...
during a charity bicycle ride and missed several weeks. He ended up with a 5–10 record that season. He was nearly dealt along with
Tug McGraw Frank Edwin "Tug" McGraw Jr. (August 30, 1944 – January 5, 2004) was an American professional baseball relief pitcher. McGraw played in 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1965 to 1984, for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Philli ...
and
Bake McBride Arnold Ray McBride (born February 3, 1949), nicknamed "Shake 'n Bake" and "the Callaway Kid", is an American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, a ...
to the Texas Rangers for
Sparky Lyle Albert Walter "Sparky" Lyle (born July 22, 1944) is an American professional baseball pitcher who spent sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1967 through 1982. He was a relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Texa ...
and
Johnny Grubb John Maywood Grubb, Jr. (born August 4, 1948) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder and designated hitter, who also occasionally played at first base. He played with the San Diego Padres (1972–1976), Cleveland Indians (1977 ...
at the 1979
Winter Meetings Representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 Minor League Baseball affiliates convene for four days each December in the Winter Meetings to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees in ...
in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, but the proposed transaction was never executed because a deferred money issue in Lyle's contract went unresolved."LeFlore, Rodriguez Swapped by Tigers," ''The New York Times'', Saturday, December 8, 1979.
Retrieved June 7, 2020 In 1980, Christenson started off 3–0, but went on the DL, again, and had elbow surgery. He recovered to finish the season 5–1 and start Game 4 of the
1980 World Series The 1980 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) season. The 77th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Philadelphia Phillies and the Amer ...
, but was knocked out of the game in the first inning. In 1981, Christenson posted a less-than-stellar 4–7 record, but notched a win in the
1981 National League Division Series The 1981 National League Division Series (NLDS), the opening round of the National League playoffs of the 1981 MLB Postseason which began on Tuesday, October 6, and ended on Sunday, October 11. The Division Series was created on August 6 in resp ...
, against the
Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...
. His last injury-free season was 1982, when he made 32 starts and went 9–10. In 1983, Christenson went under the knife for elbow surgery for the final time, after a 2–4 start. He failed to make the postseason roster and the Phillies gave him his unconditional release on November 10 of that year, his 30th birthday. Although only a .150 hitter (64-for-427) in his 11-year major league career, Christenson hit 11
home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...
with 46 RBI and 24
bases on balls A base on balls (BB), better known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches during a plate appearance that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The bas ...
. Christenson tried for several years, spent in his home state of Washington, to rehabilitate from his numerous surgeries, but was unable to return to baseball.


Personal life

Christenson began a career in institutional investing in 1985, and currently is president of Christenson Investment Partners, which works with institutional asset managers and investors. Christenson resides in the Philadelphia area. He has two adult daughters. Christenson maintains his ties with the Phillies and is well known locally for his work on behalf of numerous charities.


See also

*
List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise The following is a list of former Major League Baseball (MLB) players who played in at least 10 MLB seasons and spent their entire MLB playing careers exclusively with one franchise. In most cases, this means the player only appeared with one te ...


Sources

* Kashatus, William C. ''Lefty & Tim: How Steve Carlton and Tim McCarver Became Baseball's Best Battery''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2022.


References


External links

, o
Baseball Almanac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christenson, Larry 1953 births Major League Baseball pitchers Philadelphia Phillies players Eugene Emeralds players Pulaski Phillies players Toledo Mud Hens players Living people People from Marysville, Washington Baseball players from Snohomish County, Washington 20th-century American sportsmen