In his lone season with the Bears, Christopher pitched in 31 games. Among those games was a four-hit shutout against the Rochester Red Wings in the International League playoffs to put the Bears up two games to none. In the championship series against the Montreal Royals, Christopher pitched seven solid innings in a victory for the Bears, but injured his back and did not play another game that season. He finished the season with a 16–7 record, a 2.82 ERA and 12 complete games. At the conclusion of the season, Christopher was considered the top prospect in the rule 5 draft, and the Philadelphia Athletics selected him with the first pick of the draft.