CMOS IC's can be non-destructively damaged by static discharges. The charge gets trapped and alters the functionality of the device permanently e.g. a bit stuck on. It may take a while to drain the charge away naturally and shorting discharges it faster. So, potentially the thing that was broken and you took the batteries out, but didn't throw it away might work after a year sitting.
I repaired an HP calculator that was stuck in commas for the decimal mode, a bicycle computer that was dragged across a van carpet and the vacuum florescent clock in one of my cars this way. The clock died after the car was jumped.