James Patrick Barbieri (born September 15, 1941) is an American former

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) who played for the 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers and appeared in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

. He later played in Japan with the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

in 1970. Barbieri is one of only a few players in baseball history to win the

Little League World Series The Little League World Series is an annual baseball tournament for children—typically boys—aged 10 to 12 years old, held in the Eastern United States. Originally called the National Little League Tournament, it was later renamed for the Wor ...

, and later appear in a major league World Series.

Early years

Barbieri played in two Little League World Series for

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

. In , his team lost the championship game to

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. In , his team won the championship, defeating

Colton, California Colton is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Nicknamed "Hub City", Colton is located in the Inland Empire region of the state and is a suburb of San Bernardino, California, San Bernardino, approximately south of the cit ...

, in the final. He later threw out the

ceremonial first pitch The ceremonial first pitch is a longstanding ritual of baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from their seat in the grandstand to ...

at Game 1 of the

1954 World Series The 1954 World Series matched the National League champion New York Giants against the American League champion Cleveland Indians. The Giants swept the Series in four games to win their first championship since , defeating the heavily favored Ind ...

Professional career

Barbieri signed with the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

in 1960, and spent that season with two of their lower level

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

s, the

Panama City Fliers The Panama City Fliers were a minor league baseball team based in Panama City, Florida, that operated in the Alabama–Florida League. They were founded in 1951 as an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. In 1958, they were affiliated with the San Fran ...

and the

Green Bay Dodgers The Green Bay Dodgers were the final moniker of the minor league baseball teams located in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States between 1891 and 1960. Green Bay teams played as members of the Wisconsin State League (1891), Wisconsin–Michigan Le ...

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

a combined .296 with eight

home run 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 i ...

s and 71 RBIs in 123 games. In 1961, he played for the

Salem Dodgers Salem may refer to: Places Canada Ontario * Bruce County ** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie ** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce * Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, par ...

, hitting 12 home runs and collecting 49 RBIs while batting .312 in 115 games. Barbieri spent 1962 with the Triple-A

Omaha Dodgers The Omaha Dodgers were a Minor League Baseball team of the American Association and the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1961 to 1962. They were located in Omaha, Nebraska. The team was Omaha's second American Association franc ...

, appearing in 115 games while batting .265 with six home runs and 50 RBIs. From 1963 through 1969, Barbieri played for the Triple-A

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Color ...

, appearing in a total of 759 games while batting .279 with 60 home runs and 321 RBIs during seven seasons. In July 1966, Barbieri was called up to the Dodgers, making his MLB debut on July 5 against the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

as the starting left fielder; he went 0-for-2 at the plate while collecting a

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ov ...

and a

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

. His first major league hit came the next day, a lead-off single off of

Milt Pappas Milton Steven Pappas (May 11, 1939 – April 19, 2016) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from through . Nicknamed "Gimpy", the 17-year veteran pitched for the Baltimore Ori ...

of the Reds. Barbieri appeared in a total of 39 regular season games with the Dodgers, including eight starts in right field and nine starts in left field. He batted .280 (23-for-82) while collecting three RBIs and scoring nine runs. The Dodgers won the

National League pennant The National League pennant winner of a given Major League Baseball season is the team that wins the championship—the pennant—of MLB's National League (NL). This team receives the Warren C. Giles Trophy and the right to play in the World Se ...

with a 95–67 record, and faced the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in the

. Barbieri made one appearance; pinch hitting in the pitcher's spot in the fourth inning of Game 1, he

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denote ...

against

Moe Drabowsky Myron Walter Drabowsky (July 21, 1935 – June 10, 2006) was an American professional baseball pitcher, best-remembered for throwing scoreless innings of relief to win Game 1 of the 1966 World Series. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for ...

. The Dodgers fell to the Orioles in a four-game sweep. After returning to Triple-A Spokane for the 1967 through 1969 seasons, Barbieri played for the

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

in 1970, his last season in

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

. He played in 93 games for the Dragons, batting .188 with nine home runs and 31 RBIs. A teammate on the Dragons was John Miller, also a former MLB player.

Post-playing career

Barbieri and his wife continued to live in the

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, area and raised four sons.SABR biography In 2011, Barbieri was an inaugural inductee of the

Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any poli ...

Baseball Hall of Fame, honoring players, coaches, and umpires from the Schenectady area.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbieri, Jim 1941 births Living people Major League Baseball outfielders Baseball players from New York (state) Los Angeles Dodgers players Chunichi Dragons players American expatriate baseball players in Japan Green Bay Dodgers players Panama City Fliers players Salem Dodgers players Omaha Dodgers players Spokane Indians players Sportspeople from Schenectady, New York

Early years

Professional career

Post-playing career

References

Further reading

External links