Richard Frank Barker (born October 29, 1972) is a former right-handed

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

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), ...

for the Chicago Cubs. Barker's major league career consisted of just five games in the 1999 season. Barker was drafted by the Cubs in the 37th round (1,030th overall) of the 1994 amateur draft out of

Quinsigamond Community College Quinsigamond Community College ()('' colloq:'' QCC, Quinsig) is a public community college in Worcester, Massachusetts. It has an enrollment of over 7,000 students. Many students are enrolled in the college's transfer program, MassTransfer, with ...

. Only three other players drafted in that round made the majors--

Bronson Heflin Bronson Wayne Heflin (born August 29, 1971) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the 1996 Philadelphia Phillies. Heflin was drafted by the Phillies in the 37th round (1,038th overall) ...

, Matt Blank, and Mike Lincoln. Barker was one of only four Cubs draftees (out of 75) that year who eventually made the big leagues. The only player drafted later than Barker that year by the Cubs to make the leap was

Kyle Farnsworth Kyle Lynn Farnsworth (born April 14, 1976) is a former professional baseball pitcher. He has played for the Chicago Cubs (1999–2004), Detroit Tigers (2005, 2008), Atlanta Braves (2005, 2010), New York Yankees (2006–2008), Kansas City Royals (2 ...

, a 47th round selection. Barker made his debut with the Cubs on April 25, 1999, throwing 1 innings against the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

and allowing one run on three hits. He'd make four more appearances in relief, including his final game on May 5, 1999. Barker's final statistics featured no wins, losses, or saves, an

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

of 7.20, four walks, and three strikeouts. After returning to the AAA Iowa Cubs after his cup of coffee with the parent club, Barker was unable to make it back to the majors. He pitched just 20 games in the minors in 2000 before he then retired from baseball due to an injury and moved to a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, where he married and started a small sports business.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Richie 1972 births Living people People from Revere, Massachusetts Sportspeople from Suffolk County, Massachusetts Chicago Cubs players Baseball players from Massachusetts Major League Baseball pitchers Huntington Cubs players Rockford Cubbies players Daytona Cubs players Orlando Rays players West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx players Iowa Cubs players Eugene Emeralds players