#41 Bob Barton - San Francisco Giants

Robert Wilbur Barton
San Francisco Giants
Catcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  175
Born:  July 30, 1941, Norwood, OH
Signed:  Signed by the San Francisco Giants as an amateur free agent before 1959 season
Major League Teams:  San Francisco Giants 1965-1969; San Diego Padres 1970-1972; Cincinnati Reds 1973; San Diego Padres 1974

Died:  January 15, 2018, Vista, CA (age 76)

A back-up catcher for the bulk of his career, Bob Barton spent parts of 10 seasons in the major leagues primarily with the Giants and Padres.  With the Giants, Barton saw infrequent playing time as the back-up for regular catcher Tom Haller (#310) and later Dick Dietz (#293).  Traded to the Padres on December 5, 1969, with Bobby Etheridge (#604) and Ron Herbel (#251) for Frank Reberger (#637), Barton would finally get the chance to start more games.  He was the Padres' back-up for Chris Cannizzaro (#131) in 1970, but took over regular catching duties for the relatively new expansion club in 1971.  Barton appeared in a career-high 121 games that season, batting .250 with five home runs and 23 RBIs, while leading all National League catchers with 42 runners caught stealing.

The success was short-lived as Barton would revert to being a back-up in 1972 and over the final few seasons of his playing career.  He'd return to the Padres for a final season in 1974, appearing in 30 games but leading all catchers with a 51.2% caught stealing percentage.  Barton played in 393 games in the big leagues, batting .226 while collecting 31 doubles, 9 home runs and 66 RBIs.  He threw out 125 would be base-stealers, or 41% overall for his career.

Building the Set / Card #97
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set.  That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon.  I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.

This is the 20th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York.  My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside.  After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far.  With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298.  The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me less than a dollar.  If I stick to composing posts five times a week, and I'm already slipping off that pace a little, I should go through the stack and be caught up by the week of January 22, 2024!

The Card / Giants Team Set / Accuracy Index +1

Topps recycled the exact photo used for Barton's 1968 Topps card, which uses a photo likely taken from the same session as the photos used for his 1966 and 1967 Topps cards.  The back of the card rightfully points out Barton is known as a "strong-armed" and a "top-notch receiver."

Accuracy Index:  Barton slips to +1 even though he's pictured correctly in a Giants uniform (+5), given the photo had been used the year before (-4).

1969 Season
Barton started the season as one of three catchers on the Giants' roster, behind Dietz and Jack Hiatt (#204) in the pecking order.  Dietz and Hiatt got most of the time behind the plate, with Barton not making a start until April 27th.  Barton would make 33 starts overall, starting every day for a stretch between July 4th and July 25th.  He'd hit just 212 during that 19-game run, which may explain why Dietz took over again for the majority of the games to finish the season.  Barton appeared in 49 games, batting .170 overall with only two doubles and nary a home run.

1966 Topps #511

1968 Topps #351

1971 Topps #589

1972 Topps #40

1973 Topps #626

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1966 Topps #511
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8):  1966-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1973 Topps #626
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  31 in the Beckett online database as of 5/17/23.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database

#40 Mayo Smith MG - Detroit Tigers / #42 Tommy Harper - Seattle Pilots