ST. LOUIS One day, he wants
to go into space. Brian Barton turned 26 earlier
this week, and though the astronaut dream tends to
die about the time hormones bloom and adolescence
rages, Barton never could abandon it.
"The sky's the limit," he likes to say, and in this
instance, he does so standing in front of his locker in
the St. Louis Cardinals' clubhouse. He takes the
cliché literally and figuratively, the former in his
desire to float in the atmosphere and the latter in the
career he has carved out in the meantime.
The sky? It's for the African-American kid from South
Los Angeles who grew up surrounded by basketball,
football and everything but baseball. The one who
didn't get drafted out of the University of Miami after
a productive college career because teams were worried
that he was going to finish his degree in aerospace
engineering and hook on with Boeing, where he interned,
or perhaps NASA. The one who later signed with the
Cleveland Indians for $100,000, put up gaudy numbers at
every level and still couldn't crack the 40-man roster
because they worried about knee surgery he had last
fall.
Left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft, Barton fell to
the Cardinals, manna in the form of a 6-foot-3,
190-pound outfielder with pop, speed and, best of all,
brains. He has settled in as their fifth outfielder,
though he has played plenty in manager Tony La Russa's
mix-and-match scheme. He's batting .324, scored four
runs and driven in four in 37 at-bats.
And though teams coveted Barton for his tools, he sees
something else paramount to his early success.
"My strongest asset is mental," Barton said. "I work on
being patient and always being ready, and you have to
be in this role.
"I like to invest in knowledge. Anything that can help
me learn about different people, different things.
That's what drives a lot of what I do and why people
may think things I do are out of the ordinary. You
can't take away things you know."
That ethos guides Barton in and away from baseball. He
started college at Loyola Marymount in L.A. on an
academic scholarship but transferred to Miami for its
blend of academics and athletics. Once there, the
travel bug bit, and between his junior and senior
years, Barton took a solo sojourn to the place that
seemed most foreign to him. There's no point in
traveling, he figured, unless it delivers a good jolt
to your senses.
Ethiopia it was. A professor of Barton's had a friend
who helped him find a hotel. Barton tried to learn some
Amharic. He spent two weeks walking around, trying his
best to blend in, though the mini-Afro he sported at
the time gave him away.
"I wanted to go out there and see if I could do it, and
I did," Barton said. "I had gotten over the hump. So,
where next?"
Europe. Check. The Caribbean. Check. Barton had to
temper his wanderlust last offseason because he took a
few courses at Miami. His goal is to visit every
country in the world. He's got 190 or so to go.
"I'm about 10 deep," Barton said. "This offseason I'll
do a few. Hopefully, I live a long enough life to do
it."
Keeping a spot in the big leagues can certainly fund
such journeys. Most Rule 5 picks end up returned to the
teams from which they were selected, and those who
stick generally do so in small roles. Johan Santana
bided his time in mop-up duty for Minnesota before
later spending half a season in the minor leagues to
hone his game.
Barton is an exception. The Cardinals look brilliant
for picking him and have plans for him. Had left
fielder Skip Schumaker not gotten off to such a great
start, Barton would be getting more at-bats.
"He's earned his roster spot, which is the best
compliment I can give him," La Russa said. "Sometimes
you take a Rule 5 guy and you're investing in the
future as long as he can hold his own, but he's made
this club. He did it in spring training, and he
continues to do it by his play."
Last week, Barton pinch hit in the ninth inning of a
tie game against Houston and drew a leadoff walk that
contributed to the winning run. Two days earlier, he
stroked two hits, drove in two runs and pushed the
Cardinals ahead in a victory against Pittsburgh.
For now, this baseball racket is working just fine.
Barton has one semester of classes remaining, and the
only time Miami offers them is during the season. So
the degree can wait.
"It doesn't mean sometime later in his career he can't
pursue the other," said La Russa, who is familiar with
potential second careers, having earned his juris
doctorate in the offseason when he was a player. He
went into managing instead of law, aware that such
opportunities are scarce, and knows Barton faces the
same decision.
"This is the only time he can pursue this one."
Ah, but what if? What if NASA called tomorrow and told
him the next time the shuttle took off, he'd be on it?
What if he needed to answer his ultimate hypothetical?
"If I had an opportunity to go, man, I'd want to go,"
Barton said. "If it came down to baseball or that, it'd
be a hard decision. Good thing I'm not in that
position."
No. Barton's in one, for now, that's plenty good, one
that rivals where he'd be had he taken the other road.
Flying high in the sky.
(yardbarker.com)