Harry Barton was the third-string catcher for the
pennant-winning 1905 Philadelphia Athletics.
Harry was born January 20, 1875, in Chester, in eastern
Pennsylvania. He was the fourth of five children of Edward, a clerk, and Sarah
Barton, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania as well. In the 1880 census they
live at 720 8th Street in Chester; Edward and Sarah are both 39, and
the children are Lena (11), John (9), Alfred (7), Harry (5), and Gilbert (2).
In April 1893 Harry, now 18, was admitted to the Williamson
Free School of Mechanical Trades, in nearby Media, Pennsylvania, where he
studied to be an electrician (the other trades taught there were carpenter,
bricklayer, machinist, and pattern maker). In 1894, if not earlier, he was
catching for the Media town baseball team; in 1895 he went pro, signing with
the Pawtucket Phenoms of the Class B New England League, and at some point in
the season moved to the Brockton Shoemakers of the same league. No statistics
are available, but the Chester Times
said he had been “playing bang-up ball” and was “a first-class catcher.” He was
5-foot-6, 155 pounds, and a switch-hitter. On October 3 the Times reported that he had “returned to
his old situation, as electrician, with a firm in Philadelphia,” and on
February 1, 1896, that he “goes to Reading, on Monday, to take charge of a
$3000 electrical contract.”
In 1896 he went back to Pawtucket, but not until late in the
season, and I don’t know what he had been doing up until then. He got into 29
games, playing outfield, catcher, shortstop, and third base, and hit .256 with
a .384 slugging percentage in 125 at-bats. Though only 21 years old he was
already showing himself to be a take-charge kind of guy, as evidenced by the
following from the Chester Times of
September 12:
Pawtucket Club Wants to Play.
Manager Frank I. Taylor, of the Media ball club, received word yesterday from Harry Barton, a former catcher of the Media, now with Pawtucket, stating that he wanted to bring the latter team to this county to play several games. The Pawtucket club will close the season on Wednesday, and want to play Media on Thursday and Friday. He also wants Mr. Taylor to arrange games with Chester, Morton and McClure.
The 1897 Chester city directory lists Harry as an
electrician, still living with his family at 720 W 8th; Lena is an
artist, John a machinist, and Gilbert an apprentice, while Alfred either has
moved out of town or has died. The 1897 baseball season found Harry out of
organized ball and back with the Media team, which at this point was an
independent semi-pro team, not part of any league; Harry was elected manager in
May and among his duties was finding opponents to schedule games against. (“The
election of Harry Barton, the popular catcher, seems to meet with general
approval,” reported the Chester Times.)
In June a company was formed to sell stock in the team, and soon after Harry
was instructed to find and hire three new “first-class” players. He still had
more going on than just baseball, as this item from the July 2 Times reminds us:
Doing Electrical Work
Harry Barton, manager of the Media base ball club has the contract for wiring W. Roger Fronefield’s new house on Monroe street, for electrical appliances. He began the work yesterday. Harry is getting considerable work about Media.
And from the July 16 issue:
CIGAR MAKERS AT THE BAT.
Chester Tobacco Workers Had the Best of a Game With Media Tradesmen.
The Chester and Media cigar makers played a great game of ball at Media park yesterday afternoon. The game was called in the seventh inning on account of losing all the balls. Three spheres were knocked out of the grounds and are still going as far as the players are concerned. The Chester boys were in the lead when the balls ran out and the game will be finished at a later day. The umpiring of Prothonotary Mathues and Harry Barton gave entire satisfaction…
Admittedly, the main reason I included that story is that
Harry’s fellow ump was named “Prothonotary.”
On August 12 Harry’s life got even busier, as he married
21-year-old May Lansdowne Rogers, of Media, in Lancaster. The Media team won
some sort of county semi-pro championship, as well as an intercounty
championship, though I don’t know what other counties were involved.
From the Philadelphia
Inquirer, March 5, 1898:
MEDIA GETTING IN LINE
Will, as Usual, Have a Clever Ball Team
Special to The Inquirer
MEDIA, March 4.—The management of the Media Base Ball Club will put a crack semi-professional team on the diamond again this year. At a meeting of the directors of the club last evening Harry Barton, who will also play left field, was re-elected manager, and was directed to secure players. An effort will be made to engage as many as possible of last season’s championship team…
Later in the month it was announced that Media would be part
of a four-team Interstate Base Ball League, with the Brandywine team of West Chester,
Norristown, Pennsylvania, and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Each team was to play
eight games against each of the other teams, all in July and August, with half
of the games being played in Atlantic City. In mid-April more details emerged,
as reported in Sporting Life on April
23:
It was agreed that each club was to deposit a forfeit of $75 with the treasurer of the League on or before July 11, as a guarantee that it will finish the season in the schedule of games arranged. The guarantee to be given the visiting club was fixed at $60, with the privilege of taking ’40 per cent. of the gate receipts, if preferred.
Harry Barton, of Media, was appointed auditor of the league.
That Harry, always room on his plate for more. But, as it
turned out, the league never got going. The Chester
Times reported July 15:
No Date Necessary.
Manager Harry Barton, of the Media base ball club, received a letter from Manager Dicks, of the Brandywine team yesterday, asking whether he would keep any open date for Media. Mr. Barton replied that Media had no club and therefore would not require any games. This condition of affairs is lamented both by the people of Media and West Chester, as the games between these two clubs were the most interesting and exciting played in this section.
And from the Philadelphia
Inquirer, July 22:
Media and Brandywine Disband.
WEST CHESTER, July 21 (Special).—The Brandywine Base Ball Club of the season of 1898 is a thing of the past, it having disbanded to-day after a somewhat turbulent career of about three weeks, during which two games were played, both of which were won. Lack of interest in the game, however, is responsible for the demise of the team…
The Media Club has also given up the fight for the same reason as the Brandywine and thus ends the dream of some of the enthusiasts of an inter-county league this season…
1899 found Harry as the player-manager for the McClure club,
a semi-pro team based in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, and owned by William
McClure, the proprietor of that town’s Union Hotel. On August 23 the Chester Times ran a letter from the
managers of the Chester Base Ball Club, announcing that they were canceling
their five-game series with McClure after the first game because McClure had
used two ringers and attempted to hire more. Harry’s response appeared in the
next day’s paper:
M’CLURE-CHESTER GAMES.
Manager Harry Barton Explains the Position of His Club.
Editor-Chester Times:
Such a thing as the ending of the Chester-McClure series was entirely unthought of by me until I read of it in today’s Times; Manager Frysinger being in Media only last evening trying to have the Labor Day morning game at Chester Park changed to the Saturday afternoon previous. This I consented to do, providing McClure had the same privilege of changing their Thursday game for a Saturday one. This we left undecided, to be settled tomorrow, Thursday evening.
I think those who saw last Saturday’s game will agree with me in declaring that the McClure team was not “padded.” Messrs. Sleeper and Frysinger must have twisted the meaning of the above term considerably, to make it fit their purpose, as every player on my club is a resident of Delaware county and has been a member of the team previous to the existence of the Chester organization.
Last evening Manager Frysinger said he wished to make three changes in his team, pitcher, second base and right field. Possibly, he having been unable to obtain these players, is trying to find an excuse to cancel the games and consequently tries to shift the blame of it on our shoulders, saying we have broken the agreement by “padding.” Any way in the arrangement of the series there was no reference made to “padding,” and they are at liberty to hire any player they choose, which they readily can afford to do, as they have obtained the best end of the contract. They also state that we have telegraphed Noblitt and Diggins. This I most emphatically deny, but we have positive proof that the Chester management have written Noblitt in reference to playing with their team.
HARRY L. BARTON,Manager McClure B.B.C.Chester, Pa., August 23, 1899.
The day after that, the Times announced the formation of a
new Chester team, which would continue the series with McClure and already had
games arranged with two major league teams. Also on the 25th the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on the
padding controversy, summing up the issue as follows:
The managers of the Chester team claim the McClure broke the agreement by having a new centre-fielder, a man who played all the preceding years with them, but had not played ball before this year. Chester probably forgot they had Highley, of the Crescents, a new man, on their team.
In the following days McClure played games against
Germantown, Chester against Allentown, and more details were published about
the new Chester team, to be called the Athletics, and their upcoming series
with McClure. The controversy seemed to have been forgotten until August 30,
when the Times published a letter
under the heading “A BUSINESS MAN’S VIEW,” signed “AN UNBIASED LOOKER-ON,”
which defended Chester’s actions and included the following paragraphs:
The attempt of the latter club to secure advantage by changing their force was, of course, from a legal point of view, sufficient justification for the “call off,” but aside from this consideration, the first game plainly demonstrated the expediency of their stopping. Up to that date all the game at the new park had been, not only fine exhibitions of ball playing, equal sometimes to the best played even by League Clubs, but all the proprieties were strictly maintained. No disorder occurred, no vulgarity or profanity were heard, and no gambling (betting) was seen. The best citizens of our town, of all classes, including many ladies, attended to the aggregate number of thousands, and all were well pleased and satisfied.
But, at the first game with the McClure an intensity of feeling was betrayed among the partisans of the two clubs that kept the large audience in a constant dread of a fight or a riot; profanity and bickering were heard on all sides, and betting money was going on with scarcely an attempt at secrecy. All efforts of the managers, assisted by the police, to maintain decency were fruitless. The opinion was almost unanimous among those who saw the disgraceful proceedings, that another game could not be played without a fight. This was my opinion also, therefore I was glad when I read in the Times that the contest had been dropped. Good people may now continue to attend the Seventh Street Park games without trepidation.
This was followed by another letter refuting this one, but
I’ve used enough space on this matter already. Just keep in mind the name Jess
Frysinger, as we will be seeing him again soon.
The 1900 census shows Harry and May living in a rented house
at 333 W Washington Street in Media, with Harry listed as a traveling salesman.
Maybe he was doing too much traveling to play baseball, as the only mention I
found of him in the newspapers for that year was on October 15, when he was
re-elected treasurer of the Williamson Trades School Alumni at that
organization’s annual meeting.
Harry next turns up in the Chester Times of January 22, 1901, when he spoke at a meeting at
the county courthouse in Media held to promote the formation of the Media
Athletic Association, to fill “the need of a proper place for young men to
spend their spare time.” And, from the same paper on April 6:
Athletic Association Preparing for Some Gilt-Edge Base Ball.
The members of the Media Athletic Association have taken up headquarters in the third story of the Fairlamb building at the corner of State street and South avenue. This is one of the best locations in the borough and the room will answer all purposes for the time being. Just as soon as the furniture is gotten in and the place fixed up the boys intend to have their friends call upon them. The recent concert given netted the association almost $64. This will be used in getting things in shape for the base ball team.
At a meeting last evening Harry C. Smith, a popular citizen of Media, was elected manager of the base ball club. Harry Barton, well-known to the fans over the county and in fact the State, by his former connections with clubs, has been selected to coach the team. The first preliminary practice will take place this afternoon.
There is a good deal of material among the young men of the town, and after trying them all out, Coach Barton will select his nine. The first game will be played on May 11th. Arrangements have been many [sic] of the good teams of the State to come to Media, and if the lovers of the game give the club the proper support before this season is over Media may have a first-class club.
It seems as though Harry was just the coach of this team and
not a player. At some point in 1901 he started playing for West Chester’s
Brandywine team, which at some time since its 1898 demise had reformed. The September
6 Times had an account of a game
between Brandywine and Chester, which was framed as a clash between rural West
Chester and urban Chester (confusingly, West Chester is in Chester County and
Chester is in Delaware County):
FARMERS FROM THE OLD VILLAGE GO UP A TREE
Brandywine Fails to Get a Run in the Game With Chester and the Hayseeders are Not in the City Class.
COUNTRYMEN HAVE NOTHING TO ROOT ABOUT
Grangers From Chester County Come Down to Make a Noise, But Sit [illegible]
The Chester county “farmers” came down from West Chester to do up the Chester team yesterday, but in the words of a rooter on the bleachers, “They never touched ‘em.” The “farmers” had hay seed in their hair, cornhusks in their whiskers and dust on inch thick on their boots…
Harry played catcher and led off for Brandywine, and had two
of their four hits.
In May 1902 the roster of the Wilmington (Delaware) Athletic
Association baseball team was announced. Harry was the catcher, and the manager
was his old antagonist Jess Frysinger. Unlike the Media Athletic Association
team, which was apparently an amateur team of the young men of the town, the
Wilmington A.A. was a semi-pro team, many of whose players had organized
baseball, even major league, experience. They were not part of any league, and
played whatever opponents they could line up. According to Sporting Life, they
played 127 games that year, 93 wins (including six over major league teams) and
34 losses.
On September 29 the Wilmington
Evening Journal reported on the formation of the Wilmington A.A. football
team, and said that Harry would probably be a candidate for the team, but I
didn’t find anything more about that. On October 9 the Journal ran an article on the A.A. baseball players going back to
their off-season jobs, saying “Harry Barton, catcher, returns to Philadelphia,
where he is a proprietor of an electrical supply house.” On October 15
Wilmington’s Delaware Republican
announced the results of a contest to choose the most popular baseball player
in the city; the winner was Wilmington A.A. first baseman John “Snake” Deal,
followed by Chic Tierney of the rival Wilmington Base Ball Club (generally
referred to as the Wilmington B.B.), then a player from the Wilmington High
School team, and then Harry.
On November 13, the Evening
Journal ran the following story:
FROM DIAMOND TO PUBLIC HOST
Hotel Wilmington Transferred to Jesse M. Frysinger and Harry L. Barton
After Tuesday, November 25, the Hotel Wilmington will be under a new management. Jefferson & Lofland, the present proprietors, have sold their business in the hotel to Jesse M. Frysinger and Harry L. Barton, who will take charge on the above date.
Jefferson & Lofland have been proprietors of this well-known hotel for four years, and under their management it has has a reputation equal to any hotel in the city.
Both Mr. Frysinger and Mr. Barton are well-known and popular in Wilmington. During the past season Mr. Frysinger was manager of the Wilmington A.A. baseball team, and Mr. Barton was captain and catcher on the same team. In this manner the new proprietors of the hotel became well-known and made many friends here.
Mr. Barton is engaged in the electrical business in Philadelphia, but will give up his interests there, to assist in the management of the hotel. Mr. Frysinger, who is stopping at the Hotel Wilmington, when seen this morning, said:
“The business will be conducted on the same lines as under the management of Jefferson & Lofland. A number of improvements will be made and the new management will make a specialty of the cafe business.”
Mr. Lofland will remain at the hotel for about a month, until the new managers become thoroughly familiar with the business.
The Delaware
Republican, November 24:
Transfer of Hotel Postponed.
The transfer of the Hotel Wilmington to Jess M. Frysinger and Harry A. Barton has been postponed by reason of the absence of Harry Barton. Mrs. Barton is seriously ill and Mr. Barton’s brother-in-law has just died at his home near Media. Negotiations for the sale of the property will be at a standstill until Mr. Barton can return.
In early December it began to be reported that Frysinger was
being lured away from the Wilmington A.A. by a generous offer to manage the
Harrisburg Athletic Club’s baseball team, and Harry was mentioned as a possible
replacement. On December 27 it was still being reported that the hotel sale was
on and that Frysinger and Barton would take over on January 1, but I have found
no more about it until January 6, 1903. A story in the Evening Journal about the owners of the Wilmington A.A. announcing
that they would remain independent rather than join a league—and that they
still had no manager—concluded with the following paragraph:
There seems to be contradictory reports regarding Jesse Frysinger, who, it is claimed, has signed to manage the Harrisburg team by some, while others say he will remain in this city and be a leading factor in the Front and Union games [the location of the Wilmington B.B.’s park]. But since the airing of that Hotel Wilmington purchase story and his threats, it is believed he will shake the dust of Wilmington from his foot for good.
I couldn’t find anything more about the demise of the hotel
deal, or the threats. At any rate, Frysinger did move on to Harrisburg and Harry
was chosen to replace him as the manager of the Wilmington A.A., and he got to
work filling his roster; several of the Wilmington players had followed
Frysinger to Harrisburg. On February 23 the Evening
Journal reported:
Harry Barton Has Grip.
Harry Barton, manager of the Wilmington A.A. baseball team is ill with grip at his home in Media. Mr. Barton has been busily engaged in booking dates for the coming season, but this work will be discontinued until Mr. Barton is able to be out again.
In late March Harry and the manager of the Wilmington B.B.
both attended a meeting in Philadelphia to establish an organization of
independent teams in the region; this was not a league, but merely “for the
protection of mutual rights”—in other words, they agreed not to poach players
from each other’s rosters. Harry’s A.A. team played its first game of the
season on April 25, against Baltimore of the Eastern League. In early June he
took a trip through New England looking for players, and on July 21 the team
traveled to Harrisburg and beat Frysinger’s team 7-1, Harry catching and
batting second in the lineup.
In mid-August the two Wilmington teams merged into one, with
Harry as manager. From the Evening
Journal of August 18:
BASEBALL FANS ARE AGITATED
Many Discussions As to the Result of the Purchase of the A.A.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS ARE RELEASED
Baseball fans are still agitated over the deal which leaves Wilmington with but one team, the A.A. Probably never before in the history of the city was there so much “hot air” baseball talk in one night as was heard last evening. In every place where men congregate baseball was the topic of the conversation.
The vicinity of the police station is a favorite place for the fans of both teams and they lined up there last night by the dozens for the sole purpose of discussing the baseball deal. Men who were never before known to even enter into an argument with anyone, got into heated discussions last night over baseball. The principal point argued among the rooters was as to what result the deal will have on baseball in Wilmington, and what interest is now in control of the team at South Side Park.
Many of the followers of the two teams are sorry to see the merger, simply because it will stop the discussions as to which club has the best team.
All sorts of stories were heard on the street last night relative to the deal. Many of the lovers of the game, notwithstanding the announcement that the Stirliths had bought the lease and charter of the Wilmington B.B., argue that the deal is just the opposite and that those formerly interested in the Wilmington team are now practically in control at South Side Park…
When their season was over the Wilmington A.A. was
considered, or perhaps they considered themselves, the champions of Delaware,
and a Tri-State Championship of independent teams was arranged by the Philadelphia Inquirer with Frysinger’s
Harrisburg team and Camden, New Jersey, for October 12. Coin flips determined
that Wilmington and Camden would play the first game, and Camden won 6-5, Harry
catching and batting leadoff. Harrisburg then defeated Camden 4-3 to win the
championship. The Evening Journal’s
coverage ended thus:
Locals Sore.
It was a sore lot of rooters that returned to Wilmington last night, and there was no parade or fireworks to welcome the team. Some of the players came in for a great deal of criticism for their poor playing.
Officials of the Harrisburg A.C. appeared at the office of the Inquirer, Philadelphia, yesterday morning and asked that in the advent of that team winning the trophy be presented to the association and not to Frysinger personally. The officers of the club stated that Jess Frysinger was no longer manager in their employ and that they thought it should be given to the club, which was done.
It was said by Harrisburg persons that Frysinger has not really been the manager of the team since the middle of July and while he has been under contract the business of the club was taken out of his hands.
In November there are mentions of Harry back in Media,
managing the Media A.A. basketball team and acting as timekeeper at a Media
A.A. football game. On December 10 the Wilmington
Evening Journal reported:
Barton Declines Presidency
Media, Dec. 10—A general meeting of the Media Athletic Association was held in the rooms in the Ledger building on Tuesday evening, at which nominations were made for officers to serve for the coming year. The election will be held on January 7.
The present president, Harry L. Barton, was nominated, but declined, giving as his reason the fact that he will not be in Media during the summer and he thought that there were men who were better fitted as regards proximity and time to fill the position. Mr. Barton was manager of the Wilmington baseball club last season and expects to have a club next season. It was hoped for a while that Mr. Barton would give up professional ball next season and play with Media, but he cannot see his way clear to do so.
In January 1904 Wilmington hired Frysinger as their manager.
He wanted Harry to remain as catcher, but Harry announced that he would not
play for him and began to look elsewhere for a player-manager job. There was a
rumor that he would be returning to Brandywine, then there were reports that he
had signed with Atlantic City, another member of the association of independent
teams. From the Trenton Evening Times
of January 26:
BASEBALL OUTLOOK AT ATLANTIC CITY
Atlantic City, Jan. 26.—Bright prospects are held out for the Atlantic City baseball club this season, according to President M. Churchman Meeteer, who was in town yesterday. An important bit of information that will interest local enthusiasts is that Harry Barton has been engaged as playing manager and captain for this year. Barton was manager of the Wilmington baseball club last year. He is not only one of the most popular ball players in the amateur [sic] ranks, but is considered a most successful manager. He will have full charge of the local club, will sign players and direct the playing of the team from the field. Each and every day he will be found behind the bat. He is conceded to be one of the best catchers in minor league ranks. He is a good strong batter, a clever base runner and very few are his superior in a knowledge of the game…
Three days later it was reported that Harry had signed with
Williamsport, and on February 8 the Harrisburg
Patriot reported that the Independent Association had decided that he still
belonged to Wilmington:
Harry Barton is much displeased with the action taken in his case. He was in this city on Saturday and declared that he would not play in Wilmington regardless of his being awarded to that team. It is probable that he will join the Atlantic City team, with whom he had signed prior to signing with Williamsport.
And the next day:
Barton May Play League Ball
Harry Barton, who has been ordered to join Wilmington, where he is reserved or else be prevented from playing in the Independent ranks, is said to be considering offers from Columbus, Ohio, and the Boston Nationals. Barton preferred independent ball, but he is so averse to playing in Wilmington that he may decide to enter the leagues.
The matter was settled a week or so later when Williamsport
paid Wilmington $100 for Harry’s release. Eight of the members of the
Independent Association formed a league, the Tri-State League, which was still
outside of organized baseball and therefore an independent, or outlaw,
league—the distinctions can be confusing. The teams included Williamsport,
Wilmington, Harrisburg and Camden. Harry caught for Williamsport but was not
the manager. On May 20 his old teammate Snake Deal tagged him out at first with
the hidden ball trick. On May 23 the Wilmington
Evening Journal, ahead of a visit by Williamsport, called Harry “one of the
cleverest catchers outside of the big leagues” and said he “is playing a great
game and many of his old friends will be on hand to see his work.” In
mid-August it was reported that he was filling in at second base. Williamsport
finished second, behind York.
On December 30 it was reported that Harry had signed a
contract with the Philadelphia Athletics. The Philadelphia Inquirer published his photo and said:
Harry Barton is probably the best catcher in the independent ranks today, and for the past two or three years has been vigorously hunted down by enterprising managers of the two leagues. Barton has all the qualifications of a good player—headiness, a great arm and a good batter. He should prove the find of the year.
From the same newspaper, January 1, 1905:
Williamsport Mourns Barton
WILLIAMSPORT, Dec. 31 (Special)—All of the local base ball enthusiasts are in mourning over the announcement that Harry Barton, the Williamsport catcher, has been secured by the Athletics. His gentlemanly bearing and fine ability as a ball player made him the most popular man on the team. Besides being the premier catcher in the Tri-State League, he was invaluable as a utility man, playing in every position except shortstop and pitcher. These qualities, with timely batting and superior headwork, won many a game for Williamsport.
Harry acquitted himself well in spring training and made the
team as one of three catchers.
He made his major league debut on April 15 at
home against Boston, and scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth
after pinch-hitting for Rube Waddell and reaching first on an error. He then
sat on the bench until May 1, when he pinch-hit and walked. On May 8 he
finished the game at third base after Lave Cross was injured, and got his first
start there the next day, when he got his first hit, a double. This was
followed by some more appearances off the bench and then his first start at
catcher, on June 19. His batting average was down to .043 before he singled in
his second catching start, on July 3. In all he would get into 29 games,
starting ten, of which eight were at catcher; seven of those eight were with
Weldon Henley as the starting pitcher, so perhaps the two of them had some sort
of affinity. His last appearance was at first base in the next-to-last game of
the season; he got two hits, a single and a triple, to raise his average to
.167, its peak for the season. His major league career ended with him being
carried off the field after spraining his ankle sliding back into first base.
Despite the poor hitting stats, Harry was well-spoken of
while with Philadelphia. Sporting Life reported on July 29:
The loan of catcher Powers to New York shows what Manager Mack thinks of young Harry Barton. The latter’s work at St. Louis on Saturday in support of Henley was gilt-edged.
And on August 19:
Harry Barton is fulfilling the prediction that he would prove a valuable backstop for the Athletics. His all-around work has been highly gratifying to his many friends hereabouts [Philadelphia].
The Athletics won the American League pennant and lost to
the New York Giants in the World Series, but Harry did not get into any of the
games.
In November he appeared on the Athletics’ reserve list, but as reported by
the Harrisburg Patriot on January 30,
1906:
Barton Sold to Providence
Harry Barton, the star backstop of the Williamsport team during the season of 1904 and the utility backstop and first baseman of the Philadelphia Athletics last Summer, has been sold by Manager Mack to the Providence team of the Eastern League. Barton caught a good game for the Athletics last season, but bench warming did not improve his batting and his work in that department was far below what the little fellow is capable of. It is not known whether he will accept the Providence deal as several Tri-State teams are trying to secure his services.
Interestingly, Connie Mack came to Wilmington on February 9
for the funeral of Frysinger, who died after appendix surgery, and denied the
story, insisting that Harry would play for him in 1906. But this was not true.
Harry spent 1906 with Providence, and the Wilmington
Evening Journal continued to follow his progress. They reported on July 19:
HARRY BARTON IS MAKING GOOD
Former Wilmington A.A. Boy Playing Well For Providence
Harry Barton, who was one of the most popular players on the Wilmington A.A. several years ago and who this year was sold by Connie Mack to the Providence, Eastern League team, is playing the game of his life.
While playing for Williamsport two years ago injuries put several of the team out of commission and Harry was always the one selected to fill the vacancy. His infield or outfield work proved to be A1 and his batting average was over the .400 mark. Last year Connie Mack tried him out in several positions and again he made good. This year he has played every position on the Providence team but one—pitcher—and his work has been gilt-edge in every respect. His hitting the first of the season was not very good but his batting eye has now returned and he is hitting the ball hard and often.
Harry played 93 games for Providence, hitting .259 and
slugging .315 in 317 at-bats. According to an April 1907 article, he had missed
a month in the middle of the season with pneumonia, then returned too early and
slumped before finishing strong; another April 1907 article said that he had
filled in at second base for more than 30 games.
In February 1907 Harry was sold to the Trenton Tigers of the
Tri-State League, which was now part of organized baseball and designated Class
B; he refused to sign until Trenton manager John Carney came to Media and gave
him some of the purchase money. The Trenton
Evening Times raved about him during spring training. From March 25:
Trenton is lucky to get such a fine backstop as Harry Barton. Harry is not only a backstop of unusual ability [a BOUA!] but he is a popular chap wherever he goes. He fights hard for everything in the game and is the kind of a player the fans go wild over. He is just getting into his stride now and is playing better ball every day.
March 26:
Harry Barton is throwing to base perfectly, every ball dropping right on the head of the aspiring base-stealer, about a yard from the middle sack.
March 28:
Lower has developed a baffling slow ball the past two days under the eye of Harry Barton.
There was speculation in the spring that Harry might be
shifted to shortstop, and he did play some there toward the end of the
exhibition season, but he was moved back to catcher. From the Evening Times’ account of the April 26
game, the second of the regular season:
Harry Barton caught one of the finest games of this or any other season. He had six assists—a feat seldom accomplished by a backstop. He looked as good as the best man in the big leagues and in addition he was there with the pepper. He threw four men out trying to steal second and twice he nipped runners at first.
Throughout May there were reports of other teams in the
league trying to purchase Harry from Trenton, including an offer of $1000 from
Wilmington, but the Tigers hung on to him.
On June 17 he had a grisly-sounding
injury, as reported in Sporting Life:
In the second game Harry Barton’s ear was almost severed from his head by a foul tip. Barton’s injury came in the last inning, with two men out, and after a physician, called from the grandstand, dressed the injury he resumed his work until the next man was retired. After the game he was taken to the Mercer Hospital, where several stitches were taken in Barton’s ear.
On July 16 it was reported that Harry was filling in “in a
creditable manner” at shortstop because the regular had pleurisy. On the other
hand, Sporting Life reported on July
27 that:
Harry Barton, of Trenton, is not catching up to his form. Ever since the season opened Harry has been the victim of accidents and is now suffering from the effects of a dislocated shoulder.
The August 10 Sporting
Life featured a large photo and short (and inaccurate) bio of Harry.
On
September 5 field events were held before Trenton’s game with Altoona, and
Harry came in first in running the bases with a time of 15 seconds, and
finished second in throwing for accuracy. He finished the season with a .224
batting average and .274 slugging percentage in 281 at-bats in 88 games, mostly
batting second in the order. On October 6 the Trenton Sunday Advertiser reported that Harry had played in five
games for Providence after the Tri-State season ended, getting five hits in 17
at-bats.
In late December there were reports that Harry had been
traded to Wilmington, but that fell through, and instead in late February 1908
he was sold to the Reading Pretzels, also of the Tri-State League. He started
the season hitting poorly, but got raves for his defense, not only at catcher
but also when filling in at shortstop and in the outfield. On June 12 the Trenton Evening Times reported that
“Harry is hitting better since he was moved to the top of the batting order,”
and on June 21 the Philadelphia Inquirer
said:
Harry Barton, the former Athletic catcher, is playing a great game these days, and is proving of great value to the team. His gingery work behind the stick has put him in right with the fans, and the little backstop is one of the most popular men on the team.
At the end of June he was filling in “capably” at third base
during an injury to future Hall of Famer Frank “Home Run” Baker. On July 21 the
Harrisburg Patriot reported that he
was “laid up with a badly split finger.” On July 24 the Wilmington Evening Journal reprinted an item from the Trenton True American saying:
Harry Barton has sent postal cards bearing a picture of the Reading club to his friends in this city. He writes beneath the picture, “Have a look at a good team.”
On July 25 Sporting
Life reported:
Harry Barton, the popular little backstop of the Reading Club, a former Athletic, is playing the best game of his career. Harry is in fine shape, and his throwing to bases has wrecked the ambitions of many of the Tri-State’s best baserunners.
On July 27 the Wilmington
Evening Journal said:
The injury of Harry Barton greatly cripples Reading in the catching department. Barton is the only real catcher Weitzel has.
Harry was back in the lineup August 6. On September 7 it was
announced that Reading and Lancaster had arranged to play a post-season series
(Reading would finish in fourth place in the eight-team league, Lancaster in
third) with Harry acting as manager for Reading. The season ended on September
14 with Harry playing third base and leading off; he finished at .235/.321
batting/slugging in 327 at-bats in 98 games.
In early 1909 there was again much speculation as to Harry’s
plans. It was widely reported in February and March that he had signed a
contract to play for and manage the new Wilmington team in the outlaw/independent
Atlantic League, supposedly because he was unhappy at not being named manager
at Reading, but Reading’s owner consistently stated that he was sure Harry would
show up for spring training on April 3. Harry went as far as attending an
Atlantic League meeting with Wilmington’s owner on April 4, but on the 8th
he finally signed a Reading contract and sometime after that reported to the team.
Still, things didn’t seem completely settled until April 17, when the Wilmington Evening Journal reported:
BARTON JUMPS HIS ATLANTIC CONTRACT.
Harry Barton who had signed with the Wilmington Atlantic League team for this season, has jumped the contract. In a letter received by Alexander Stirlith, manager of the local team from Barton last night the clever catcher informed Mr. Stirlith that he would not be seen in a Wilmington uniform for a while longer, he having again signed with the Reading Tri-State team.
A word about the job titles in turn-of-the-century baseball.
In the above quote, Stirlith is the “manager” in the sense that he owned and
operated the team. Teams also had a “manager”, sometimes referred to as “field
manager,” often but not always a player, which is what Harry had signed to be
with Wilmington and had been for other teams in the past, the duties of whom often
included finding players and arranging exhibition games (for independent teams
not part of leagues, arranging all the games). Teams that did not have a
playing manager, and often teams that did, would have a playing captain. On May
2 it was reported that Harry had been named captain for Reading, whose
player/manager was Pop Foster and whose owner was Jake Weitzel.
Harry had a big year for Reading. On May 4 the Trenton Evening Times reported:
Harry Barton is starting off as if he was going to have one of his old-fashioned hitting years. When Harry is “on” he is one of the “hitters.”
From the May 16 Philadelphia
Inquirer:
Bill Stroh, the local catcher, is suffering with a bad shoulder and all the work back of the bat is in charge of Captain Harry Barton. Stroh paid a visit to Bonesetter Reese, at Youngstown, Ohio, and he was advised to take a few weeks’ lay-off. Up to the time of the injury Bill was showing up in fine form. Barton is catching as good as when he was with the Athletics when they won the American League championship.
May 20, Trenton
Evening Times:
Harry Barton is a hard and earnest worker for the club he plays with. Harry was so keen about winning yesterday that he got the crowd after him, but that is merely a tribute to his loyalty to his club.
June 3, Evening Times:
Harry Barton played second yesterday for Reading, and let no one think he did not do things. Thirteen chances without an error and three hits. Harry was always handy around the infield.
Harry played a lot of second base and center field the rest
of the season. He wound up with a .277 batting average as well as a .436
slugging percentage, by far the highest of his seasons for which we have
statistics, with 21 doubles, nine triples and seven homers in 376 at-bats, all
also highs, in 105 games.
On September 7 it was reported that Harry had “decided to
engage in the electrical business” in Reading, and on the 11th he
caught for Fifth Ward against Upland in a Chester city amateur game. Later in
the month there was speculation that he would play center field for Tri-State
champion Lancaster (Reading finished second) in a post-season series against
New York State League champ Wilkes-Barre, but in the end he couldn’t make it.
Another off-season, another controversy. In late December it
was reported that Harry would likely be replacing Clarence “Pop” Foster as
Reading manager. On December 28 a lengthy letter from Foster appeared in the Harrisburg Patriot, in which he
complained of his poor treatment at the hands of owner Weitzel. Weitzel’s
rebuttal appeared the next day, saying that he had never said Harry would be
his manager, it was not certain that he, Weitzel, would even still own the team
in 1910, that Foster should have easily won the pennant with the quality of
players that he, Weitzel, had provided him with, and that when injuries beset
the team Foster should have gone out and found better replacements.
On January 4, 1910, it was reported that Weitzel had decided
to cut down on expenses by serving as bench manager himself, with Harry as
captain, and that Foster would be sold. Then, on January 31, the Patriot reported that Weitzel had “practically
mad up his mind to dispose of the franchise” and sell it to a stock company
organized by Foster and made up of prominent Reading businessmen, and that
Foster would be the manager. On February 15 the Trenton Evening Times reported that the sale to Foster’s group had
fallen through, as had one to another group; but on February 18 a sale was
finalized, “to a stock company of well-known Reading citizens” that did not
include Foster, with Weitzel retaining some shares. The price was $2500, in
contrast to the $4500 that had been reported when the prospective sale was
initially spoken of.
There was disagreement between the stockholders as to
whether Harry or Foster should be the manager, but Foster signed to manage the
Holyoke Papermakers of the Connecticut State League (for whom he would have a
great season as a player but manage them to a last-place finish). Harry was
chosen to manage Reading and he set out to recruit players. The March 19 issue
of Sporting Life included a report
from Reading, dated March 12:
The selection of catcher Harry Barton as the Reading manager was welcome news to the crowds who have upheld base ball here for many years. Barton is without a doubt one of the most popular players who have ever worn a Reading uniform. The fans are confident that the 1909 captain will select a team that will give them a hustle for the 1910 pennant. Barton, with his wife, will arrive in this city April 1 to make arrangements for the preliminary games. Harry expects to make this city his permanent home. He has ordered the players to report April 9 instead of April 11. There may be people who think that Harry will be handicapped by taking the position of manager so late, but this is not the case. Jake Weitzel, the former owner, was recognized as one of the hustlers of the league, and before the close of last season Jake started to build up his nine for this year. At that time he had no intention of selling out. He was hustling until a short time before he disposed of the club, and as a result he picked up a number of new men and made more deals which will be of great benefit to the home crowd.
It was also stated elsewhere that the Bartons would be
living in Reading permanently, but it didn’t happen, while the statement that
Weitzel already had a lot of players lined up doesn’t match other reports, as
we will soon see.
During spring training it was reported that Harry would
mainly be playing in the field rather than at catcher. Excitement was high
among Reading fans, but the team got off to a poor start (7-17, then 20-39) and
Harry, playing mainly shortstop and right field, began to hear criticism.
On
June 4 Sporting Life’s Reading
correspondent said:
Manager Harry Barton is not discouraged over the showing which his Reading team has been making thus far this season. He will try to strengthen a couple of points and be ready to jump in and land Reading up in the first division, where the team has finished for the last two seasons…It seems a difficult task for Reading to get a good player to lead off the batting order. Rath was a star at this last season, and Manager Barton has given the greatest satisfaction this year, but he is not in the line-up regularly…
Stats published by the same periodical two weeks later, though, showed Harry as having played in 26 of the team’s 29 games, with 99 at-bats, which
seems pretty regular to me. The same issue also showed Altoona with a team
batting average of .333 and the other teams ranging from .255 to Reading’s
.221. A report from the Reading correspondent dated July 21, which ran in Sporting Life’s July 30 issue, said:
Directors of the Reading Tri-State team have stated that they will continue loyal to the league to the close of the season, and although they are anxious to get out of baseball, their price is still as high as it was a week after they took hold of the reins…Harry Barton got back into the game again last week, after a lay-off of about three weeks due to an injury to his knee, sustained by being hit by a foul tip.
Things improved on the field, though, and on August 7 the Philadelphia Inquirer ran the following:
HARRY BARTON IS WORKING HARD TO GIVE READING FANS A WINNER THIS YEAR IN THE TRI-STATE LEAGUE
Pupil of Connie Mack Has Had Hard Uphill Fight of It to Get a Team and Success is Now Coming His Way
Written by Jim Nasium
READING, Pa., Aug. 6…Here’s the proposition Harry had to face this season:The former owners of the team sold all the best players for the coin they would bring, and then sold the franchise to a new set of stockholders. That’s about all the new stockholders got. Just the bare franchise. When Harry was tagged with the title of manager late in the spring he had nothing much with which to wage a fight for the emblem of baseball superiority in this neck of the woods but a franchise, and you can’t wage much of a fight in any old neck of the woods with nothing in your fist but a franchise. That is, you can’t do it and make much of a showing.
So the first thing Harry had to do was to take a basket and go out on the commons and vacant lots and pick ball players, and the season for picking players was pretty well advanced by this time. Picking ball players is a good deal like picking berries; if you don’t get there first, you’ve got to take what’s left. That’s what Harry had to do.
He didn’t have much success at first, but Harry kept plugging, and soon began to find one occasionally that was sticking away up under the bushes and had been overlooked by the early birds. Now, with the season waning, Harry is beginning to get a real baseball team to go with the franchise.
From a report dated August 10, from the August 20 Sporting Life:
If the Reading team could have played the article of ball which it is now furnishing the new association would be way ahead of the game when finances are spoken of, and as it now stands, it is believed that the loss will not be very heavy. Just as soon as the Tri-State season comes to a close the Directors of the Reading team will appoint their manager for another season. Once being caught with a bad start in the selection of players has been a lesson. Harry Barton is likely to again be the man. It is believed that the Reading team, as it is to-day, will be pretty much intact after the drafting season, and the Directors are of the opinion that they will have an excellent chance to win the long-promised pennant for the fans in another year.
Despite all the praise for their late-season form, Reading
finished in seventh place in the eight-team league, and their record after
starting 20-39 was a not-that-impressive 25-26. Harry, who did more catching in
the latter part of the year than he had earlier, finished hitting .234/.341 in
308 at-bats in 88 games, and finished among the league leaders with ten
triples.
Meanwhile, the 1910 US census had been taken in June, and
Harry and May were shown as living with her parents, Joseph, a cigar
manufacturer, and Hanna, at 315 South Avenue in Media. Harry, 35, was listed as
an electrician for a dental supply company. Harry’s parents were now living in
North Carolina with his sister Lena, a widow, who was keeping a boarding house.
In late 1910 speculation began as to whether Harry would be
retained as manager and whether the Reading franchise would be sold. In early
December a trade of Harry to York fell through, and on December 6 the Harrisburg Patriot reported:
Secretary Morris, of Reading, has decided that he will retain Barton and Bastian and dispose of them when the Reading franchise is sold…Barton is conceded to be one of the best catchers in the minor league ranks. He is a first class general and handles a team well. Last season he managed the Reading club and caught a majority of its games…
In late January 1911 a group of Wilmington businessmen
bought the Williamsport team to move to Wilmington, which had been out of the
league for a couple years, and Harry was said to be associated with the group.
On February 3 Harry announced that he would not play for Reading unless he
could also be manager; meanwhile York was still trying to get him. On February
9 the following story appeared in the Wilmington
Evening Journal:
Harry Barton, manager of the Reading Tri-State team the latter part of the season [actually the entire season], and whom it was alleged Manager Weigand was willing to trade several players of the White Roses for, is not interested in getting with the Wilmington team, says the Reading Telegram.
“Barton,” the paper continues, “has been spending the winter in Chicago and is not much worried by baseball; in fact it is said that he is about ready to retire from the game and may do so before the little blades of grass begin to shoot this spring…
“Barton intimates that he is not caring so much about baseball and is on the brink of retiring. Business for a firm which he represents has kept him in Chicago all winter and he likes that city so well that he is thinking of remaining there to take charge of an office…”
The Evening Journal
added the next day:
Barton May Go To Utica.
If the association again has charge a competent manager will be secured to take the place of Harry Barton, who will most likely be sold to the Utica team of the New York State League. Utica and other teams have been after Harry for two months. Barton is a valuable man, but is not aggressive enough for a manager. Harry would not come here as a player, as he would not work for $175 a month, which is the Tri-State limit. Barton will get a great deal more than this in the New York State League. He did his best last season, but was too easy with the men.
April came, though, and Harry still belonged to Reading.
Scranton of the NYSL was said to be after him, and then it was reported that he
had been traded to Utica, but in fact he ended up with Elmira, of the same
league. The only mentions of Harry I found during the season were a May 20
report that he was playing first base, and the following story from the July 22
Wilmington Evening Journal:
READING COULD HAVE HAD MR. ALEXANDER
Reading just escaped getting Pitcher [Grover Cleveland] Alexander, who is burning up the National League this season, and who has been the mainstay of the Philadelphia club since the opening of the season, at the opening of the 1910 season. When the Syracuse club was in Reading, prior to the opening of the season, Eddie Aschenback, then pilot of the Stars, gave the Reading club the choice of Bastian or Alexander. As the team was not particularly in need of a pitcher, according to Harry Barton, then manager, but did need a first baseman, Bastian was selected. At the close of the season Alexander was drafted by the Philadelphia club, and never was a better pitcher secured at a lower price.
Elmira finished in second place (while back in the Tri-State
League Reading went 74-35 and won the pennant easily) and Harry hit just .186
in 345 at-bats in 111 games. On January 24, 1912, the Evening Journal ran the following:
BARTON ON THE ROAD.
Catcher Harry Barton, the former Tri-Stater and who was of inestimable value to Elmira behind the bat last season, has had a long siege of sickness since the close of the baseball season and only lately was able to be about his winter business. He has fully recovered, however, and is out on his first trip since his sickness. Barton is a traveling salesman for an electrical dental supplies concern. He now is on a trip through the principal cities of Minnesota, Ohio and Illinois.
On February 7 it was reported that Scranton had rejected
Harry in a trade offer by Elmira, and on April 3 the Harrisburg Patriot ran this item:
Harry Barton Retires
Elmira, N.Y., April 12.—Harry Barton, the former Tri-Stater, who was with the local New York State League club last year, has announced his retirement from the game, due probably to the fact that he received a contract from Manager Calhoun that called for considerably less than the salary that he got in 1911.
The next news of Harry appeared in the Wilmington Evening Journal on August 4, 1914:
Harry Barton, the best and most popular catcher that ever wore a Wilmington uniform, and who in 1903 was manager of the Wilmington A.A. is now a resident of Media, Pa., received a great hand on Saturday when he appeared on the Media field and warmed up the Media pitchers. It was said around the ball grounds that Barton would be in the game again.
But there’s no evidence that he ever was. In 1917 he
appeared in the Media section of the Chester City Directory, listed as an
electrician. On September 12, 1918, he filled out a draft card. His address was
still 315 South Avenue, and he gave his occupation as sales manager for Electro
Dental Mfg. Co. at 33rd & Arch Street, Philadelphia. He gave his
description as medium height, medium build, and grey eyes; under hair he wrote
something that I can’t figure out—it looks like “Grey se/bald.” In 1919 he got
a mention in the Philadelphia Inquirer, in an article about the late 1890s
baseball rivalry between Media and West Chester: “Harry Barton at that time was
a high-class catcher, also a hard and timely hitter and ‘high geared’ on the
bases.”
In the 1920 census Harry and May are alone at 315 South
Avenue, while Joseph and Hanna are next door at 313, an address that did not
exist in the 1910 census—I assume the house was split into a duplex. Harry is
listed as a salesman of dental supplies (though the 1920 city directory still
shows him as an electrician), while Joseph, 68 years old, is listed as a
salesman in a cigar store. Edward and Sarah are still with Lena in North
Carolina—until December 12, when Sarah died there.
In late September 1921 an advertisement ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer for an auction of
the “old established cigar factory and retail store” Burdsall & Adams,
established 1874, by “Harry L. Barton trading as Burdsall & Adams.”
Presumably this was his father-in-law’s business.
On October 8, 1924, the Chester Times included the item “Mrs.
Harry Barton, of Media, is doing jury duty this week.” On January 27, 1930, the
same newspaper reported, under the heading of “BRIEF NOTES OF MEDIA BOROUGH,” “Mr.
and Mrs. Harry Lamb Barton entertained at cards at their home on South avenue,
Saturday evening.”
The 1930 census found Harry and May still at 315 South
Avenue, owning the house with a value of $5300, with widower Joseph, 78, living
with them. Harry’s occupation is given as salesman for a toothpaste company,
which seems like it may have been a misunderstanding. Harry’s father Edward
seems to have passed away by then, and sister Lena had just died on March 29,
1930, in Chester, of leukemia. In the 1940 census Harry, 65, and May, 63, are
alone on South Avenue, the house now being worth $4500 (the depression!). Harry
worked 44 hours the previous week, as a manager-salesman of a dental company,
and made $4800 in 1939.
On May 14, 1945, May passed away at age 69 after two weeks
of acute uremia and one year of chronic myocardosis. Harry continued to work
until retiring in 1951. On January 31, 1952, he was mentioned by the Chester Times as having attended the 13th
annual Old Timers banquet at the Chester YMCA. He passed away on January 25,
1955, of a cerebral hemorrhage due to arteriosclerosis, from which he had been
suffering for twelve years. The Chester
Times ran his obituary the next day:
Harry Barton Dies; Former Ball Player
Harry Barton, 80, 315 South av., Media, former well known baseball player, died yesterday in Crozer Hospital.
Retired since 1951, Mr. Barton was a former sales manager of the Equipment Division of the S.S. White Dental Manufacturing Co., Philadelphia. He was with the concern for more than 25 years. Prior to that, Mr. Barton was the proprietor of a cigar store in Media.
Born in Chester, Mr. Barton was a Delaware County resident all his life. In his younger days he was very active in local and professional baseball. Mr. Barton was voted the best baseball player in the county in 1900 and was, as a result, the recipient of a gold watch. Around the same period he helped organize the Tri-State League. He was catcher and manager of the Wilmington entry in this league.
Shortly after that he was made a utility catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and was on the roster in 1905 when the A’s won the American League championship.He was a founder-member of the Rolling Green Golf Club, and held memberships in the Media Swimming Club and the old Men’s Club of Media, now defunct.
Mr. Barton is the last of his immediate family, being survived by two nieces and two nephews.
Services will be held Friday at 2 p.m. at the Patterson funeral home, Baltimore and Monroe, Media. There will be no viewing. The body will be cremated.
The February 9 issue of the Sporting News also included an obituary:
Harry L. Barton, who caught 18 games for the American League champion Philadelphia Athletics in 1905, died January 25, at Crozer Hospital in Upland, Pa. He had celebrated his eightieth birthday five days before.
Barton played with Pawtucket, R.I., in 1902 and was captain of the Wilmington team in 1903. He was with Williamsport in 1904 and in his brief stay with the A’s the next year, he batted .167. Barton was in charge of production schedules in the equipment division of a dental manufacturing company before he retired in 1951. He lived in Media, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia.
In November 1965 Harry was one of ten athletes in the
initial class of inductees to the Media Old Timers Hall of Fame.