Former Italian / American Player: Jim Barbieri (1966)

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James Patrick Barbieri was born on September 15, 1941 in Schenectady, New York. In 1953 he was captain of the Schenectady Little League World Series Championship team. His team was runner up the previous year as well. His team mate on those teams was future Mets coach Billy Connors.

When he grew up, the outfielder a contract with the Dodgers in 1960, and played six seasons in the Pacific Coast League for Spokane. In 1966 he was having his best year batting .357 leading the PCL in hitting when the first place Dodgers called him up on the 4th of July.

He only played in 39 games that season & his whole MLB career, batting .280 (23-82) with 5 doubles, 3 RBIs & 2 stolen bases. He also made the post season roster and had one World Series at bat going 0-1 against the Orioles. He became the first player ever to play in both the Little League & Major League World Series’.


It was a tough Dodger outfield to get into with Tommy Davis, Ron Fairly, Willie Davis, & Lou Johnson out there, so Barbieri spent the next few seasons back in the minors, retiring from baseball in 1969 with a .282 minor league average. He played the 1970 season in Japan before going into the beer distributing business back home.

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