Fresh off a brief, one-game shot at the Expos in 1996, Tony Barron signed with a new club for 1997 and hoped to get back to the bigs, The Scranton Tribune wrote.
Barron cited movement in the Phillies organization the previous season as added incentive to get off to a good start, The Tribune wrote.
"If I can do my job, there could be opportunity," Barron told The Tribune. "They had a lot of opportunity last year."
Barron ended up getting a pretty good opportunity with the Phillies that year. He returned to the bigs and saw 57 games. Those, and the one with the Expos, proved the extent of his big league career.
Barron's career began in 1987, taken by the Dodgers in the seventh round of the draft out of Willamette University in Oregon.
Barron started with the Dodgers at rookie Great Falls. He hit .298 over 53 games. He moved to short-season Salem and single-A Bakersfield in 1988 and single-A Vero Beach for 1989.
He made AA San Antonio for 1991 and hit .235 in 73 games. He then made AAA Albuquerque for 78 games in 1992 and returned there for all of 1993, but he didn't see Los Angeles.
Barron moved to the Mariners system and AA Jacksonville for 1994. He hit .296 in 108 games there. That June, he hit a home run off the stadium scoreboard at Carolina, The Raleigh News and Observer wrote.
"I get frozen on the inside part of the plate sometimes and I have to learn to wait for my pitch," Barron told The News and Observer of that home run. "I was just looking for something over the plate that I could drive."
He arrived in the Expos system for 1996 and played largely at AAA Ottawa. But that June, he debuted with Montreal. He got into one game, saw one at bat and struck out.
With the Phillies, though, in 1997, he made it back for those 57 games. He hit .286, with four home runs and 24 RBI.
Barron then continued playing in the minors and Mexico. He saw AAA Scranton again in 1998, then played four seasons in Mexico, his last in 2002 at Veracruz and Puebla.
- Raleigh News and Observer, June 19, 1994: Home loss unusual for Mudcats
- Scranton Tribune, April 2, 1997: Barron hoping for chance to fly to the big leagues
Made the Majors:1,294-33.5%-X
Never Made Majors:2,567-66.5%
5+ Seasons in the Majors:528
10+ Seasons in the Minors:324
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