A hard-throwing pitcher, he signed with the Baltimore Orioles as an 18 year old and spent three years playing Class D ball. He made his big league debut with the O's in 1960 and was a mainstay in the club's rotation for the next seven and a half seasons.
Part of a young Orioles pitching staff that also included Milt Pappas and Chuck Estrada, Barber won 10 games as a rookie. He went 18-12 with a 3.33 ERA in his second season He had his best season in 1963, winning 20 games and making the All-Star team for the first time.
Barber began the 1966 season strong, going 10-3 with a 1.96 ERA in the first half, and made the All-Star team again.
In 1967, he combined with teammate Stu Miller to pitch a no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers, a game I watched. The Tigers won the game 2-1 on a Miller wild pitch followed by an error in the ninth inning.
By the middle of the 1967 campaign, Barber, at age 29, was the oldest man in the young Baltimore rotation that featured Dave McNally and future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer.
He became an original Seattle Pilots player, and his arm woes were somewhat of a recurring theme in Jim Bouton's Ball Four.
