Vic Barnhart, a war time infielder for the Pirates,
passed away Thursday (April 13, 2017). He was 94.
Vic was a second generation major leaguer, his father Clyde having played for the Pirates through the twenties. Signed by Pittsburgh before the 1940 season, Vic was known to be a smooth fielding shortstop with soft hands, as well as a contact hitter with some light doubles power. He put in 3 solid seasons in the minors, then spent 1943 in the military.
In 1944, Vic hit .310 for Albany, earning him a call-up to the majors very late in the season. He saw action in just one game that year, and came away with a hit and a walk in his 3 plate appearances. Vic spent the entirety of 1945 with the varsity, backing up Frankie Gustine at short. He held his own, batting .269 on the season (Gustine hit .280). In 1946, Who's Who in Baseball had this to say about Barnhart:
"[Vic] did not hit so well last season, but is regarded favorably as a possibility for a regular station. He has fine hands and is a great thrower." He did, indeed, head north with Pittsburgh, but only got into 2 games and was 0 for 1 at the plate before the Pirates sent him back to the minors, never to return again.
After the 1947 season, Vic was out of options and the club chose not to keep him on the 40-man squad. By the rules of the day, he had to be traded or sold and Pittsburgh was hot for Dodgers prospect Monte Basgall, so a trade was arranged. The Montreal farm club told Vic he'd get to play third base, which Vic thought would set him up well to get back to The Show as Billy Cox was a natural shortstop and, behind him, the Dodgers weren't especially deep at the hot corner. Spring Training came and went and Vic not only wasn't playing third, he wasn't playing, period. If they had done such things in those days, its likely Vic's picture would have been on a milk carton in his hometown of Hagerstown by mid-May. On the 16th of May, Vic was traded to Toronto. So much for getting back to the majors as the Dodgers third baseman, but at least he got to play third base for the Maple Leafs.
After the 1951 season, Vic decided he was tired of kicking around the low minors and hung up his spikes. In his 10 minor league seasons, he had played in 1047 games, hitting roughly .290. Vic would go on to work as the Athletic Director for the Maryland Correction Institute until he retired.
The first image appears to be the one in the facepack, but this is the large full image from
Mears Auctions which does not seem to be featured elsewhere on the site. The photo was auctioned at least twice (2010 and 2011), receiving no bids either time. The other image is from a current auction on eBay. I've cropped and grey-scaled both images. There's also an image posted by Bearman14
several years back. FYI, in Bearman14's post, the guy on the right is Vic; the one on the left is his father, Clyde.