William Joseph "Jap" Barbeau (June 10, 1882 – September 10, 1969) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

for four seasons, primarily as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

with the

Cleveland Naps The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. Since , the team has played its home gam ...

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

, and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

. Listed at and , he batted and threw right-handed.

Career

Barbeau started his professional baseball career in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

in 1905, playing for the

Columbus Senators The Columbus Senators Minor league baseball team was created in as a founding member of the Tri-State League. After that, the Senators played in the Western League (1897-1899), Interstate League (1900), Western Association (1901), and Ameri ...

of the American Association. In August, his contract was purchased by the major league

and he spent the rest of 1905 and 1906 with them. However, he had a .194

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

in 1906 and was released. Barbeau returned to the American Association, playing for the

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A baseball team nicknamed the ...

in 1907 and 1908. In 1909, Barbeau was the starting third baseman for the

, and was then traded to the

in August. After a slow start in 1910, he was sent back to American Association, where he played for the Kansas City Blues,

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

, and

St. Paul Saints The St. Paul Saints are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and have played their home games at CHS Field since 2015. They previ ...

over the next several seasons. He also played one season in the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

, and one season in the Western League, last playing professionally in 1919. Overall, in parts of four major league seasons, Barbeau batted .225 in 199 games. In 13 minor league seasons, he appeared in over 1500 games while batting above .290 at least three times; his minor-league records are incomplete for some seasons.

References

External links

1882 births 1969 deaths Major League Baseball third basemen Baseball players from New York City Cleveland Naps players Pittsburgh Pirates players St. Louis Cardinals players Columbus Senators players Toledo Mud Hens players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Omaha Rourkes players {{US-baseball-third-baseman-stub