HBIC Summer Project: The Starbuck Southpaw

If there's one thing that every baseball team needs, it's a reliable left-handed pitcher. When we think of good southpaws that played in MLB, names like Koufax, Ford, Spahn, Johnson, and Glavine come to mind. There are likely others that one can suggest, but I doubt anyone would include Doris "Dodie" Barr in that list despite her dominance for eight seasons in the AAGPBL. That's where HBIC comes in because I'm suggesting that we shouldn't only include her in the conversation over dominant lefties in baseball, but we might want to include her in the discussion about which players were the best high-scoring wingers in hockey. If we're talking two-sport superstars, there should be no doubt that Doris "Dodie" Barr is one name that should always be mentioned!

Born on August 26, 1921 to Malcolm and Susan Barr, Doris Barr had a quiet childhood that involved school and church, and she and her sister would play catch when they had some time to themselves. Doris, as a lefty, showed good instincts in her delivery that prompted scouts to ask her if she wanted to play girls' senior softball in Winnipeg. She'd eventually join the Ramblers in the Greater Winnipeg Senior Girls' Fastball league at the age of 16 where she was immediately thought of as someone who could make an impact as a pitcher for the squad.

The Ramblers wouldn't waste any time in introducing their new pitcher to the league as Barr got the start on June 24, 1938 against the Tivolis at Osborne Stadium. I can tell you that her debut didn't go so well as the Ramblers held a 6-5 lead through three innings before Barr was substituted out of the game. A late push by the Ramblers would give them the 17-12 win as Barr was tagged with no decision on the night, but the 16 year-old Barr had shown she could play at that level! Consistency is the hallmark of any good pitcher, though, and the rookie hurler would show her mettle as Barr continued to pitch throughout the season for the Ramblers, getting better with each start.

If you need proof that she got better with every game, here's the recap of Game Three of the best-of-three semifinal between the Ramblers and the CUAC Blues. It sounds like Barr was a star!

While the Ramblers fell in the semifinals in 1938, the 1939 version of the Ramblers in the Greater Winnipeg Senior Girls' Fastball league had all sorts of problems as the team struggled. Barr was still showing her emergence as a big-game pitcher, though, as she won a pile of games against opponents, continued to improve at the plate, and was outstanding in the field, but she began to struggle with the crowds at Osborne Stadium as the "boo birds" would often heckle the Ramblers as they struggled through their season. She decided to make a change which we'll see in a second, but the Ramblers' struggles in the 1939 season made it more of a season to forget than anything else.

You might be asking how Barr blocked out the jeers when she was playing now that I referenced it above, and let me say that her method seems like it wouldn't be very effective. Were cotton balls much thicker back in 1939? I can't imagine they'd block out much sound if they resembled cotton balls of today. Regardless, she turned 18 the summer before, and she made the decision to find a new team for whom she could pitch. Little did anyone realize that she'd head west to Regina to continue to play!

With a stronger team behind her in the Regina Nut House Cashews (Teebz: still a great name), Regina looked like world-beaters with how they played. Like Moose Jaw did in 1941, Regina embarked on a US tour in 1940 where they played exhibition games against US softball teams. Not surprisingly, the 18 year-old southpaw was all the talk as she held a team from Cleveland to one hit through eight innings as the two teams played to a 2-2 tie through 11 complete innings. Unlike Olive Bend, she didn't overpower hitters or use intimidation at times to keep them unsteady, but Barr was much more of a location pitcher who hit her spots when needed.

When they came back to Saskatchewan to finish their softball season, the Cashews continued their winning ways with Barr playing a large part in that. As shown, the Cashews met the Regina Army and Navy Bombers for the Regina Intercity Fastpitch championship, and it would be Barr who drove in the winning run with her pinch-hit double late in the game to help the Cashews win by a 4-1 score! Unfortunately for the Ramblers, the move to Saskatchewan paid off for Barr in a big way as she earned her first championship just two days before her 19th birthday!

The 1941 season in Regina was where everyone realized that Doris Barr was an elite pitcher. Besides helping the Regina Bombers, who she joined, win regularly, her three no-hit shutouts in that season was proof that she was in control every time she went out to the mound. As the article from The Winnipeg Tribune states, Barr also overcame the cotton-in-ears thing she had been doing since 1939. When the crowds in Regina were cheering wildly for her, it certainly sounds better than the rain of boos and jeers like she got while as a member of the Ramblers. With no cotton being worn in her ears, it seems that Doris Barr had become one of the best pitchers in Saskatchewan, if not THE best hurler. As a southpaw, there was no denying she was the best lefty in western Canada!

If you need more proof, Barr was throwing heat on May 19, 1941.

Wouldn't you know it, but we we'd see a showdown at the end of the season between the Bombers, led by Barr, and the Moose Jaw Royals, led by Olive Little, as both teams played for the championship. Give Olive Little the lead in head-to-head championships!

Moose Jaw would win again in 1942, but Bombers pitcher Doris Barr was a standout on the mound again. The Royals would even recruit her to join them in their battle against Edmonton in the western Canadian semifinal series, but things were about to change with World War II underway and the summer of 1943 approaching.

Barr would land with the South Bend Blue Sox where she wore #4 and went 15-13 in 1943 with a 2.90 ERA, 63 strikeouts, and 151 walks. Clearly, Barr was a little more wild than what she showed back in Regina, but she did bat .269 on a 36-for-134 season that included seven doubles, a triple, 16 walks, eight stolen bases, and 18 RBIs compared to just 11 strikeouts. South Bend would finish in second-place in both halves of ths season, and they'd miss the playoffs.

South Bend took a step back in 1944, and that would reflect in Barr's stats. She finished the season with an 8-11 record on a 2.98 ERA as she recorded 62 strikeouts compared to 141 walks, but she didn't play as often and her hitting suffered greatly. In just 32 games, she had 55 plate apperances where she recorded just seven hits - all singles - and six RBIs. She struck out 15 times while only walking six times, but her .127 average was hardly Doris Barr-like in her play.

Barr would move to the Racine Belles in 1945 where she wore #11, but she didn't finish there as she was traded back to South Bend midway through the campaign. The good news is that she looked like her old self in going 20-8 on the season with a 1.71 ERA, 104 strikeouts, and 188 walks. She was credited with the most wild pitches of her career at 38, but she only surrendered 68 runs in 252 innings pitched! More importantly, Barr's season was highlighted by Racine's first no-hit, no-run game against Fort Wayne on July 1! At the dish, she went 23-for-104 for a .221 average, one double, and five RBIs while walking nine times while striking out 11 times. Unfortunately, there was no All-Star Game that year as Barr likely would have gone, and South Bend wouldn't make the playoffs as Barr looked forward to 1946.

In that year, she'd be back in Racine colours, and Racine was the absolute class of the AAGPBL. She didn't play very often just like her first experience in Racine as she only appeared in 21 games, and her record was 6-9 with a 3.86 ERA on 53 strikeouts and 109 walks. She only recorded 39 at-bats in those games as she had five singles, one RBI, nine strikeouts, and six walks as she hit an uncharacteristic .128. Racine, however, finished the season atop the standings with a 74-38 record before dispatching the South Bend Blue Sox and the Rockford Peaches to win their first AAGPBL championship!

Like the season before, Barr's personal stats seemed to reflect her usage as she 30 games where she tossed 96 strikeouts compared to 91 walks in going 14-12 with a 2.26 ERA. Barr had a modest upgrade at the plate where she hit .167 on 10-of-60 hitting, but she did have a double, two triples, four RBIs, 20 walks, and just 14 strikeouts in those at-bats. Racine ended up in third-place in the standings, but would down the Muskegon Lassies before falling in the final to the Grand Rapids Chicks.

1948 saw Barr move to the Springfield Sallies where she was used mostly as an outfielder. However, when she was on the mound, she threw smoke while wearing #28 for one of the worst outfits in the AAGPBL that year. She compiled a 7-19 record with a 2.68 ERA on a team that went 41-84 that season. She did record the most strikeouts of her career that year when she sat down 116 batters, but she also issued 113 walks. The 73 games she played was reflective in her batting as Barr hit .230 on 40-for-174 that included 31 singles, four doubles, five triples, 10 RBIs, and 28 walks compared to just 20 strikeouts. For a team that was pretty bad at all positions, Barr was a bright spot for Springfield.

The 1949 AAGPBL season saw Barr wearing the colours of the Muskegon Lassies where she donned #15. Muskegon wasn't much better than Springfield the year before, and Doris would finish the season with an 8-13 record, a 2.40 ERA, 53 strikeouts, and 108 walks in 191 innings. Things were worse with a bat in her hand as contact seemed to avoid the chunk of ash. Barr had just five hits in 70 at-bats for a .071 batting average. She did manage to pick up three RBIs and 16 walks compared to 20 strikeouts, but the combined pitching and hitting stats marked 1949 as her worst professionals season. For the record, Muskegon finished the season in sixth-place out of eight teams with a 46-66 record. They did not make the playoffs.

The team would move for the 1950 season to Kalamazoo, but the move didn't change the way the team played. Barr was actually traded to the Peoria Redwings midway through the season, but it didn't help Barr's season. Her 1-11 record in 18 appearances saw her struggle mightily as reflected in her 6.51 ERA on 78 walks compared to just 25 strikeouts. At the dish, she was 10-for-41 for a .244 average, but her two doubles, three RBIs, six strikeouts, and three walks were hardly anything to celebrate.

Barr made the decision following the 1950 season to retire from professional baseball. She returned home to Manitoba, and she took a job as an accountant at both the Manitoba Health Sciences Centre and at the Grace Hospital in Winnipeg. Ross never married and had no children, but she loved to golf whenever possible and always relished time with her family.

On The Ice

The winter was when Doris Barr put the work in that was needed to be one of the best pitchers. Her younger brother, Ross, told Matt Preprost of the Winnipeg Free Press that "Doris would return home to Winnipeg, and the two would head down to the armoury at Machray Avenue and McGregor Street."

"We'd get permission from the sergeant to practise," Ross recalled to Preprost. "We'd go down to the basement and throw the ball around to help her stay in condition. It stung. (The balls) were coming in pretty fast, no question about that."

Prior to leaving for her final season in the AAGPBL, Doris Barr turned in quite the performance on the ice! You may remember that series between Moose Jaw and Winnipeg in Evelyn Wawryshyn's article about how good Wawryshyn was. Doris Barr was her linemate in that series!

Here's the photo of that Winnipeg team. Wawryshyn is circled in red while Barr is circled in yellow. And, as you know from Miss Wawryshyn's article, that Winnipeg team went on to win the 1950 Lady Bessborough Trophy as champions of the Dominion Women's Amateur Hockey Association! How cool is that fact?

Both players were also part of the legendary Doodlebugs senior women's hockey team that dominated Winnipeg hockey.

In short, Doris Barr had a pile of talent that she showcased on the ice, and it culminated in a number of championships in 1950. She may have been one of the best pitchers on the planet for a time, but she could certainly hold her own on skates with a stick and puck!

The Accolades

As stated, Barr won an AAGPBL championship with Racine in 1947. While she missed out on personal accolades, the championship likely made up for any oversights on the personal side. It should be noted that Barr finished with a career fielding percentage of .932 in the AAGPBL, and she racked up a career record of 79-96. She did play on some very bad teams, but she did finish with 14-wins-or-more in three of her eight seasons in the league. She also recorded that first no-hit, no-run game in Racine Belles history.

While she recalled the good times when pressed, Barr never spoke about how good she was or her time in the AAGPBL. That seemed to fit her quiet personality, so it was a sad day on July 12, 2009 when Barr passed away peacefully at the Kildonan Personal Care Centre at the age of 88. Having no husband or children, she was remembered fondly by extended family and friends.

It's not hard to see why Doris Barr was honoured at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown during the celebration of the AAGPBL in 1988, and she was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998, the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame in 2004. Her play made her one of the best at her position at the time, and she deserves these honours.

Doris Barr was a force on the diamond both here in Manitoba and while playing in Saskatchewan when it came to softball. She used that skill to pitch eight seasons in the AAGPBL where she threw a no-hitter and hit the 20-win mark once. Add in her championships on the ice, and she's one of the most accomplished athletes to have ever come out of this province and, certainly, from the small town of Starbuck. Having her as part of the 2023 HBIC Summer Project was an easy decision to make!

Rest in peace, Doris. Your incredible legacy in sports makes you a legend, even if those honours came long after you had retired.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!