Timing Has Been Everything to Him : Baseball: Barbara, now with the Long Beach Barracuda, has come close to making the majors a few times.

Don Barbara knows where he’s at.

His Long Beach Barracuda teammates were filing in from batting practice. On the table were the soft drinks. Maybe there was enough to go around. Maybe there wasn’t. Barbara, a bulky first baseman, wasn’t taking the chance. He paused in mid-sentence, reached out, and snagged his drink.

For one who was oh-so close to the major leagues, this is oh-so far away.

The Barracuda is the bottom rung in professional baseball. An independent team in the newly formed Western Baseball League. The last chance on your way out of the game.

Barbara, a mere phone call from the big leagues in the past, sat in a plastic lawn chair, in a cramped locker room, where soft drinks were a commodity. Yet, he spun a view that showed the glass is half full.

“I definitely know I will play in the major leagues one of the these days,” said Barbara, who attended Canyon High School. “I know I can still hit. I know I can still field. I know.”

Convincing others has been difficult.

In part, Barbara has had bad karma, finding himself in the right place at the wrong time.

Barbara helped Long Beach State reach the College World Series in 1989 and led the nation in hitting the next year. There begins his hard luck story. Almost every stop in his six-year professional career has been proceeded or followed by a phenom.

He spent three seasons with the Angels, reaching triple A in 1992. The same year the team acquired J.T. Snow. Barbara hit .298 in Edmonton, but never got the call.

He had a year in the Dodger organization, arriving two years after Eric Karros was named National League rookie of the year. Barbara hit .351 in Albuquerque, but Karros wasn’t going anywhere.

Instead, Barbara did, signing with the Boston Red Sox as a replacement player this season. Then the strike ended and Mo Vaughn resumed his promising career as the Red Sox’s first baseman.

Barbara was released by Pawtucket, the Red Sox’s triple-A team, the first week in June, without ever getting to swing for the Red Sox. He was hitting a career-low .217 and had to change his luck. So he went to Las Vegas.

It was there that former Long Beach State teammate and current Barracuda Coach Chris Gill found him two weeks ago. Barbara greedily accepted the offer.

His tour of duty has left some open wounds. Barbara describes agent Tony Abitini as, “My former agent,” rather than by name. But Barbara has been positive about this opportunity with the Barracuda.

“I guess I’ve had bad timing,” Barbara said. “It doesn’t matter how well I do, there’s always someone in front of me.

“My former agent felt Boston was a good place for me, so I went there. All I was was an insurance policy to Mo Vaughn. Then they told me I wasn’t going to play anymore. There was no use for me there if I wasn’t going to play.”

Barracuda Manager Jeff Burroughs has some use for Barbara, who now is the only first baseman on the roster. He will play every day and bat fourth. So far, he’s been OK with both.

“I’m not familiar with his career, but I do know he has hit everywhere he went,” Burroughs said.

Barbara has continued that streak. He was eight for 16 in five games before Sunday. He also has improved the team’s sketchy defense.

The Barracuda has 54 errors in 32 games, 13 by third baseman Alan Burke and eight by second baseman Shane Turner. But Barbara saved the team two Saturday, flagging down wild throws.

“We [Long Beach State] were third in the country in defense in 1989,” said Gill, who was an infielder. “Having Don over at first base was a big reason. He picks everything.”

It was those abilities that Gill remembered when the Barracuda came up short of infielders two weeks ago. He knew Barbara was available, he just had to find him.

“Donny is a frequent visitor to Las Vegas,” Gill said. “When he’s not in Long Beach, he’s there.

“Actually, I called his brother who told me where to find him.”

That was a Thursday. Barbara went one for three the following Tuesday.

“I drove back on Monday and called them,” Barbara said. “I asked what they had for me and they told me. I said, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow at 2 p.m.’ ”

Wanted, at last. That was never completely true elsewhere.

He was a longshot when the Angels drafted him in the 24th round, but Barbara progressed rapidly. He made the Class A Midwest League all-star game in 1991, but had to miss it because the Angels promoted him to Class AA.

Barbara hit .362 with 10 home runs in Midland in 1991 and his name was often linked with Tim Salmon.

“I remember that to this day,” Barbara said. “People told me my name was going around the [Angel] clubhouse for a long time. Nothing ever came of it.”

Salmon was the American League rookie of the year in 1993. Barbara wasn’t around to see it. The arrival of Snow in 1992 left Barbara in Edmonton, where he drove in 63 runs. But he wasn’t even invited to the big league camp the following spring.

“I don’t think they were short on first basemen,” Barbara said at the time.

They were short one soon. Barbara asked to be released, then signed with the Milwaukee Brewers. He hit .294 for their triple-A team in 1993, but again was not invited to spring training.

He asked to be put on waivers and was claimed by the Dodgers. He knocked in 37 runs in 168 at-bats for Albuquerque. But there was no future with the Dodgers, so it was on the Boston, where there was less of one.

In four seasons, he had played for four organizations, all on the triple-A level.

“I couldn’t tell why it hasn’t happened,” Barbara said.

His critics have theories. Until this season, he never hit below .288, but many question his power at a position where home runs are required. Others said he was too slow. Now, people think he’s too old.

At 26, Barbara is about middle age for a professional player. His biological clock is ticking.

Even his presence in the Barracuda locker room is that of an old-timer. His lawn chair, the one he uses instead of the wood bench, was recently labeled, “Norm Peterson.” A nickname that makes Barbara nervous.

Yet, for all the downsides, Barbara can’t help but look up.

“When I’m ready to turn in my uniform, I’ll turn it in,” he said. “But until then, I’m not going to let baseball beat me.”