His resume reads like every 9-year-old little leaguer’s baseball fantasy: two NCAA National Championships, 101 major league victories, a career earned run average of 3.56 and a list of teammates rife with Cooperstown legends.

He is Sacramento State pitching coach Jim Barr, and for 12 major league seasons from 1971 to 1983, his name was listed in media guides next to names like Bobby Bonds, Willie Mays and Nolan Ryan.

Barr joined the Sac State baseball coaching staff in 1994, 10 years removed from Major League Baseball. He said that he had wanted to get back into the game for a while, so when Sac State coach John Smith offered him the pitching coach job, he gladly accepted.

“When I hired him, I told him he would only have to be the coach for one year,” Smith said. “He said okay, and now the rest is history.”

Barr’s professional career started when he was drafted in the third round of the 1970 amateur draft by the San Francisco Giants. When he was called up to the majors, he said he was fortunate to get a locker next to hall-of-fame first baseman Willie McCovey.

“Willie really helped me a lot,” Barr said. “He was a nice guy.”

Barr said McCovey helped nominate him to be a player representative to the player’s union when Mays decided he no longer wanted the position.

“At first I was like, ‘Aw man you got to be kidding me,'” Barr said. “But then a teammate told me, ‘No that is a good thing; it means that you will be around for a while.'”

After eight seasons in San Francisco, Barr was granted free agency and signed with the California Angels, joining a pitching staff headed by Ryan.

“In ’79 we were a super good team,” Barr said. “Everybody on that team meshed well.”

Barr was released by the Angels in 1981. He was then picked up by the Chicago White Sox in July but never made an appearance for the team.

When he was released by the White Sox, he re-signed with the Giants.

In 1982 he joined a Giants team with the likes of Jack Clark, Reggie Smith and Jeffrey Leonard, three players often given a negative image by the media, with Leonard at the forefront.

“Jeff was a great guy, more intelligent than people knew,” Barr said. “I think a lot of times guys like Jeff come off as rude because that is an image they portray to keep people away from them.”

Barr told a story about his former Angel teammate, Rod Carew. Carew was in the dugout half dressed when he looked up at a crowd of reporters and said, “What the (expletive) do you guys want?”

Barr commented, “I said, ‘Rodney, you’re kind of mean to those guys.’ Rod looked at me and said, ‘If I wasn’t, they would never leave me alone.'”

Barr was released by the Giants in April of 1984, and at the age of 36 his major league career was over.

Barr said that when he came to Sac State, it took him a while to find his comfort zone as a coach.

“Not until my second season did I really understand how many guys are just happy to be playing college baseball,” Barr said. “When I realized this, I started to teach guys to play within their ability. If they have more, then use it to get to the next level.”

Getting the most from his players is something Barr saw in his college coach at USC, 11-time national champion Rod Dedeaux.

“He was the type of coach who knew how to coach the mental game,” Barr said. “He was more of a motivator than a hands-on coach.”

Barr said that he only saw Dedeaux raise his voice one time. It happened in a game against California when future major league all-star Dave Kingman came into the dugout and threw his glove on the bench, knicking Dedeaux’s arm.

“Dedeaux got up,” Barr said, “picked Kingman up by the shirt and said, ‘You will never do that again. We don’t act like that here.'”

Barr said that Dedeaux was a great coach, but it was probably the USC program that had the biggest impact on him as a player and coach. He said, “USC was college baseball at the time. Through it I won two national titles in ’68 and ’70, and I got to play two years of baseball in Alaska with some of the games top players.”

According to Smith, Barr’s accomplishments as a ballplayer at USC and in the big leagues have served him well as a coach.

“The guy is incredible; he’s a horse,” Smith said. “His experience is valuable, and I think it goes unsaid. He’s pretty quiet, but when he talks, everybody listens.”

Barr, now in his 11th season at Sac State, said that although he has thought about it, a head coaching position is not something he is actively pursuing.

Whatever happens, Hornet fans can rest easy knowing that when No. 33 steps out of the Sac State dugout, he is giving advice that has been filtered through some of the best minds the game has ever seen.

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Josh Oates can be reached at [email protected]