"[3] In August 1936, the Class-D Northeast Arkansas League was in need of a replacement umpire, and hired Barlick for the last 4 weeks of the season.

Late in the 1940 season, NL umpire Bill Klem was unable to work due to an ankle injury, so Barlick was hired as a replacement.

Before the 1941 season, Klem had strongly endorsed Barlick, saying, "He's going to be the greatest umpire in baseball history.

He spent most of the next two years assigned to an 83-foot cutter based at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

[1] In August 1949, Barlick ruled a forfeit at Shibe Park in a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Giants.

Fans had become irate over a call made by Barlick's crew member George Barr and they littered the field with fruit, soda bottles and paper.

League president Warren Giles characterized the issue as a minor heart ailment, but newspaper reports held that Barlick would not be ready for opening day that year.

[8] In 1961, the Sporting News polled managers and coaches to determine the best umpires in the major leagues.

Barlick was voted as the most respected umpire in the National League, as well as the best caller of balls and strikes, best on the bases, best knowledge of rules, best at being in the right position and most serious-minded.

[1] Barlick stated that the poll was a disgrace due to the lack of qualifications of the writers and the nature of the categories, which included "most sarcastic", "hardest to talk to", "biggest grandstander", and "worst pop-off".

A few weeks after ejecting pitcher Bob Shaw due to an argument about balks, Barlick called Fred Fleig, the secretary of the National League, and said, “I'm fed up with the whole thing and I am going to quit and go home.”[10] On June 17, 1963, Giles announced that there had been a "misunderstanding" and that Barlick would relax at his home for a few days before rejoining his umpire crew.

[10] After the 1963 season, Barlick took a job as a public relations representative at Springfield's Water, Light and Power Department.

[12] Subsequent MLB officials, including Dusty Boggess and Dutch Rennert, said that they tried to imitate him when they became umpires.

Barlick scouted many umpires who wound up having long careers, and was, according to Bruce Froemming, “very proud of the staff he built.”[1] Sportswriter Jerome Holtzman wrote that Barlick was outspoken when defending the league's umpires to NL president Warren Giles and baseball commissioner Ford Frick.

[11][20] In 2013, the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award honored Barlick as one of 37 Baseball Hall of Fame members for his service in the United States Coast Guard during World War II.