[2] In 1871, Barlow played catcher and shortstop in for the Star club of Brooklyn, who were one of the top amateur teams in the country.

They won the championship of the short-lived National Association of Amateur Base Ball Players, and are credited with a 30-13 won-loss record.

Barlow moved up to the next level the next season in 1872, beginning his professional career with the National Association's Brooklyn Atlantics.

[3] Barlow stated several years after the fact that he sustained an injury to his side during the 1874 season while catching pitcher Cherokee Fisher, while playing for the Hartford Dark Blues.

Later, when he was being treated at his hotel room, a physician administered a morphine injection, which began his addiction to the drug, and subsequently, he lost his baseball career to it.

Barlow documented his troubles in a letter, which is read by actor David Caruso in Ken Burns's 1994 documentary, Baseball.

Barlow says the injury happened when the Dark Blues were playing the Chicago White Stockings in Chicago on August 10, 1874, but the record shows that on that date the Dark Blues were playing at home against the Philadelphia Athletics, and Bill Stearns was Hartford's starting pitcher.