From the time he was 5 years old, Brian Barton looked up at the stars and saw a place he would like to go.

To him and his brother, a balled up piece of aluminum foil could be a baseball, and someday he would play in the major leagues.

Barton has always aimed high, dreamed big, even from the small yard of a modest house in South Central Los Angeles.

His dreams should have been snuffed out by nightly sounds of gunfire, police helicopters and voices that perpetuate stereotypes among boys in the 'hood: "You'll never amount to anything." But Barton wouldn't let them.

He wanted to be an astronaut. And even more than that, he wanted to play in the majors.

What seems extraordinary about Barton — a minor-league outfielder whom the Braves acquired in a trade last month for reliever Blaine Boyer — is that he managed to pursue both.

Barton, left fielder for the Gwinnett Braves, made it to the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals last season as a backup outfielder. He is also a semester shy of a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Miami.

But to leave it there, at rocket scientist and right-handed bat, is only scratching the surface. Barton goes deeper than that.

Last summer, during his first full season in the major leagues, he read 17 books. He recently finished off the 900-page "Roots" by Alex Haley. Barton travels every offseason, usually alone, to get to know other cultures. He has visited 12 countries so far and wants to reach them all.

The childhood dreams of getting out into the world evolved into adult dreams. Now he wants to change the world.

"I know I can't change the world by myself," Barton said. "But I feel like in changing other people's lives, the effect becomes exponential."

Barton wants others to follow his trajectory, out of the low-income, low-expectation world and into things they're passionate about doing.

It's a message he passes on when he speaks to elementary school students, in private conservations with friends and family back home, or in the book he's writing.

"What happens in a lot of families, especially in the inner cities, we're not being taught to grow," Barton said. "We were being taught to be content with the life we were in, instead of searching for more, actually taking risks, and doing all the things we wanted to do. I've talked to so many people who say 'I'm fine staying in LA. L.A. is home to me.' And sometimes I wonder if it's just because it's not in them or it's because nobody ever told them that they could do more."

Something in Barton always told him he could do more.

He had the support of two parents — a mother who works in the payroll department of a local grocery store, a father in security — who understood that education was key to a new life. He had an older brother, who set out with the same goal of getting a college scholarship, so their parents wouldn't have to pay.

And he had friends, who even if in gangs, respected that he was paving his own way.

"I remember some of the guys are like 'I'm proud of you, you made it,' " said Barton, recalling the start of his minor-league career with the Cleveland Indians. "And I'm like 'I'm just in the minor leagues.' They're like 'Nah, you made it.' "

Barton made his own breaks. He and his brother Derard used their cousins' address to enroll at Westchester High School, which had an aerospace magnet program and an impressive list of sports alumni, including NFL linebacker Ken Norton Jr.

Barton earned a Boeing internship, which gave him summer jobs in satellite production and paid for four years of college. He spent his freshman season on the baseball team at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles before transferring to Miami — a baseball powerhouse, where he joined the team as a walk-on.

He had to make his own way into professional baseball, too. Barton went undrafted out of Miami, when scouts assumed his priority was aerospace engineering and working for Boeing.

He went to the Cape Cod league, where college players can prove they can hit with wood bats. The Indians signed him late that summer of 2004 for a $100,000 bonus and another $100,000 in college funds. He hit .317 in three years in their minor-league system before the Indians left him unprotected on their roster, concerned about a knee injury.

The Cardinals then took Barton in the Rule 5 draft. They had to keep him on their major-league roster all season or send him back to the Indians.

So on Opening Day last year, Barton realized his dream of making the major leagues. He rode the warning track at Busch Stadium in the back of a convertible, mother and girlfriend in the stands, filming the pre-game ceremony with his camcorder.

He hit .268 in 82 games. And he came to an interesting realization.

"When I actually made it to the big leagues, I realized it wasn't it," Barton said. "I'm not saying I didn't enjoy doing it, but I realized that baseball is just another big door that just opened another whole world to me."

When his baseball career is over, Barton plans to finish his degree at Miami. Then maybe he'll start his own aerospace business or design a car. He wants to learn five languages and continue his travels.

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