Barney Dreyfuss facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Barney Dreyfuss |
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Barney Dreyfuss at Exposition Park in 1903.
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| Owner, Executive | |
| Born: February 23, 1865 Freiburg, Baden, German Confederation |
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| Died: February 5, 1932 (aged 66) New York, New York, United States |
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As Owner
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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 Baseball Hall of Fame |
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| Induction | 2008 |
| Election Method | Veterans Committee |
Barney Dreyfuss (born February 23, 1865 – died February 5, 1932) was a very important person in Major League Baseball. He owned the famous Pittsburgh Pirates team from 1900 until he passed away. He was so important that he was put into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008!
Barney Dreyfuss is often given credit for creating the modern World Series in baseball. He also built one of baseball's first modern stadiums, Forbes Field, in 1909. It was made of steel and concrete, which was very new at the time. While he owned the Pirates, the team won six National League championships. They also won the World Series twice, in 1909 and 1925.
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Early Life and Moving to America
Barney Dreyfuss was born in Freiburg, Germany, in 1865. He went to school there and later worked at a bank. When he was 16, in 1881, he moved to the United States. He wanted to avoid being forced to join the German Army. As a young Jewish person, he knew he wouldn't have many chances to move up in the military.
When he arrived in America, Barney lived and worked with the Bernheim family in Paducah, Kentucky. They were relatives of his father. In 1888, he moved with them to Louisville, Kentucky. Barney didn't know much English at first, but he learned very quickly. In just a few years, he went from being a clerk to an officer at Bernheim Brothers, a company that made a type of whiskey called bourbon.
Owning the Louisville Colonels
Barney Dreyfuss loved baseball. He showed his interest by organizing baseball teams for workers at the distillery. Then he started helping semi-pro teams around Louisville. In 1889, he used money from the growing business to buy a part of the Louisville Colonels baseball team. This team was in a league called the American Association.
The Colonels won their league championship in 1890. They beat the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, which is now known as the Los Angeles Dodgers. The American Association league ended in 1891. So, Dreyfuss moved the Colonels team into the National League.
One of his best decisions was hiring Harry Pulliam as his club secretary. Pulliam was a local city editor and a lawyer. He later became the team's president. Harry Pulliam also helped Barney learn English. Pulliam's biggest help to the Colonels was convincing Dreyfuss to sign a future Hall of Famer named Honus Wagner to the team.
For most of the 1890s, the Colonels were not a very good team. In 1899, Dreyfuss paid $50,000 to own the Colonels completely. But after the 1899 season, the National League decided to get rid of several teams. Dreyfuss then bought half of the Pittsburgh Pirates team. As part of this deal, he made sure that the best players from Louisville, like Honus Wagner, Fred Clarke, Tommy Leach, Deacon Phillippe, and Rube Waddell, would move to Pittsburgh. Harry Pulliam also went to the Pirates with Dreyfuss and became their president.
Leading the Pittsburgh Pirates
In Pittsburgh, Honus Wagner became the biggest star in the National League. The Pirates then won the National League championships in 1901, 1902, and 1903.
Creating the World Series
At this time, there was a big competition between the National League and a new league called the American League. Dreyfuss helped stop this competition in Pittsburgh. He knew that the two leagues needed to work together to be successful. In 1903, Dreyfuss helped create a peace agreement that recognized both leagues as major leagues. This agreement also set up one set of rules for both leagues. It also made agreements with smaller leagues and helped with scheduling games.
To celebrate this peace, Dreyfuss and Henry Killilea, the owner of the Boston Americans (now the Boston Red Sox), created the modern World Series. Even though Dreyfuss's Pirates lost to the Boston Americans 5 games to 3, the games were a huge success! Dreyfuss even added his own share of the money from ticket sales to the players' winnings.
Building Forbes Field
After the 1908 season, Dreyfuss decided that Pittsburgh needed a new, bigger stadium. The team's old field, Exposition Park, was made of wood. It was also so close to the Allegheny River that the outfield often flooded when it rained a lot.
Dreyfuss started building Forbes Field. The new stadium was built in the Oakland area of the city. It was named after John Forbes, a general who captured a fort in 1758 and renamed it Fort Pitt. Dreyfuss bought land near the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh with help from his friend, Andrew Carnegie. He chose low-priced land so he could spend more money on the stadium itself.
The site was first called "Dreyfuss's Folly" because it was a 10-minute trolley ride from downtown Pittsburgh. However, the area around the park grew, and people stopped criticizing it. Official records say Forbes Field cost $1 million to buy the land and build, but some people think it cost twice that much.
The new park opened on June 30, 1909. Dreyfuss shook hands with fans as they entered. Many important people were there, including the mayor of Pittsburgh. Even though the Pirates lost their first game at Forbes Field to the Chicago Cubs, they went on to win the 1909 World Series later that year! They beat the Detroit Tigers.
Pirates Success: 1910–1932
Barney Dreyfuss was involved in almost every decision for the Pirates. Under his leadership, the Pirates won two more National League championships. They also won the 1925 World Series against the Washington Senators. He helped fight off a rival league called the Federal League in 1914 and 1915. He also helped form a group that investigated a big cheating scandal in 1919, known as the Black Sox Scandal.
Dreyfuss also worked to get rid of "freak" pitches, like the spitball, to make the game fairer.
Pittsburgh Stars Football Team
In 1902, Barney Dreyfuss and another Pirates owner, William Chase Temple, were thought to be the secret owners of the Pittsburgh Stars. This was a professional American football team in the first National Football League. Both men said they had no connection to the team's money or ownership. The team's official owner, David Berry, said he owned the team alone. However, it seemed impossible for him to pay for the team without help from Temple or Dreyfuss. The Stars ended up winning the 1902 NFL championship.
Death and Legacy
Barney Dreyfuss passed away on February 5, 1932, in New York City. He was 66 years old. He was buried in West View Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the time of his death, he was the vice president of the National League. Many important people, including baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis and players like Honus Wagner, were honorary pallbearers at his funeral.
On June 30, 1934, a small stone monument to Dreyfuss was placed at Forbes Field. This was 25 years after the stadium opened. When the Pirates moved to Three Rivers Stadium in 1970, the monument moved with them. It is now at the Pirates' current field, PNC Park, behind home plate.
Barney Dreyfuss had planned for his son, Samuel, to take over the Pirates. However, Samuel died in 1931, a year before his father. Barney's wife, Florence, asked her son-in-law, William Benswanger, to become the president of the team. Benswanger ran the team until it was sold in 1946. This ended the Dreyfuss family's long history in baseball.
Barney Dreyfuss was recognized in the Honor Rolls of Baseball in 1946. He was later inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.
