Barney Dreyfuss

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Barney Dreyfuss bigraphy, stories - baseball executive

Barney Dreyfuss : biography

February 23, 1865 – February 5, 1932

Bernhard "Barney" Dreyfuss (February 23, 1865 – February 5, 1932) was an executive in Major League Baseball who owned the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise from 1900 to his death.

He is often credited with the creation of the modern baseball World Series. He also built one of baseball’s first modern steel and concrete baseball parks, Forbes Field, in 1909. During his period of ownership, the Pirates won six National League pennants and World Series titles in 1909 and 1925; only the New York Giants won more NL championships (10) during the same period.

Early years

Dreyfuss was born in Freiburg, Grand Duchy of Baden in 1865. He attended school in Freiburg and later worked in a bank in nearby Karlsruhe. At the age of 16, he emigrated in 1881 to the US to escape conscription into the German Army. At the time, his prospects of being drafted into the military was high, and as a young Jew, his potential for advancement there was low. Dreyfuss’s father, Samuel Dreyfuss (1832-1896), was actually an American citizen since 1861, who had returned to Germany at the outbreak of the Civil War. Samuel Dreyfuss had made a fortune selling spirits to the Native Americans.

Once in America, Barney Dreyfuss lived and worked with the Bernheim family in Paducah, Kentucky. The Bernheims were relatives of his grandfather, Leon Bernheim. In 1888, he moved with the Bernheim family to Louisville, Kentucky. Dreyfuss arrived knowing little English, but he became a quick learner. In just a few years, he rose from being a clerk to an officer of Bernheim Brothers, the creator of I. W. Harper bourbon.

Legacy

A small stone monument to Dreyfuss was eventually installed in straightaway center field at Forbes Field. When the Pirates moved to Three Rivers Stadium in 1970, the monument was brought along and displayed in the stadium concourse. The monument has since been moved to the Pirates’ current field, PNC Park, located on the concourse behind home plate.

Dreyfuss was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008 following his election by the Veterans Committee.

Louisville Colonels

Dreyfuss enjoyed the game of baseball. He fueled his interest by organizing amateur baseball teams first for the distillery workers, then semi-pro clubs around Louisville. In 1889 the distillery expanded into larger quarters of Louisville. Dreyfuss quickly used the increased profits to buy a piece of the Louisville Colonels of the American Association. The team won the league pennant in 1890 against the Brooklyn Bridegrooms (today’s Los Angeles Dodgers). However, the American Association fell apart in 1891. As a result, Dreyfess moved the Colonels into the National League.

One of his best decisions was hiring a local city editor and educated lawyer, Harry Clay Pulliam, to serve as his club secretary; he later appointed Pulliam president. When Dreyfess immigrated to America, it was Pulliam who taught him how to speak English. However Pulliam’s greatest contribution to Colonels occurred when he convinced Dreyfuss to sign future Hall of Famer Honus Wagner to the team.

For much of the 1890s, the Colonels were in last place in the National League. In 1899, Dreyfess paid $50,0000 to acquire full ownership of the Colonels. By this time, however, the National League contracted several teams after the 1899 season and Dreyfuss purchased a half-interest in the Pittsburgh Pirates. As part of the deal, he negotiated the transfer of the best Louisville players, namely Wagner, Fred Clarke, Tommy Leach, Deacon Phillippe, and Rube Waddell to Pittsburgh. To pull off this deal, Dreyfuss accepted an option to purchase an interest in the Pirates, then traded the best of the Colonel’s players to the Pirates; he then used this leverage to buy out his partners. The Colonels’ president, Harry Pulliam, also left for the Pirates with Dreyfuss and became the team’s president.

Pittsburgh Stars

In 1902, Dreyfuss and Pittsburgh Pirates minority owner William Chase Temple were suspected of being the secret owners to the Pittsburgh Stars, a professional American football team in the first National Football League. Both men denied any connection to the Stars’ finances, as well as being the team’s true owners. While the team’s owner on paper, David Berry, insisted that he was the team’s sole owner, it was impossible for him to afford the money to finance the team without the backing of Temple or Dreyfuss. The Stars would go on to win the 1902 NFL championship.*