Tuesday, December 04, 2007
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Courtesy of Pittsburgh Pirates
Barney Dreyfuss, principal owner of the Pirates franchise until 1932, also is credited with building Forbes Field. A ticket stub from the 1903 World Series at the old Exposition Park between the Pirates and Boston Americans. Boston won the series, five games to three.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It took more than a century, but the bold entrepreneur who guided the Pirates to their earliest glory finally was recognized with immortality.
Barney Dreyfuss, the franchise's owner from 1900 to 1932 and the man credited with creating Major League Baseball's World Series, was elected to the Hall of Fame yesterday by the Hall's Veterans Committee. He needed nine of 12 votes to gain election into the executives/pioneers category, and he received 10.
Former Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh, also on the Veterans Committee ballot, fell short. He needed 12 of 16 votes in the managers category and received six.
Committee voter Hal McCoy, longtime Cincinnati Reds beat writer for the Dayton Daily News, credited the Hall's research staff for Dreyfuss' selection.
"I can honestly tell you that, even as old as a lot of us are, hardly any of us in that room knew who Barney Dreyfuss was," Mr. McCoy said of the Sunday voting session at the Opryland Hotel. "But when we saw the bio they prepared for us ... every member was astounded by it. We'd all heard the name, but we didn't know how much he meant to the game."
Born in Germany in 1865, Mr. Dreyfuss left his homeland and family for the United States as a 19-year-old and settled in Kentucky in 1885, with no more than a fistful of dollars in his wallet. He worked six days a week at a distillery and began organizing baseball games there.
Believing he could make money off baseball, he joined other distillers in investing in the Louisville Colonels of the American Association, and by 1899 became their principal owner. That year, with the team in danger of folding because of changes in baseball's leagues, he instigated a merger with the Pirates. He became principal owner of the 14-year-old Pittsburgh franchise the next year.
Among the players Mr. Dreyfuss brought from Louisville to Pittsburgh as part of a complicated player-and-cash transaction was legendary shortstop Honus Wagner.
In 1903, a year in which the Pirates went 91-49 to win the National League title, Mr. Dreyfuss challenged the Boston Americans, champions of the American League, to a best-of-nine duel. Boston won, five games to three, and the World Series was born.
"To me, Mr. Dreyfuss' role in the World Series was enough right there," Mr. McCoy said. "But his whole body of work, if you take the time to go back that far, is amazing."
Mr. Dreyfuss was so taken by his players' efforts in that inaugural World Series that he gave them his portion of the gate proceeds, ensuring they would be paid more than the Boston players.
The Pirates won World Series championships in 1909 and 1925 under Mr. Dreyfuss, along with six league pennants. He remained owner and team president until his death Feb. 5, 1932, in New York. He is buried in West View Cemetery.
Mr. Dreyfuss is credited with the building of Forbes Field, which opened in 1909 at a cost of $2 million. Many at the time criticized the Pirates' move from 17,000-seat Exposition Park, close to the site of their current home, because it was too far from Downtown and because it was doubted that the sport could attract the nearly 40,000 fans that Forbes Field could hold. But Mr. Dreyfuss, still confident that money could be made from baseball and weary of Allegheny River floods, pressed ahead with the privately funded venture and immediately succeeded.
Mr. Dreyfuss also was seen as having a keen eye for baseball talent, unusual for owners in any sport in any era. John Heydler, a National League president in Mr. Dreyfuss' time, once said that Mr. Dreyfuss "discovered more great players than any man in the game, and his advice and counsel always were sought by his associates."
The other 12 Pirates in the Hall are Mr. Wagner, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Paul and Lloyd Waner, Max Carey, Bill Mazeroski, Arky Vaughan, Pie Traynor, Ralph Kiner, Kiki Cuyler and Fred Clarke.
"The Pirates are extremely thrilled that Barney Dreyfuss was elected to the Hall," current team president Frank Coonelly said. "Mr. Dreyfuss was a dynamic, innovative and extraordinarily competitive owner who built the Pirates into the dominant National League club at the turn of the century."
Mr. Coonelly added that the team had been hoping for two elections.
"We are deeply disappointed that Danny Murtaugh was not elected. Danny was one of the most successful managers in major-league history, and we continue to believe that he ultimately will be recognized as such by the Hall of Fame."
Election to the Hall of Fame can come two ways. The most common is by a vote from the Baseball Writers Association of America. The other is through the Veterans Committee, a collection of Hall of Famers, veteran writers, executives and historians. That group is charged with reviewing the candidacies of anyone who might have slipped through the process, particularly in the distant past. The first Hall of Fame class was inducted in 1936.
Former MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn and former Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley also were chosen in the executives/pioneers category. Dick Williams and Billy Southworth were chosen in the managers category. Manager Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey each missed by one vote.
Of the five inductees announced yesterday, only Mr. Williams is alive.
All will be inducted July 27 at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com.
First published on December 4, 2007 at 12:00 am
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