Barney Dreyfuss
He didn’t know what a baseball was. He never played the game. And, when he came to Kentucky from Germany, he hardly spoke English. But Barney Dreyfuss crafted a Baseball Hall of Fame legacy that literally changed America’s pastime.
When Barney Dreyfuss finally arrived in Pittsburgh with the remnants of his recently defunct Louisville Colonels baseball team, he had a vision and a pot of money from his Kentucky distilling business. He purchased the Pirates, moved some of “his” out-of-work players (like Honus Wagner) to his new team and promptly won six National League pennants, two World Series championships and helped build Forbes Field.
Barney was a natural. He understood the nature of the game, he connected with the fans, and he realized the value of unifying two competing leagues under one universal umbrella: A World Series. And that idea has made all the difference.
