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Barney Dreyfuss

Pittsburgh's Baseball Titan

Brian Martin author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:McFarland & Co Inc

Published:23rd Aug '21

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Barney Dreyfuss cover

A young German immigrant, Barney Dreyfuss was an American success story in business and in baseball. He fell in love with the game after settling in Paducah, Kentucky, where he discovered he had a knack for assembling good players on the diamond. Relocating to Louisville, he became involved in the professional game with the Colonels. Faced with ouster from the National League, he took his players to Pittsburgh, where he became owner of the Pirates and forged a winning tradition, leading the club to six pennants and two World Series.

This first biography of Dreyfuss chronicles the innovative career of the Hall of Famer executive who built Forbes Field--the National League's first concrete-and-steel ballpark, into which he put $1 million of his own money--pushed for creation of the office of commissioner to govern the game and helped initiate the modern World Series.

“What an absolute pleasure. It was delightful the way Brian Martin presented the life of Barney Dreyfuss, his Pittsburgh Pirates at the beginning of the 20th century, and his early organized baseball exploits so exactly and meticulously.”—Len Martin, creator, Forbes Field: Build-It-Yourself
“A needed contribution to baseball history....[T]he author makes a strong case for Dreyfuss as a powerful owner and a worthy Hall of Famer.”—Gabriel Schechter, author, Spanking the Yankees: 365 Days of Bronx Bummers
“In recent years there has been a welcome interest in the history of the business of baseball and those who have made significant contributions to the growth and development of the game.... These studies have tended to focus on the post-World War II period and generally neglect earlier eras. Brian Martin has made a major contribution to narrowing this gap with the first full length biography of Barney Dreyfuss, the Pittsburgh owner who helped transform the Pirates.... The reviewer recommends it highly.”—SABR Deadball Era Committee Newsletter
“A much-needed biography of the Hall of Fame pioneer, Pittsburgh Pirates owner and National League official and baseball magnate.”—The Inside Game

  • Runner-up for Larry Ritter Book Award—SABR 2022 (United States)

ISBN: 9781476679617

Dimensions: 254mm x 178mm x 12mm

Weight: 435g

241 pages