Barney Dreyfuss  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 was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008. Dreyfuss 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. 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 father's sister, Friedericke who married Leon Bernheim, the father of Isaac Wolf 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. 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, Dreyfuss moved the Colonels into the National League.