This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/22/2019
One of baseball's original pioneers, Barney Dreyfuss was the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1900-1932, built one of the first modern steel and concrete ballparks in Forbes Field in 1909 and is credited with the creation of the modern baseball World Series. During his ownership, the Pittsburgh Pirates won six National League pennants and two World Series titles, 1909 and 1925. The offered piece of baseball history is a three-page letter on Official Pittsburgh Pirates stationery, addressed to Pirates player/manager and Hall of Famer Fred Clarke and dated October 28th, 1910, just a few weeks after the Bucs concluded their season with an 86-67 record and a 3rd place finish. Several subjects are touched upon in the typewritten letter, most notably a Philadelphia-Cincinnati trade deal that fell apart and possible trade deals for the Pirates, wanting to rid the team of "crazy or drunk" Jack (Dots) Miller, hearing bad news about John (Honus) Wagner, some rather off-color language describing John McGraw, predicting Philadelphia's wipeout of the Cubs in the World Series due to the Chicago team's "boozing and in other ways carrying on," possibilities of waiving specific players and attempting to sign others that were available, and other interesting stories, mentioning (Deacon) Phillippe and (Max) Carey by name. The letter concludes with a stunning black fountain pen signature of Barney Dreyfuss, clean and perfectly delivered. A truly interesting perspective from one baseball legend to another. Full LOA from JSA.