Barney Dreyfuss, a little man with big ideas, was the brain behind the first World Series in 1903.
The owner of the Pirates, Dreyfuss had the foresight to gauge the public interest in a postseason series between the champions of the National League and American League.
A German immigrant who had honed his acumen in the Kentucky whiskey business, he saw the possibilities of generating money.
Perhaps it's no surprise that when the Pirates left town Sept. 28, 1903, they didn't go straight to Boston for the start of what the newspapers called the series for the world's championship. Their train first stopped in Buffalo for an extra payday. Star shortstop Honus Wagner had two triples and a single in a 9-1 exhibition win against the minor-league Bisons.
Then it was on to Boston and the first three games of the Series against the Americans, who were sometimes referred to as the Pilgrims or Puritans. It wasn't until later that decade that this American League team became the Red Sox.
The Pirates checked into the Hotel Vendrome the morning of Sept. 30, and the place was abuzz with activity, most of it wagering, some of which was chronicled in the papers.
In small bylined stories in the Pittsburg Press, Pirates player/manager Fred Clarke declared, "They will have to beat us before we squeal. The boys are game to the core," and his counterpart, Boston's Jimmy Collins, wrote, "I am as confident of taking this series from Pittsburg as I am of the fact that I am alive."
Oct. 1 was mild and cloudy. A well-dressed crowd of 16,242 from all parts and classes of Boston filled Huntington Avenue Base Ball Grounds for the opening game. With that many people, the outfield area that would now be called the warning track was roped off for the fans. The boys who sold scorecards also sold boxes for the standing-room outfield crowds to climb on for a better view.
Umpires Hank O'Day of the NL and Tommy Connolly of the AL (that's twice the number of umps who worked regular-season games) met at the plate with Clarke and Collins. They decided that any ball hit into the outfield crowd would be a ground-rule triple.
Other than that, and the pitchers' ability to doctor the ball, the basic rules of baseball were identical to the game today. The distances between the bases and from the pitcher's mound to the plate were the same. Hits were recorded in the same way. Runs were scored in the same manner.
The biggest difference was in the equipment. Players used much flimsier gloves and left them on the field when they were batting, and it was the dead-ball era, when the ball was harder to clout. Fans had to return balls hit into the stands, and only a few balls were used per game, so they became soggy and grimy and didn't travel well.
"Any of us that went to those games would say, 'Oh, yeah, that's baseball,'" said Roger Abrams, who wrote "The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903," one of three recently published books about the first World Series.
"There were just a couple of things -- the umpires used no signals, so you would have to guess the count. The game began with a gong. And the ump looked at the pitcher and said, 'Play,' not 'Play ball.'"
The Pirates played ball quickly that game, scoring four runs on Boston ace Cy Young in the top of the first inning with two outs on their way to a 7-3 win. Third baseman Tommy Leach's triple, Wagner's run-scoring single, a wild throw by catcher Lou Criger and a two-run single by right fielder Claude Ritchey highlighted the inning.
The Pirates scored single runs in the third, fourth and seventh. Deacon Phillippe outpitched Young, working a shutout for six innings and striking out 10.
The Americans tied the series with a 3-0 win the next game when Bill Dinneen, a 21-game winner during the regular season, pitched a three-hitter. Left fielder Patsy Dougherty's two home runs were all the offense Boston needed.
In the third game in as many days, the Pirates took a 2-1 Series lead with a 4-2 win in a wild game at Huntington Grounds. A crowd listed at 18,801 but perhaps larger, swarmed onto the field before the start of the game and surrounded the infield. Someone even swiped second base.
Security was overwhelmed, and the players had to grab their bats to help push back the throng. Jacob C. Morse, writing for the Pittsburg Press, noted that Boston outfielder Chick Stahl and a police officer had to rescue two women near third base when they were nearly stampeded.
Two headlines in the Press read, "Heads cracked by excited officers" and "Water hose failed to clear field -- women in danger of death rescued by the Diamond Stars."
There were still fans encroaching on the outfielders throughout the game. Various accounts said five hits by the Pirates that game would have been certain outs if not for the fans on the field. Phillippe came back on one day of rest to give up just two runs on four hits.
The Series then switched to Pittsburg and Exposition Park, which was on the North Shore, then part of Allegheny City, across from the industrial and smoky Point.
After the demolition of Three Rivers Stadium, members of the Forbes Field chapter of SABR -- Society for American Baseball Research -- surveyed the area and marked the bases of Exposition Park, not far from where the Pirates and Red Sox will meet for the first time in a century when they open a three-game interleague series tomorrow night at PNC Park.
Exposition Park was in what is now Gold Lot 2 between PNC Park and Heinz Field, although it sat much lower, leaving it prone to flooding from the Allegheny River. In fact, Game 4 of the Series slated for Pittsburg was delayed a day until Oct. 6 because of sloppy field conditions.
Home plate, the bases and the pitching rubber are now painted on the asphalt not far from the intersection of General Robinson and Tony Dorsett, which is roughly where the ticket booth and entrance were. The left-field line ran toward the river, the right-field line toward where the Carnegie Science Center is now.
Fans as well-dressed as those in Boston, men in suits and bowlers, arrived by train, trolley and carriage at the wooden park, which had an expansive and poorly manicured field and no real amenities by today's standards. There was no power. Lineups were announced by a man with a megaphone, and games were played at 3 p.m.. There were men's rooms but none for the ladies. The Pirates had a clubhouse with indoor plumbing, but the visiting team dressed at its hotel and arrived in a wagon. Sarsaparilla, not beer, was the popular beverage sold.
"You would have to say it was a lousy place to play," Abrams said, "but as fans, you were close to the action."
Nonetheless, it was home for the Pirates, and they were feeling pretty good after scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh and holding on for a 5-4 win in Game 4 for a 3-1 Series lead. Phillippe picked up his third win in six days. The Pirates pounded Dinneen for 12 hits, and Leach had a run-scoring single and a two-run double.
The Pirates needed just two more wins to claim the best-of-nine series.
Tomorrow: Boston rebounds as Wagner wilts.
Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.
Pirates' owner took swing at idea to make money 
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