Paul ONeill baseball player
Paul Andrew O'Neill (born February 25, 1963 in Columbus, Ohio) is a former Major League Baseball player for the Cincinnati Reds (1987-1992) and New York Yankees (1993-2001).
O'Neill was well-known for his passion and emotion on the field, often teeing off on water coolers after strikeouts and other weak at bats. While that behavior was criticized by the media, it helped endear him to the vast number of hardcore Yankee fans as a successor to Don Mattingly's status as a fan favorite. He is often cited as a "warrior," because of his passion for winning and ability to excel in the face of adversity.
With his clutch play O'Neill was a key contributor to the New York Yankee dynasty, capturing the World Series in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000). He also helped win the championship in 1990 when the Cincinnati Reds swept the heavily favored Oakland Athletics.
In a 17 year career, O'Neill compiled a lifetime batting average of .288, 281 home runs, 1,269 runs batted in, and 2,105 hits.
O'Neill won the American League batting title in 1994 with a .359 average. He was one of only three Yankees between 1960 and 2004 to win a batting title, along with Bernie Williams in 1998 and Don Mattingly in 1984. He was also a five-time All-Star, playing in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, and 1998.
O'Neill is the only player in Major League Baseball history to play on the winning side of three perfect games—pitched by Tom Browning, David Wells, and David Cone—and is the oldest major leaguer to hit more than 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in a season, a feat he accomplished in 2001. One of Paul`s best moments as a player was when in Game 5 of the 2001 World Series, with the Yankees down by 2 runs, the entire crowd chanted "Paul O'Neill, Paul O'Neill". O`Neill, with tears in his eyes, tipped his cap on the way back to the dugout. As of 2005, O'Neill is a studio analyst for the [[YES Network].
O'Neill guest-starred as himself in an episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Wink." His storyline involved a parody of a scene from the 1942 Lou Gehrig biopic The Pride of the Yankees, in which Gehrig promises to hit two home runs in a single game to cheer up a crippled boy whom he visits in the hospital.
Statistics
Height: 6-4 Weight: 215 Bats: L Throws: L Born: February 25, 1963, Columbus, OH College: Otterbein College (OH) Draft: None
Batting Last 3 years Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS 1999 NYY 153 597 70 170 39 4 19 110 66 89 11 9 .285 .353 .459 .812 2000 NYY 142 566 79 160 26 0 18 100 51 90 14 9 .283 .336 .424 .760 2001 NYY 137 510 77 136 33 1 21 70 48 59 22 3 .267 .330 .459 .789 Career 2053 7318 1041 2105 451 21 281 1269 892 1166 141 73 .288 .363 .470 .833
