Paul O’Neill, the fiery perfectionist who had an apt nickname – “The Warrior” – and a sweet lefty swing he often pantomimed while patrolling right field at Yankee Stadium, will have his No. 21 jersey retired by the Yankees on Sunday.
We’d love to say no water coolers will be harmed in the making of this ceremony, but with O’Neill, you never know. Just kidding, of course, though outbursts after outs were part of the O’Neill package.
So was immense baseball talent. He had a marvelous 17-year career in the game, nine of which came with the Yankees. In pinstripes, The Warrior batted .303 in 1,254 games with 185 home runs, 858 RBI and an .869 OPS. He was a four-time All-Star who hit .300-plus six times with the Yankees, smacked 20-plus homers five times and drove in 100-plus runs four times. In 1994, he led the AL with a .359 average.
Most of all, O’Neill burned to win and he enjoyed immense team success in his career. He won four World Series with the dynasty Yanks and five overall, including the 1990 World Series with the Reds.
SNY talked with some folks around the game about O’Neill and the conversation ranged from his glowering intensity and his musical talent to helpful hints to a teammate to how he worked the umpires.
Here’s Paul O’Neill, at a glance, via some of those who know him...
Joe Torre, former Yankees manager
“I always loved his passion, obviously. You’d hear the noise – bang, bang, boom (when O’Neill would pound a water cooler after a frustrating out). I used to say to him, ‘It’s all well and good, but if you hurt yourself and you can’t play, I’m going to kill you.’ Sometimes, he’d walk by, mumbling to himself. Paul O’Neill never blamed anybody else. It was always himself. One day, he was mumbling to himself about finding another job, and (bench coach Don) Zimmer said, ‘I have a guy in the cinderblock business in Cincinnati.’ And Paul looked back and barked at Zim. That was always a keeper for me. But Paul, he was there for you. In Game 5 of the World Series in 1996, (Jose) Cardenal was trying to get his attention in right field to move him over and he’s doing this (O’Neill was practicing his swing). I’m saying, ‘You’re not going to hit again. I hope.’ Finally, Jose got his attention and moved him over and he caught the ball for the last out.”
Bernie Williams, former Yankees teammate
“I’d usually have these conversations with him when we’d change pitchers and go to the bullpen. We’d talk strategy, about how we were going to defend a certain player and his most famous thing he’d tell me was ‘OK, I've got this little corner here, you’ve got the rest.’ Then I’d say ‘OK, but you have to throw it in for me.’” We also had music in common and we started jamming the first year he came in (1993). There was an old drum set in the old paint room that Mr. Ron Guidry had left. I remember Danny Cunningham from the grounds crew, he used to play through tapes or he’d turn on the radio and play the drums. One day, I was coming in to say hi to Danny and Paul was in there jamming a little bit and I said ‘Do you mind if I bring in my guitar?’ From that moment on, we jammed all the time – before BP, rain delays, before and after games. We’d look at each other and say, ‘Let’s go’ and we’d go and have the greatest time.”
Michael Kay, YES Network broadcaster
“My favorite memory of O'Neill is in the 1998 playoffs. I had to do a three-minute player interview on radio before each game that year. Whenever I would ask Paul he would bitch and moan. He would end up doing it, but complained constantly. Anyway, fast forward to the ALCS against Cleveland and the Yankees were down two games to one in the best-of-seven series. I was in the clubhouse, looking around to see who to grab for the three-minute hit when O’Neill grabbed my arm and said, ‘Let’s do this. We gotta change the luck here.’ Well, the Yanks won that game and Paul sought me out the next day and said, ‘Let’s do it again. Can’t change anything.’ Well, the Yanks won every game the rest of the way, including a four-game sweep of the Padres in the World Series and he insisted on doing the interview before every game. But, because he was still someone who liked to complain, I walked up to him before Game 4 of the World Series in San Diego and he threw his arms up in the air and said, ‘Ah man, we gotta do this again?’ I said, ‘Hey Paul, I’m good. I will go get someone else. You’re the one who is superstitious’ and I was walking away and he nervously said, ‘No. No. We gotta do it. We can’t change now.’ And that is Paul O'Neill.”
Tino Martinez, former Yankees teammate
“If he had two bad days – he never really went into slumps – he’d say to you, ‘Do you think I’ll ever get a hit again?’ And a lot of times, we’d just say ‘No, you’re not getting any more hits. You’re done.’ He’d just say, ‘Oh, alright, whatever.' Sure enough, he’d go out that day and get two or three hits. His consistency, to me, was so big – playing every day, playing hard every day. He was focused on every at-bat. He didn’t give one away. Sometimes as the season goes on, you give them away, but he always stuck to his game plan and that’s hard to do.”
Gene Monahan, the former longtime Yankees athletic trainer
“I love Paul O’Neill, just like all the players. But he was absolutely the worst patient I ever had in all my years with the Yankees, in 49 years of athletic training in baseball. He’d get dinged and banged up and he’d come in the next day, beat up, but if it was a hot pack or ice pack or machine, he would take it off and leave. He hated treatment. He didn’t have any desire to be in the athletic training room, except to say hello. He was the worst, but I admired that. He’d throw off whatever he had on and I’d look at Steve (Donohue, the current Yankees athletic trainer) and say, ‘What did he just do? I think he just left.’ I’ll always remember that play he made over his right shoulder, running full-speed, against Atlanta (to end Game 5 of the 1996 World Series). That was one of the most wonderful plays he ever made and he made a few. It was a tremendous defining moment. We don’t win if he doesn’t make that catch. Then in 1997, when we lost to Cleveland in the playoffs, he hit a ball off the top of the wall in Game 5 (with two out in the ninth inning and the Yankees trailing by a run) and got a double and got hurt. I ran out there and Joe (Torre) did, too. Paul had tears in his eyes and he apologized. It chokes me up to remember it. He apologized to Joe: ‘Skip, I thought it was going to go out.’ He felt terrible. He was crying. I’m thinking, ‘What a friggin’ trooper this guy is.’ It was just the three of us at second base, though of course, there were forty-something thousand people there, and he apologizes for it not going out. I sat up that night, thinking, ‘I can’t believe what I just saw.’ We didn’t win, but, to me, that meant everything.”
Shane Spencer, former Yankees teammate
“He helped me in a couple ways in my career. We were there early in Tampa, before spring training and we were working out and one of the coaches was hitting me fungos in the outfield. Paul asked me, ‘Hey, why do you guys do that? He said when guys are taking batting practice, you should be taking flies live off the bat instead.’ I became a better outfielder because of that. The second one is, I was really struggling one time at the old Yankee Stadium and I was watching video and he said, ‘What are you watching?’ I said, 'Man, I can’t figure out why I’m swinging at that pitch.’ He said, ‘You’re going to drive yourself crazy. Only watch the positive. Just watch your hits. Watch your hits over and over and over so you understand, hey, that’s where I’m comfortable.’ Then, obviously, his last game at Yankee Stadium (Game 5 of the 2001 World Series), I was in left field. They were chanting his name. I had goosebumps and I was about ready to cry. It was one of the loudest times the Stadium had ever been. The place was just rocking, shaking. It was really intense, for me, because he had helped me out so much, he was such a competitor. It was a special night.”