Professional baseball player Tip O'Neill (baseball)

1 professional baseball player

1.1 minor leagues
1.2 new york gothams
1.3 st. louis browns

1.3.1 1884 season
1.3.2 1885 season
1.3.3 1886 season
1.3.4 1887 season
1.3.5 1888 season
1.3.6 1889 season


1.4 chicago pirates
1.5 return st. louis
1.6 cincinnati reds
1.7 career statistics

professional baseball player
minor leagues

in 1875, o neill began playing organized baseball in woodstock, ontario, canada, , became known woodstock wonder. traveled barnstorming teams. in 1881, reportedly played in detroit, , in 1882, played new york metropolitans in league alliance.

new york gothams

o neill made major league debut on may 5, 1883, pitcher new york gothams (later renamed giants) of national league. shortly after major league debut, sporting life wrote: o neill, new york change pitcher, seems have 1 element of effectiveness in delivery, viz.: fast , slow. weak reliance nowadays, batsmen have note speed of ball , wait one. o neill s delivery wild , erratic -- hard work catcher , busy work field. o neill appeared in 19 games starting pitcher gothams , compiled win–loss record of 5–12 , 4.07 earned run average (era).

st. louis browns
1884 season

o neill played teams managed charlie comiskey (pictured) every year 1884–1892.

in 1884, o neill joined charlie comiskey s st. louis browns (later renamed cardinals) of american association. signed comiskey replace pitcher tony mullane, left browns after 1883 season. o neill compiled 11–4 win-loss record 2.68 era , led league .733 winning percentage pitcher. however, arm reportedly went on him during 1884 season, requiring him switch pitching playing in outfield. ended playing 64 games outfielder in 1884 , exclusively outfielder thereafter.

1885 season

in 1885, o neill missed of season, suffering injury on june 10 , not returning lineup until september 3. despite injury, o neill established himself browns best batter, hitting .350 in 52 games, 80 points higher other player on team. 1885 browns won american association pennant 79-33 record , tied chicago white stockings in 1885 world series. o neill scored 4 runs hit .208 in first world series.

1886 season

o neill played first full season position player in 1886 , became 1 of valuable players in baseball. appeared in 138 games, outfielder, , led league 107 runs batted in (rbis). among league leaders .328 batting average (5th), .385 on-base percentage (5th), .440 slugging percentage (6th), 190 hits (2nd), 255 total bases (2nd), 45 base hits (5th), , 4.9 wins above replacement (war) rating (2nd among position players).

o neill s hitting helped lead browns american association pennant 93-46 record. team went on defeat chicago white stockings of national league in 1886 world series. o neill hit .400 .500 on-base percentage, 5 runs scored, 5 rbis, 2 home runs , 2 stolen bases in world series.

1887 season

in 1887, o neill rewrote major league batting record book in 124 games. year, won american association triple crown .435 batting average, 14 home runs , 123 rbis. batting average recorded @ .492, bases on balls having been counted hits during season. @ time of death in 1915, unadjusted .492 average recorded highest in major league history. subsequently, batting averages 1887 season adjusted removing bases on balls calculations. after adjustment, o neill s 1887 batting average of .435 major league record until 1894 when hugh duffy established current major league record hitting .440. o neill s adjusted average 1887 remains second highest single season batting average in major league history.

o neill s batting performance in 1887 established new single season, major league records in @ least 7 other categories, including highest on-base percentage (.490), slugging percentage (.691), hits (225), runs scored (167), doubles (52), , base hits (84), , total bases (357). led position players across major league baseball in 1887 6.9 war rating.

o neill s hitting in 1887 helped lead browns third consecutive american association pennant 95-40 record. browns lost 1887 world series detroit wolverines, o neill hit .200 in 65 @ bats against detroit s pitching in world series.

1888 season

in 1888, o neill won second consecutive american association batting title hitting .335. ranked among league leaders in multiple hitting categories third consecutive year .390 on-base percentage (2nd), .446 slugging percentage (3rd), 177 hits (1st), 236 total bases (3rd), 98 rbis (4th), , 225 times on base (3rd).

with o neill again leading club in hitting, browns won fourth consecutive pennant in 1888 92-43 record. browns lost 1888 world series new york giants, though o neill compiled .349 on-base percentage 8 runs, 11 rbis , 2 home runs in final world series.

1889 season

baseball card of o neill, c. 1889

o neill had fifth consecutive strong season batter in 1889. appeared in 134 games in outfield , compiled .335 batting average, second highest in american association. again ranked among league leaders in multiple batting categories .419 on-base percentage (4th), .478 slugging percentage (4th), 179 hits (4th), 255 total bases (3rd), 33 doubles (4th), 9 home runs (5th), 110 rbis (3rd), , 50 base hits (3rd). browns compiled 90-45 record in 1889 finished in second place, 2 games behind brooklyn bridegrooms.

in o neill s first 6 seasons browns 1884 1889, appeared in 656 games, scored 585 runs, compiled war rating of 22.5, , hit .347 .407 on-base percentage, .498 slugging percentage, 925 hits, , 538 rbis. during 6 seasons, browns dominant hitter , helped club win 4 pennants , compile record of 516 wins , 247 losses.

chicago pirates

o neill followed charlie comiskey players league in 1890, appearing in 137 games outfielder comiskey s chicago pirates. hit .302 in players league .377 on-base percentage. led league in games played , ranked second 647 plate appearances , seventh 174 hits , 244 times on base.

return st. louis

o neill followed comiskey browns in 1891. appeared in 127 games in outfield , among league leaders .323 batting average (3rd), .404 on-base percentage (6th), .451 slugging percentage (8th), 166 hits (6th), 232 total bases (6th), 28 doubles (3rd), 10 home runs (4th), 95 rbis (6th) , 42 base hits (8th).

cincinnati reds

in 1892, charlie comiskey jumped cincinnati reds of national league, , o neill again followed comiskey. in 9 of ten years of o neill s career, played on teams managed comiskey. o neill appeared in 109 games outfielder reds in 1892. @ start of spring training, ban johnson, cincinnati correspondent sporting news, expressed hope o neill reds pennant: tip o neill big, hearty , strong, , gives promise of doing great things club in near-approaching campaign pennant honors. however, batting average in 1892 dropped 72 points prior season .251, lowest season since rookie year pitcher in 1883. o neill began season slow, in mid-may, comiskey expressed confidence o neill come old form after while. following month, new york sun reported o neill 1 of frequent recipients of comiskey s mid-game lecture, without curtain. mid-july, sporting life reported: tip o neill has lately been playing poorly cincinnati cranks have soured on him. appeared in last major league game on august 30, 1892, @ age 34.

in december 1892, comiskey told sporting news o neill had left club without permission , had not been heard since. however, comiskey added: if can play ball me did @ st. louis should have him. last year tip in poor health, , reason assigned weak stick work.

career statistics

over 10 major league seasons, o neill appeared in 1,052 games (1,022 outfielder) , made 4,712 plate appearances , compiled .326 batting average, .392 on-base percentage, , .458 slugging percentage. totaled 879 runs scored, 1,385 hits, 222 doubles, 92 triples, 52 home runs, 757 rbis, 161 stolen bases, 420 bases on balls, , 1,947 total bases.

o neill 1 of 15 players in baseball history have won major league baseball triple crown. of 14 triple crown winners eligible baseball hall of fame (miguel cabrera not yet eligible), o neill , paul hines 2 have not been inducted. @ end of 2013 season, o neill s .326 career batting average 36th highest in major league history. of 35 players higher career batting averages o neill, 5 eligible players (dave orr [.342], pete browning [.341], jake stenzel [.337], riggs stephenson [.336] , mike donlin [.332]) have not been inducted baseball hall of fame.