In Paul O’Neill’s seventeen-year career, he hit an average of 22 home runs a year while driving in 100 runners across home plate, but that is not what he is known for. For nine years during the New York Yankees dynasty years, he was the fierce warrior that guarded the right field at the old Yankee Stadium.
Paul Andrew O’Neill was born in Columbus, Ohio, on February 25, 1963, one of six children of which he was the youngest. When Paul O’Neill was five years old, the family moved into a larger house that had a large, grass-covered and tree-shaded backyard that was a perfect template for a makeshift baseball field, where the children spent hours playing pickup games and competing in home run contests.