Steve O'Neill Marquee

b. July 6, 1891 · Cleveland Naps 1911–1914, Cleveland Indians 1915–1923, Boston Red Sox 1924, New York Yankees 1925, St. Louis Browns 1927–1928

Steve O'Neill caught for the Cleveland club that won the 1920 World Series, hitting .333 in it, and then had a second career that lasted longer than the first: fourteen seasons managing Cleveland, Detroit, Boston and Philadelphia, and a championship with the 1945 Tigers.

He caught 1,590 games across seventeen seasons, drawing 592 walks against very little power, and was regarded as one of the steadiest receivers of the dead-ball era. As a manager he never finished a full season below .500.

Born in Minooka, Pennsylvania in 1891 to an Irish mining family, O'Neill was one of four brothers who all reached the major leagues. He batted .263 across seventeen seasons as a player and died on January 26, 1962, at seventy.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
Baseball Magazine All-Star	5	1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1911	CLE	9	27	1	4	1	0	0	1	4	3	2	.148
1912	CLE	69	215	17	49	4	0	0	14	12	28	2	.228
1913	CLE	80	234	19	69	13	3	0	29	10	24	5	.295
1914	CLE	87	269	28	68	12	2	0	20	15	35	1	.253
1915	CLE	121	386	32	91	14	2	2	34	26	41	2	.236
1916	CLE	130	378	30	89	23	0	0	29	24	33	2	.235
1917	CLE	129	370	21	68	10	2	0	29	41	55	2	.184
1918	CLE	114	359	34	87	8	7	1	35	48	22	5	.242
1919	CLE	125	398	46	115	35	7	2	47	48	21	4	.289
1920	CLE	149	489	63	157	39	5	3	55	69	39	3	.321
1921	CLE	106	335	39	108	22	1	1	50	57	22	0	.322
1922	CLE	133	392	33	122	27	4	2	65	73	25	2	.311
1923	CLE	113	330	31	82	12	0	0	50	64	34	0	.248
1924	BOS	106	307	29	73	15	1	0	38	63	23	0	.238
1925	NYY	35	91	7	26	5	0	1	13	10	3	0	.286
1927	SLB	74	191	14	44	7	0	1	22	20	6	0	.230
1928	SLB	10	24	4	7	1	0	0	6	8	0	0	.292
Career	—	1590	4795	448	1259	248	34	13	537	592	414	30	.263

On this day & linked events

1891

Born July 6, 1891

Minooka, PA, USA

1962

Died January 26, 1962

1911

Major-league debut: Steve O'Neill

Steve O'Neill made a major-league debut on September 18, 1911.

1928

Final major-league game: Steve O'Neill

Steve O'Neill played a final major-league game on September 14, 1928.

Image: The Sporting News via [1], public domain