The ball went screaming into the sunny Florida sky, and for one perfect moment, the Yankees allowed themselves to forget this was an exhibition game against the Phillies. All that mattered was Paul O'Neill slugging a long home run against Randy Wolf, reminding the Bombers of a swing that once was among the purest and most feared in the American League.
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| 1999 SEASON STATISTICS |
| HR |
RBI |
AVG |
R |
OBP |
SLG |
| 19 |
110 | .285 |
70 | .353 |
.459 | |
|
There's no need to ask O'Neill what happened to his bat speed and self-confidence in 1999, because any amateur therapist could have linked O'Neill's on-field slump with his father's prolonged struggle with heart disease. For the first time in his seven years with the Yankees, O'Neill slipped under .300, and his on-base and slugging percentages fell to Yankee lows as well.
O'Neill is now 37, but he insists age wasn't the problem. Instead, it was the constant worry that his father, who was 79 when he entered the hospital, wouldn't survive. That fear accompanied O'Neill to the plate all summer, especially in his at-bats against left-handers -- against whom he batted only .190.
That was the American League's lowest average against lefties for batters with at least 250 plate appearances, and even though O'Neill talks about "never getting comfortable" in 1999, and having, "one of those years where you never feel good at the plate," it's obvious O'Neill's mind was elsewhere.
"I have to admit, the World Series was like a blur to me. I don't remember much," O'Neill said. Indeed, his emotional struggle lasted all the through the four-game sweep of the Braves, right until the morning of Game 4, when Chick O'Neill died. While America watched the Yankees celebrate their third world championship in four years, O'Neill cried into Joe Torre's shoulder.
Today, O'Neill says he's stronger, more focused, past the worst of his grief. The Yankees have every reason to believe him, since he was batting .369 in the Bombers' otherwise dismal spring, including that home run off the left-handed Wolf. With a 5-16 record through Sunday, George Steinbrenner isn't happy about much, but at least O'Neill is making pitchers respect him again.
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O'Neill with the Yankees
|
|
Year
|
HR
|
RBI
|
Avg.
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
|
'93
|
20
|
75
|
.311
|
.367
|
.504
|
|
'94
|
21
|
83
|
.359
|
.460
|
.600
|
|
'95
|
22
|
96
|
.300
|
.387
|
.526
|
|
'96
|
19
|
91
|
.302
|
.411
|
.474
|
|
'97
|
21
|
117
|
.324
|
.399
|
.514
|
|
'98
|
24
|
116
|
.317
|
.372
|
.510
|
|
'99
|
19
|
110
|
.285
|
.353
|
.459
|
Still, there are little reminders of his loss -- anywhere, everywhere. O'Neill's father was a former minor-leaguer and Paul's high school coach, which means the ballpark itself is a link to his father's memory.
Being home with the family is even harder.
Just last week, O'Neill was watching TV with his kids, tuning in to the movie "Message in a Bottle." The choice seemed innocent enough, until a scene between Paul Newman and Kevin Costner, father and son, flashed across the screen.
O'Neill got up and left the room, because, as he put it, "I just couldn't watch it. The two of them were arguing and it was too much for me."
A few days later, O'Neill was making breakfast for his kids, ages 10, seven and four, when he was floored by another flashback.
"I'm making pancakes, just about to flip one, and I turn around and I see the kids looking up at me, waiting," O'Neill said. "I'm thinking, 'This is exactly what my dad used to do for me.' It came out of nowhere. It's little things like that, that make me miss him."
O'Neill isn't ashamed to feel this void, a grown man still so easily reduced to tears. He says it speaks to the kind of upbringing "that I want my kids to have, too. I want them to have the same values about their parents that I did."
That code of behavior is the foundation of O'Neill's almost obsessive desire to win. As David Cone once said of the right fielder, "He's so locked in, it's scary." O'Neill is the first to admit to his excesses, though, and says there's no excuse for the helmets he's slammed, the bats he's broken and the water coolers he's sent to an early grave.
Still, the Yankees have been a better team since O'Neill arrived in 1993 from the Reds in exchange for Roberto Kelly. With the exception of last season, when he batted .285, O'Neill has hit .300 every season, and was the AL's leading hitter in 1994, batting .359 at the time of the strike.
His average has dropped in each of the last three seasons, but O'Neill has still driven in 100 runs in each year, and still has a .312 average as a Yankee. If O'Neill is right about his re-birth, it removes an enormous question from the 2000 landscape, since he, David Cone and Roger Clemens are all 37, fighting the aging process.
Joe Torre says he has "no doubt whatsoever" O'Neill will return to his pre-1999 form, although there are some in the AL who aren't so sympathetic. Last week, Boston's Carl Everett bluntly said, "O'Neill's done. No one worries about O'Neill anymore.
"I hate to say it, because he's a good guy and still a good player ... but he's had his time."
O'Neill and the Yankees aren't retaliating -- not on the record, anyway. They take Everett's comments for what they probably are, leftover bitterness from a prospect who was left unprotected by the Bombers in the 1992 expansion draft.
But O'Neill, whose contract expires after this season, wouldn't mind hanging around another year or two, just to enjoy a private laugh on Everett.
"We'll see how I start out," O'Neill said. "All I know is I'm feeling pretty comfortable at the plate. It's definitely getting better."
Step by step. One at-bat at a time for a player who isn't ashamed to say he misses his dad.
"This is the hardest thing I've ever had to face in my life," O'Neill said. "Hopefully, it get easier, little by little."
Bob Klapisch of the Bergen (N.J.) Record writes his baseball column each Monday for ESPN.com. | |
ALSO SEE
ESPN.com's spring training 2000 coverage
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