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Tip O'Neill (Baseball)

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Baseball Player

The Resume

    (May 15, 1860-December 31, 1915)
    Born in Springfield, Ontario, Canada
    Birth name was James Edward O’Neill
    Pitcher turned outfielder
    Played for the New York Gothams (1883), St. Louis Browns (1884-89,1891), Chicago Pirates (1890), and Cincinnati Reds (1892)
    .326 batting average
    American Association Triple Crown winner (1887)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was originally credited with an inflated .492 batting average in 1887, because bases on balls were recorded as hits. (Although his adjusted batting average, .435, is still the second best for a season.)
    His triple crown often goes unrecognized since it was set in the American Association instead of the NL or AL.
    He became a racetrack bookie after leaving baseball.
    For some reason, a lot of ballplayers named O’Neill in the 19th and early 20th century went by the nickname ‘Tip,’ resulting in a fair amount of confusion. (For example, this Tip noted that newspapers twice mistakenly ran his obituary after the deaths of other Tip O’Neills.)

Why he might not be annoying:

    He set eight season records (since broken) in 1887: for batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, most hits, most runs scored,, most doubles, most extra base hits, and most total bases.
    He was nicknamed Canada’s Babe Ruth.’
    He was an inaugural member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame (1983).
    The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame named its annual award for best Canadian baseball player after him.
    Future Speaker of the House Thomas P. O’Neill was nicknamed ‘Tip’ after him.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying