Paul O'Neill 1992 Upper Deck

On May 17, 2017 I received this card from the Baseball Card Bandit (BCB):

On Facebook, I wrote: The other day, after a few weeks off, the BCB sent over a new card. The postmark is from Boston and there's no note. It's been a year since the original BCB showed up (this one is a copycat) so it's nice to see this thing has been chugging along. 

Today's card is Paul O'Neill. You may remember him as the obnoxious, red ass Yankee who was never wrong about anything but before that he was a Cincinnati Red. He was sent to the Yankees in exchange for Roberto Kelly. 

These were the type of under-the-radar fleecings that New York used to make when they were focused on building a team. Anyway, by the time he played three games for New York, he became Asshole #1, on a team chock full of them. 

Here's 10 things about Paul O'Neill:

1. He was legit hilarious on his Seinfeld episode. 
2. New Yorkers loved calling him "Pauly", which ugh. 
3. He's actually a good color guy. 
4. If you loved Trot Nixon, you would have loved him on your team. 
5. His first two managers, Pete Rose and Lou Piniella, were the two biggest red asses in baseball history. That probably had something to do with his disposition. 
6. He won five rings. That's impressive. 
7. He made five All-Star Games. Also impressive. 
8. He pitched two innings in 1987. 
9. Led the league in hitting in the strike shortened 1994 season. 
10. According to BaseballRef, made over $51m in his career. 

So there's Paul O'Neill, the human embodiment of the Beastie Boys lyric, "One man's ceiling is another man's floor." A jerk on someone else's team but a lovable scrapper on yours.

2019 Update: I don't have a lot to say about this because I think that I did a pretty good job on the Facebook post. At this point it looks as if began concentrating more on the player rather than the BCB. 

Like I said, if you're a fan of the team that Paul O'Neill is on, he's one of your favorite players. It looks as if he gives a shit and I think that's what fans really want. They really like guys like Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Trout, ballplayers who make the game look a breeze. But they love guys like O'Neill who appear that they're giving 100% and for whom the game doesn't come as simple.

How can you get mad at a dude who's uniform is always dirty, is always diving around, who looks as if he played nine innings in the city dump (I will refrain from making the obvious Yankee Stadium joke here)? Especially compared to a player that seemingly glides along the outfield grass, who has a text-book perfect swing, who runs with grace and ease? Most fans identify more with an O'Neill type than the a Trout type because deep down, they know that that's who they are. 

But if Paul O'Neill isn't on your team, he's an asshole full of false hustle. A guy who knows he supremely talented but is fronting and pretending that he's a lunch pail guy. I don't know, the truth probably lies between the two point of views. I always thought he was an asshole.