1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #87 Steve O'Neill MG

Sunday, August 21, 2022

#87 Steve O'Neill MG - Cleveland Indians

Stephen Francis O'Neill

Cleveland Indians

Manager

Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5'10" Weight: 165

Born: July 6, 1891, Minooka, PA

Major League Teams: Cleveland Naps 1911-1914; Cleveland Indians 1915-1923; Boston Red Sox 1924; New York Yankees 1925; St. Louis Browns 1927-1928

World Series Appearances: Cleveland Indians 1920; Detroit Tigers 1945

As a Manager: Cleveland Indians 1935-1937; Detroit Tigers 1943-1948; Boston Red Sox 1950-1951; Philadelphia Phillies 1952-1954

Died: January 26, 1962, Cleveland, OH (70)

As a player, Steve O'Neill was the primary catcher for the Indians for over a decade, playing steady defense and using a strong throwing arm to catch would-be base stealers. His career year of 1920 coincided with the Indians winning the American League pennant and ultimately defeating the Brooklyn Robins in that year's World Series. O'Neill batted .321 in a career-high 149 games that season and batted .333 (7 for 21) in the seven-game World Series. He'd finish sixth in MVP voting in 1922, batting .311 with a career-high 65 RBIs. O'Neill led all catchers in double plays in five seasons, and his 198 double plays rank second all-time. He led the league in runners caught stealing three times, and his career total of 937 runners caught is currently 13th all-time.

Following his playing days, O'Neill began managing in the minor leagues in 1929 and was named the Indians' manager in 1935. In 14 big league seasons at the helm of the Indians, Tigers, Red Sox and Phillies, he never had a losing record and he guided the Tigers to a 1945 World Championship title. O'Neill's career managerial record was 1,040-821, and he's one of 12 major league managers to have won 1,000 games without also losing 1,000 games. He was one of 10 inaugural members inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 1951, along with Earl Averill (#35), Tris Speaker and Cy Young.

Building the Set

August 5, 2022 from Tomball, TX (The Battersbox) - Card #59

I got an itch for some vintage baseball cards in late July, as I hadn't added any new cards to our 1965 Topps set since May or my Diamond Stars set since June. Taking advantage of some discounts offered at The Battersbox online store, I settled on a relatively pricey Ernie Lombardi (#36) card along with this O'Neil card. Also arriving in the package was the 1965 Topps Willie Stargell card, which gets us down to needing just seven cards before that set is completed.

I'm now officially half-way through completing the Diamond Stars set, with 59 cards in hand and 59 more cards needed. That tally includes all 108 cards in the base set, along with ten notable variations. I've got a lot of big ticket cards to go before I complete the set, and I may try to add one of those before the year is out.

Variations Available

1 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1936 copyright

The Card / Indians Team Set

He's touted as "one of the great catchers of all time" on the back of the card, yet National Chicle still spelled his last name wrong, using only one "L." The back of the card contains a brief recent history of the Cleveland franchise, noting O'Neill was replacing Walter Johnson as the team's manager. O'Neill is credited as helping pitchers Stanley Coveleski (misspelled Coveleskie) and Duster Mails while serving as their catcher, and it's also pointed out he was on the Speaker managed team that won the pennant in 1920. The last line is prescient, as the Yankees and Tigers both finished ahead of the Indians in the standings in 1936.

1936 Season

O'Neill's Indians team finished in fifth place in the American League with a 80-74-3 record, 30 1/2 games behind the pennant-winning Yankees.

Phillies Career
His SABR biography notes O'Neill was a player's manager who served more as a mentor than an adversary to his team. He was working as a scout for the Red Sox when he was named to replace Eddie Sawyer as the Phillies manager on June 28, 1952. The team had been seven games below .500 when he came on board, and they finished the season going 59-32 and climbing into fourth place. O'Neill guided the Phillies to an even better third place finish in 1953 and he started the 1954 season with a 40-37 record before being surprisingly fired on July 15th and replaced by Terry Moore. He was 182-140 in his three seasons at the helm for the Phillies, and I can't help but wonder if the Phillies would have continued to improve under his guidance.

O'Neill received a manager's card in the 1954 Topps set, and Topps created a card that never was for O'Neill as part of its 1991 Topps Archives 1953 set.