New York Yankees: How Paul O'Neill Shut Up the Yankees and the Experts

Paul O'Neill had a poor September in 2000, suffering from a hip pointer most of the month. Those few individuals that wondered if O'Neill would miss the playoffs didn't know Paul O'Neill.

For the second consecutive season, O'Neill batted below the coveted .300 mark. There was talk that he was finished. He would be eligible for free agency after the World Series, which might explain why the New York Yankees didn't attempt to counter the "ONeill is finished" discussions.

On Oct. 21, 2000, the opening game of the most important World Series in Yankees history was played. Andy Pettitte started against former Yankees left-hander Al Leiter. Going to the the bottom of the ninth inning, the New York Mets held a 3-2 lead.

Facing fire-balling Armando Benitez, O'Neill had one of the great at-bats in World Series history. It wasn't a Joe Carter home run that won the 1993 World Series. It wasn't a ninth inning home run by Bill Mazeroski in the seventh game of the 1960 World Series.

All Paul O'Neill did was work out a 10 pitch walk after Jorge Posada used up one of the three outs the Yankees had left. O"Neill scored the tying run, but it wasn't until the 12th inning that Tino Martinez scored the game-winning run.

Without O'Neill's walk, in which he came back after Benitez put him into a 1-2 hole, the Yankees might not have won the Series. Don't be fooled because the Mets won only one game.

In the second game, the Mets almost came back from a 6-0 deficit. It took a vastly underrated catch by Clay Bellinger to preserve the lead and the win.

It would have played out much differently if the Mets had won the first game.

In Game 2, facing left-hander Mike Hampton, O'Neill, who was again batting seventh, singled in the third and fifth innings and against another left-hander, Glendon Rusch, doubled in the seventh.

When asked how he felt after he and the Yankees had won their second consecutive game against the Mets, O'Neill simply said, "It doesn't matter how anybody's feeling. When you get hits in the World Series, I don't care how many times you've been there, it never gets old."

O'Neill, a veteran that knew that all World Series games are created equal but some are more equal than others, was instrumental in the Yankees 26th world championship.

The player some believed was finished batted .474/.545/.789 with two doubles and two triples.

Throughout his career, O'Neill showed his displeasure when he thought that he had failed. To some, including Phil Rizzuto, it brought back memories of another Yankees outfielder whose tantrums easily outdid O'Neill's.

Mark Kriegel of the New York Daily News summed up O'Neill magnificently:

"When he finally does get old, Paul O'Neill will be best remembered for big hits, big plays, big games."