Four O'Neill brothers played major league baseball. The two eldest, Mike and Jack, were born in Ireland, and formed a brother battery for the 1902-03 Cardinals. Mike went 18-14 in 1902. He had a strong bat, occasionally played in the outfield, and that year made a league-high 12 pinch-hitting appearances with one hit - a grand slam on June 3, the first ever by a pinch hitter. (JL)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » May 14, 1902: New York batters Cardinal pitcher Mike Joyce (aka Mike O'Neill) for 14 runs sending the Irish-born hurler to a 10-7 loss. St. Louis manages nine hits off Christy Mathewson, the winning pitcher. New York is a distant third to the leading Pirates (19-3). » June 3, 1902: The Cardinals' Mike O'Neill, a pitcher and one of four ML brothers, hits the first pinch grand slam ever in the majors, against Boston Beaneater Togie Pittinger. It is an inside-the-park HR at Boston and scores his brother Jack. O'Neill becomes the first pitcher in the NL to hit a grand slam this century. » December 12, 1903: During the post-season City Series in Chicago, the Cubs veteran Jack Taylor is chided for losing three games to the White Stockings and Cubs president John Hart is convinced that gambling was involved. Taylor is traded to the St. Louis Cardinals with rookie C Larry McLean for pitcher Mike O'Neill and a righthander who was 9–13 in his first season, Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown. » September 30, 1910: In a shootout at the Polo Grounds, Beals Becker hits a pinch grand slam inside-the-park as the Giants outslug Brooklyn, 17–8. It is the 2nd pinch slam IPHR in ML history; Mike O'Neill hit the first.