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Harry O'Neill is one of only two players with major league experience to be killed in action during World War II. (Elmer Gedeon is the other.) Born in Philadelphia on May 8, 1917, O'Neill attended Darby High School in Darby, Pennsylvania and progressed to Gettysburg College. At Gettysburg he was a standout athlete in three sports. O'Neill played center for the basketball and football teams and was the catcher for the baseball nine.
O'Neill was signed by the Philadelphia Athletics after graduating in June 1939. The 6-foot-3, 205 pound youngster spent the remainder of the season on the Athletics' roster and appeared in his only major league game on July 23, 1939. The following year O'Neill played at Allentown and Harrisburg of the Canadian-American League before entering military service.
Lieutenant O'Neill was serving with the United States Marine Corps when he was killed in action at Iwo Jima on March 6, 1945.
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