Ahhh, what Yankee fan doesn’t love Paul O'Neill? The fiery passion and the desire to win every single game was something every fan adored.

O'Neill started his career with his hometown Cincinnati Reds. While there, he had a pretty decent career, being a World Series Champion in 1990 and an All-Star in 1991. His fiery passion was well complimented with manager Lou Piniella’s grit too. Before the 1993 season, the Yankees traded for Paul O'Neill and his career began to kick off.

“The Warrior,” as fans began calling him, immediately starting having success. From 1993-1998, he hit at least .300 every year. He cut down his strikeouts considerably from his years with the Reds, even walking more than he struck out in the years 1994 and 1996. In 1994, he even one the batting title. 1998 was a great year, too, with 24 homeruns, a .317 average, and 116 RBI.
A very emotional moment for Yankees fans was his last game in Yankee Stadium, the 2001 World Series, where the entire stadium cheered his name and he could be seen wiping his tears away.

Fun Fact

O'Neill is the oldest player ever to hit 20 homers and 20 stolen bases, which was in the year 2001.
O'Neill is also known for this all-time blooper that ended up being a perfect throw to the cut-off man.

Bernie Williams was a major key to the Yankee’s dynasty that lasted throughout his entire career. Williams was one of the first players drafted by the Yankees with Gene Michael’s plan to go into rebuilding mode, something George Steinbrenner did not like. Once Williams was a high-profile prospect in the early 90’s, “The Boss” repeatedly demanded Michael to trade Williams, to no prevail. Looking back now, keeping him looks like a blessing. After being a bench player from 1991-1992, Williams was starting in centerfield by 1993 at age 1993. 1996 was a breakout year for Williams in a breakout year for the Yankees. He hit .305 with 29 home runs and 201 RBIs, and even walked more than he struckout. This mighty homerun helped propel them to the World Series.

Bernie Williams was one of the best centerfielders in baseball from 1995-2001. In that span he went to 5 All-star games, won 4 Gold Gloves, consistently hitting for power, RBIs, and high On Base Percentage. In 1998, he won the batting title.

Deja vu?

In 1999, Williams hit another walk-off home run in Game 1 of the ALCS, this time against the Red Sox.

He retired in 2006 to pursue a musical career.

The Yankees really seem to have a great tradition of having great catchers. First Bill Dickey, then Yogi Berra, to Elston Howard and Thurman Munson, and finally Jorge Posada completes the greats.

After being September-call-ups in 1995 and 1996, Posada was Joe Girardi’s backp-up catcher in 1997. In 1998, Posada won the job of starting catcher. 1998 was a productive year hitting .268 with 17 homers and 63 RBI. Posada actually had a great year defensively, something he ended not being known for over the rest of his career. He threw out 40% of potential basetealers and only made 4 errors.

Over his career he ended up being known as one of the core-four Yankees players that were called up in 1995 and stayed with them for many years. After a very nice career, Posada retired in 2011 after having an unsuccessful year as an designated hitter. He is a 5x All-Star and 5x Silver Slugger.

They Yankees got third baseman Scott “Brosius the Ferocious” in a trade before the 1998 season–what a bargain he ended up being.

Brosius ended up being a key role player in his years with the Yankees, where every year they won the pennant. 1998 was a breakout year after an average career in Oakland. He hit 19 Home runs, hit .300, and had 99 RBIs. He also won World Series MVP after hitting .471, including these huge hits that propelled them a series win.

Brosius is best known for this hit.

Orlando Hernandez was a rookie for the Yankees in 1998, after a solid career in Cuba and Costa Rica. He was a big piece of the Yankees starting staff, going 12-4 and a 3.13 ERA, plus finishing 4th in the Rookie of the Year voting. Hernandez went on to enjoy a consistent career with the Yankees through 2004. He became known for his clutch playoff performances. He even won the 1999 ALCS MVP.

Very rarely did you hear a New Yorker refer to Hernandez by his name. He was always known by his nickname “El Duque.”

People mainly remember him for these reasons.

• His leg-kick.

• His eephus

• This odd play

• His consistent clutch pitching in the postseason

When you smoke, you get high, higher than the ceiling. Similar to the term cloud 9, becasue as you know, clouds are high up.

Chiddy is talking about Chiddy Bang is a group; the first two lines of this verse talk about their struggle; both Xaph and Chiddy continued to create awesomeness even when people played “hot and cold”, meaning came and went, or who pretended to stand by their sides, but actually doubted them.

Of course, the obvious reference to the Katy Perry song.