Fancy O'Neil

Michael O'Neil

• Bats Unknown, Throws Unknown

• Debut October 23, 1874
• Final Game October 23, 1874
• Born 1853 in Hudson, NY USA
• Died December 7, 1918 in Hartford, CT USA

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Biographical Information

Fancy O'Neil, who played one game in the outfield for the 1874 Hartford Dark Blues of the National Association, is one of a number of players from baseball's early days for which only a last name was known for a long time. In his case, the name was the improperly spelled O'Neal. Research by the SABR biographical committee uncovered an article from the Hartford Courant identifying this mystery player as Michael O'Neil, who went by the nickname of Fancy. This only dispelled a little bit of the mystery surrounding the man, as his relatively common name made it challenging for researchers to uncover additional biographical information. Still, a breakthrough came in 2019, with the combined work of various researchers leading to a positive identification.

The one game in which O'Neil took part was on October 23rd, against the powerful Boston Red Stockings that included a number of future Hall of Famers. In contrast, the Hartford squad was missing its best pitcher, Bill Stearns, and recruited the amateur player O'Neil to fill his place in the line-up by playing right field. The visitors won handily, 13-1, and O'Neil went 0 for 3 in what was his lone major league game. What is known about him was that he had some local fame in Hartford, CT as an amateur ballplayer and also as a boxer. He was mentioned regularly in the sports pages of the city's papers until he suffered a serious injury in a game on June 22, 1877. He was bowled over by an opposition player when playing catcher, turned a complete somersault and landed hard on his elbow, breaking it badly. A charity game was played soon after to raise funds for his medical bills, and his sporting career seems to have ended at that point. However, he still umpired the occasional game, under his given name of Michael O'Neil.

He then suffered some more misfortune as in October 1895, he was arrested for having attacked a man with a knife. He had apparently been in and out of mental health asylums for some time at that point, and was interned again following the incident. An appropriate candidate for the ballplayer was found in the city directories and various census listings. In 1870, he is listed as the 17-year-old son of harness maker Michael O'Neil, an immigrant from Ireland, and living with two younger twin siblings, a boy and a girl. He is listed in city directories as a polisher and while the deaths of his parents and younger brother were easily traced, his own was not. It was when researchers tried different spellings of the surname that a breakthrough was found, as the family was found living in Greenport, NY in 1855 under the spelling Oneal and in Hartford in 1880 as the O Nils. In 1860, they were in Springfield, MA. He apparently was born as part of a set of triplets, of which one had died shortly after birth, and the other, a sister named Sarah after his mother, had died some time in the 1860s.

Finally, a listing was found in the Connecticut death index for a Michael O'Neil who had died on December 7, 1918. That man was listed on his death certificate as a polisher, with a birthplace in Hudson, NY, which is right next to Greenport where the family lived in 1855. The only problem was proving that this Michael O'Neil was the elusive Fancy O'Neil. The major clue was that the informant for the death certificate was one Patrick H. Dougherty, who was a barber in Hartford and well-know on the local sports scene, to the point that he was mentioned on four different instances as having gone to Boston, MA to attend the World Series. He also tried to help out one James "Flagg" Doyle, a local amateur ballplayer, boxer and umpire who had been arrested in Hartford, so it was clear he had connections to local ballplayers and would be one to help out someone like O'Neil, who had no relatives left by the time he died. Hospitalization records were also found, placing O'Neil at the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane in Middletown, CT from 1889 to 1891, from 1895 to 1897 (after the arrest mentioned above) and again in 1899. This matches the information that is known about the ballplayer. Other mentions in local papers are that a boxing exhibition was staged for his benefit in 1893, as he was apparently in poor health. In 1896 there is a mention that he had been arrested after another stabbing incident, this one in Middletown, and later an item indicating he had been found guilty and sentenced to six months in jail. His discharge form the insane hospital was also noted in 1897.

Further Reading

• "Fancy That!", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, November/December 2019, pp. 1-4.

Related Sites

• Fancy O'Neil at the SABR Bio Project