# Who's been the Paul O'Neill of sports since O'Neill retired in 2001?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-been-the-paul-oneill-of-sports-since-oneill-retired-in-2001/853455>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Tags:** baseball-mlb\
**Created:** [May 9, 2020, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-been-the-paul-oneill-of-sports-since-oneill-retired-in-2001/853455 "2020-05-09T04:06:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-been-the-paul-oneill-of-sports-since-oneill-retired-in-2001/853455/21 "2020-05-11T15:01:44Z")

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> [@RickJay](#):
>
> When the media tells you so and so is a blue collar, gritty ballplayer, they’re 98% full of shit. They’ve just taken a guy - and it’s always a white guy - and decided to anoint him a special hero so they can tell a narrative. It’s horseshit.

> [@RickJay](#):
>
> And yet it always is. I would guess terms like “hard working,” “Gritty” and “Blue collar” are applied to white guys a hundred times more frequently than to white guys or Latin guys. I’m not saying YOU personally do, but it’s sure how the media like to play it.
> 
> I cannot remember the last time a black MLB player was characterized as gritty or hard working, though of course most of them must be. I am sure I could dig up an example but it’s astoundingly rare. The narrative tends to be about their talent, and if they’re too gritty people say they have attitude problems…

Thanks for saving me a bunch of typing. The old _Fire Joe Morgan_ blog used to do a great job of pointing out this type of bullshit.

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**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-been-the-paul-oneill-of-sports-since-oneill-retired-in-2001/853455/22 "2020-05-11T16:17:26Z")

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> [@BlankSlate](#):
>
> I’m a Yankees fan and this OP made me groan. I liked O’Neill but he played right next to an even better outfielder: Bernie Williams. Where’s Bernie’s over-the-top hagiography? (Rhetorical question, just in case.)

Me too. I need to learn that if a thread title references a Yankee, I’m better off checking who is the OP, because these threads are shite. And I say that as someone who grew up on Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, and Frank Messer calling games on WPIX.

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