Yankees honor O'Neill in Monument Park, but is he the most deserving?

On Saturday August 9, 2014, the New York Yankees honored Paul O'Neill with his own spot in Monument Park, nestled among the legends of the franchise. While O'Neill was certainly a very good major league player (a five-time All-Star and 1994 batting champion), I question the motives behind the Yankees' decision to place him among the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth.

Nobody in baseball would ever place O'Neill in the above class (he earned only 2.2% of the vote in his one year on the Hall of Fame ballot), and as I said earlier this year when the Yankees inducted Tino Martinez into Monument Park, their motives for induction are based more on finances than what they did on the field.

Just as the Hall of Fame's empty 2013 ceremony displayed, there is little money in honoring the deceased. Knowing that fans would not pack the stadium to see a posthumous induction in 2014, the Yankees have decided to further expand the confines of Monument Park to include the "very good."

If both Martinez and O'Neill are honored for their tenure with the Yankees, then how long will it be before Bill "Moose" Skowron, owner of four World Series rings with the club, gets the call? Take a look below for a comparison of O'Neill and Skorown's stats.

Paul O'Neill

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos	Awards
1993	30	NYY	AL	141	547	498	71	155	34	1	20	75	2	4	44	69	.311	.367	.504	.871	136	251	13	2	0	3	5	*97/D
1994 ★	31	NYY	AL	103	443	368	68	132	25	1	21	83	5	4	72	56	.359	.460	.603	1.064	177	222	16	0	0	3	13	*97/D	AS,MVP-5
1995 ★	32	NYY	AL	127	543	460	82	138	30	4	22	96	1	2	71	76	.300	.387	.526	.913	137	242	25	1	0	11	8	*97/D	AS,MVP-15
1996	33	NYY	AL	150	660	546	89	165	35	1	19	91	0	1	102	76	.302	.411	.474	.885	123	259	21	4	0	8	8	*9/D3
1997 ★	34	NYY	AL	149	637	553	89	179	42	0	21	117	10	7	75	92	.324	.399	.514	.912	137	284	16	0	0	9	8	*9/3D	AS,MVP-12
1998 ★	35	NYY	AL	152	672	602	95	191	40	2	24	116	15	1	57	103	.317	.372	.510	.882	130	307	22	2	0	11	2	*9/D	AS,MVP-12
1999	36	NYY	AL	153	675	597	70	170	39	4	19	110	11	9	66	89	.285	.353	.459	.812	107	274	24	2	0	10	1	*9
2000	37	NYY	AL	142	628	566	79	160	26	0	18	100	14	9	51	90	.283	.336	.424	.760	92	240	17	0	0	11	2	*9/D
2001	38	NYY	AL	137	563	510	77	136	33	1	21	70	22	3	48	59	.267	.330	.459	.789	105	234	20	2	0	3	4	*9/D
				G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos	Awards
NYY (9 yrs)				1254	5368	4700	720	1426	304	14	185	858	80	40	586	710	.303	.377	.492	.869	125	2313	174	13	0	69	51

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Bill Skowron

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos	Awards
1954	23	NYY	AL	87	237	215	37	73	12	9	7	41	2	1	19	18	.340	.392	.577	.969	167	124	8	1	0	2		3/54
1955	24	NYY	AL	108	314	288	46	92	17	3	12	61	1	1	21	32	.319	.369	.524	.894	140	151	11	3	0	2	4	3/5
1956	25	NYY	AL	134	523	464	78	143	21	6	23	90	4	4	50	60	.308	.382	.528	.910	142	245	16	6	2	1	3	*3/5
1957 ★	26	NYY	AL	122	501	457	54	139	15	5	17	88	3	2	31	60	.304	.347	.470	.818	123	215	17	3	3	7	6	*3	AS,MVP-22
1958 ★	27	NYY	AL	126	502	465	61	127	22	3	14	73	1	1	28	69	.273	.317	.424	.740	106	197	16	4	1	5	1	*3/5	AS
1959 ★	28	NYY	AL	74	309	282	39	84	13	5	15	59	1	0	20	47	.298	.349	.539	.888	145	152	10	3	2	2	0	3	AS
1960 ★	29	NYY	AL	146	584	538	63	166	34	3	26	91	2	3	38	95	.309	.353	.528	.881	141	284	17	2	0	6	2	*3	AS,MVP-9
1961 ★	30	NYY	AL	150	608	561	77	150	23	4	28	89	0	0	35	108	.267	.318	.472	.790	113	265	21	8	0	3	9	*3	AS
1962	31	NYY	AL	140	524	478	63	129	16	6	23	80	0	1	36	99	.270	.325	.473	.798	114	226	13	5	1	4	4	*3
NYY (9 yrs)				1087	4102	3748	518	1103	173	44	165	672	14	13	278	588	.294	.346	.496	.842	129	1859	129	35	9	32	29

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/10/2014.