Tyler O’Neill slugged his way into some MLB history on Opening Day 2023.
The Canadian home-run hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals, fresh off the World Baseball Classic, showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever. He got into the box and swung for the fences, as he’s typically done in Cardinal red.
O’Neill sent one out at Busch Stadium on Thursday afternoon in St. Louis. The two-run blast soared over the outfield wall to cut the Cards’ deficit against the Toronto Blue Jays from 4-1 to 4-3.
With his home run, he’s hit home runs in four consecutive Opening Days. That ties an MLB record!
O’Neill joins Baseball Hall of Famers Gary Carter and Yogi Berra along with Todd Hundley as the only players ever to hit at least one Opening Day homerun on four straight Opening Days. The great Sarah Langs attributed that astonishing statistic.
It’s not everyday that you find yourself in the company of two of the very best to ever do it. Yogi, himself, is a luminary figure in the city of St. Louis. Carter is obviously one of the best catchers to ever play baseball and is still remembered fondly to this day.
To say nothing of Todd Hundley, who was a very high-quality catcher in his day.
Kind of funny how three catchers achieved the feat and now the outfielder in Tyler O’Neill breaks up that combo, don’t’cha think?
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022