Illustration by Drew Friedman

Paul & Molly O'Neill

Baseball figured so prominently in the O'Neill household in Columbus, Ohio, that Paul's father -- the ex-minor-leaguer his son so famously mourned during the 1999 World Series -- focused on his five boys only to the extent that they played ball. Meanwhile, the oldest child and sole daughter, Molly, would look on from the stands. In lieu of baseball, Molly drew, wrote (journals since the age of 7), and helped in the kitchen. "When you have all those kids, you tend to cook," she says. "It was: Love me, love my food."

Paul, the youngest child, was born when Molly was 10. "I got to be an only child at the beginning, and Paul got to be an only child at the end," she says. "That's something we hold in common. We both got our parents' undivided attention for a few years." But she moved east, eventually joining the Times as a food critic, while Paul played for the Reds. When Paul became a Yankee in 1992, he wasn't thrilled about moving to New York -- until he found that without his parents in the stands, his playing improved dramatically. "It was harder to play in Cincinnati," he says. "It was a hometown thing. I think being a perfectionist runs in our family. That comes from Dad."

Now retired at age 39, Paul still does analysis and color for the YES Network. Molly is at work on a book about their childhood. "Our family is supposedly related to Mark Twain," she says. "And you know, the Irish are storytellers: You live through something, and then you figure out how to give it a happy ending."

Related Stories:
• New York Awards: Sports (Dec. 2001)
• Yankees Family Values (Nov. 1999)