James Edward "Tip" O'Neill (May 15, 1860 – December 31, 1915) was a Canadian professional baseball player from approximately 1875 to 1892.

He also rewrote the major league record book, establishing new records in at least eight categories, including the highest batting average (originally .492, adjusted to .435), on-base percentage (.490) and slugging percentage (.691), and the most hits (225), runs scored (167), doubles (52), extra base hits (84), and total bases (357) in a single season.

[2] While O'Neill was a boy, his family moved approximately 30 miles northeast to Woodstock, Ontario, where his parents operated a hotel.

Shortly after his major league debut, Sporting Life wrote: "O'Neill, the New York change pitcher, seems to have but one element of effectiveness in his delivery, viz.

"[5] O'Neill appeared in 19 games as a starting pitcher for the Gothams and compiled a win–loss record of 5–12 and a 4.07 earned run average (ERA).

[7] Despite the injury, O'Neill established himself as the Browns' best batter, hitting .350 in 52 games,[2] nearly 80 points higher than any other player on the team.

[8] The 1885 Browns won the American Association pennant with a 79-33 record and tied the Chicago White Stockings in the 1885 World Series.

That year, he won the American Association triple crown with a .435 batting average, 14 home runs and 123 RBIs.

[11] O'Neill's batting performance in 1887 also established new single season, major league records in at least seven other categories, including the highest on-base percentage (.490),[12] slugging percentage (.691),[13] most hits (225),[14] runs scored (167),[15] doubles (52),[16] and extra base hits (84),[17] and total bases (357).

He led the league in games played and ranked second with 647 plate appearances and seventh with 174 hits and 244 times on base.

At the start of spring training, Ban Johnson, then the Cincinnati correspondent to The Sporting News, expressed hope that O'Neill would help the Reds to a pennant: "Tip O'Neill is big, hearty and strong, and gives promise of doing great things for the club in the near-approaching campaign for pennant honors.

"[26] The following month, the New York Sun reported that O'Neill was one of the most frequent recipients of Comiskey's mid-game "lecture, without any curtain.

"[27] By mid-July, The Sporting Life reported: "Tip O'Neill has lately been playing so poorly that the Cincinnati cranks have soured on him.

[2] In December 1892, Comiskey told The Sporting News that O'Neill had left the club without permission and had not been heard from since.

Shortly after O'Neill retired from baseball, The Sporting Life reported in July 1893 that he was "making book" at Sheepshead Bay, a horse racing track in New York City.

[32] He also worked as a "big league umpire" and as a scout for various baseball clubs, including the Chicago White Sox.

[3][33] He moved to Montreal, Quebec where he lived with his brother and assisted in acquiring a minor league baseball club for the city.

[2] In 1983, O'Neill was posthumously honoured as one of the first inductees into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame which, each year, presents the Tip O'Neill Award in his honour to "the player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball's highest ideals.

In 1898, O'Neill wrote to The Sporting Life to correct a report that he was managing a baseball team in Montgomery, Alabama.