Two years after their first FaceTime conversation, Pittsburgh Pirates’ Oneil Cruz finally met his namesake, New York Yankees broadcaster Paul O’Neill.

Before the Pirates’ 9-4 victory over the Yankees on Saturday, Cruz and O’Neill finally met in person.

“I feel really lucky,” Cruz told YES Network through interpreter and Pirates coach Stephen Morales. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet him.”

When the Pirates last played at Yankee Stadium in 2022, O’Neill was not in conversation with YES Network. Instead, the two chatted via video and O’Neill, who played in the majors for 17 years with the Yankees and Cincinnati Reds, sent a signed jersey as a gift.

“When you hear these stories about Yankees fans naming their children, it’s really a great honor,” O’Neill told YES on Saturday. “I saw that he was born in 1998. It was a wonderful year for us (the Yankees won the World Series).

Cruz owes his first name to his father Rafael. In the mid-1980s, Rafael Cruz spent parts of three seasons in the Texas Rangers organization and his favorite player at the time was O’Neill. So when his son was born in 1998, he had an obvious choice for a first name.

“Ever since I was a kid, everyone in my hometown thought my name came from Shaquille O’Neal,” Oneil Cruz told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2022. “I had to correct her and said, ‘No.’ “It’s another guy, my dad’s favorite ballplayer.” To this day I haven’t really bothered to find out, but I need to know the whole story.

Cruz didn’t have much success against O’Neill’s old team in his young career. The Pirates shortstop/center fielder is 1-for-11 against the Yankees since being promoted to the majors in 2021.

But 2024 has proven to be a breakout year for Cruz offensively, with 21 home runs, 34 doubles and 76 RBI — numbers that impressed the man he is named after.

“He’s not a little guy,” O’Neill said. “I’m pretty impressed with his looks and obviously he has a bright future.”