Team USA baseball manager Mark DeRosa is sticking by the choice to have controversial former SEAL Team Six member Robert J. O’Neill speak to his team in the clubhouse before their World Baseball Classic quarterfinal game.
“Well, that was my decision to bring him in,” DeRosa, 51, told reporters during a press conference on Sunday, March 15. “I think for me, there has to be — you never want it to get lost why you’re doing this, whatever that ‘why’ is.”
He added that one of the team’s star players told him he was competing to honor members of the military.
“And a lot of people, like Paul Skenes said to me when he signed up for this, ‘I want to do this for every serviceman and woman that protects our freedom,’” DeRosa said. “And that’s why we wear USA across our chest. And I just thought it would be like a time to kind of redirect and get those guys to understand that although this is an unbelievable event, you’re getting a chance to share a locker room with the game’s greats, there’s a reason why you’re doing it, and a reason why people protect our freedom at night.”
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“I just wanted to honor that,” he concluded. “So that’s why he came in to talk.”
O’Neill, 49, was one of the Navy SEALs that participated in Operation Neptune Spear in 2011, and he claims to be the individual who shot and killed Osama bin Laden.
He shared a clip via X of his speech to Team USA on Sunday, in which he told a humorous story about the moments before the raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Since controversially coming forward, O’Neill has sparked backlash on social media with his outspoken political views. In 2024, he referred to men who planned to vote for former Vice President Kamala Harris as “my concubines” in a post via X.
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His feed in the days before his speech to Team USA also included multiple derogatory posts directed at Muslims and the LGBTQIA+ community.
O’Neill wasn’t the only one to share inspirational words with the team. DeRosa revealed that Team USA men’s hockey star Jack Hughes also reached out with a “fire-up message” that DeRosa put in the team’s group chat.
“I know there are some talks about some hockey jerseys being sent in tomorrow for the guys to wear during BP or out and about in the clubhouse,” DeRosa added.
The United States defeated the Dominican Republic, 2-1, on Sunday in the WBC semifinals. It will face either Venezuela or Italy on Tuesday, March 17 in the final.
