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FL Chillicothe Paints

Funaro catching on

August 29, 2005 - Frontier League (FL)
Chillicothe Paints News Release


Jeff Funaro was a quarterback in high school, so he knows all about getting the glory for playing a sport.

He likes the way he has it now better.

From quarterback to catcher is quite a transition, at least in one sense. The QB gets the girls; the catcher gets dirty.

"Look at me, I'm filthy," Funaro said after catching the final game of the home series against Florence. "I don't feel like I've played a game ‘til I look like this."

Most of what a catcher does is lost on folks who come to the game, and that's fine with Funaro. It's a chess match, played with the hitter -- not against the hitter, but with the hitter serving as a pawn. See, a good catcher working with a good pitcher -- assuming both guys trust each other -- are pulling the strings of a puppet with a bat in its hands. It's a strange way to look at an at-bat, but it's really true.

"People don't see the games we play out there," Funaro said. "And I love that. I love the fact the catcher isn't a glory position and that you have to work your butt off on every pitch.

"I get a little fiery out there because I don't like to be shook off (by a pitcher). Sometimes they might not understand what I'm trying to do. You're not always trying to get a guy out on this pitch. Maybe you need to set him up for the next pitch or two pitches from now."

Along with fellow backstop Andrew Kasparek, Funaro has helped along a pitching staff that has produced two 10-game winners (John Martinez with 16, Perry Cunningham with 10) -- one of only two such staffs in the Frontier League.

"I'm very happy with the two guys we have back there," Paints manager Glenn Wilson said of his catchers. "Their work with the staff has been outstanding. We wouldn't be where we are without them."

In more ways than one.

Both catchers started hot, both carrying averages in the mid .300s through most of the first month of the season. Things have cooled off since then, with Kasparek hitting .265 and Funaro at .251 through Aug. 28.

But, again, that's fine with Funaro. Offense is a by-product, an afterthought, a side dish to the main coarse.

"I'll take an 0-for-4 if the pitcher has a good day any time," Funaro said. "The one thing you'll never see me do is put my offense ahead of catching. Never."

Funaro has been catching since he was 7, a 16-year crouching career that has left his knee swollen and his attitude hardened. And it all started with a case of chicken pox.

"I was a fast little kid, a second baseman," he said. "One day the regular catcher got sick, got chicken pox, and my dad was the coach (of the Little League team).

He told me I was catching that day and I started crying, saying I didn't want to catch, that I wanted to play second. He said forget it, you're catching.

"I did. And I've been back there ever since."

How about that. Somewhere there's a guy who, a decade and a-half ago, was Wally Pipped by a childhood illness.

For now, the joy for Funaro is simple. It comes when he's behind the plate when a pitcher performs well. And, in the end, it will come from one simple thing:

"Goals? Seriously?" he asked when prodded about what he's still looking for this season. "To win the whole damn thing. That's it. And to be interviewed a couple more times."



Frontier League Stories from August 29, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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