Over 1,000 Attend Funeral for Hall of Famer Hunter

Jim “Catfish” Hunter probably would have despised this--people dressed in suits making a fuss over him.

He was buried Sunday in Hertford, N.C., several hundred yards from the high school field where he began a baseball career that would send him to the Hall of Fame.

More than 1,000 family, friends and former major league teammates turned out for the funeral of the pitcher who won five World Series titles with the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees.

The 53-year-old Hunter died Thursday, one year after learning he had Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Former teammate and Seattle Manager Lou Piniella missed his team’s game in Baltimore to attend the service at Cedarwood Cemetery. Other former teammates in attendance included A’s Joe Rudi, Vida Blue, Gene Tenace and “Blue Moon” Odom, and Yankees Ron Guidry and Reggie Jackson.

The Yankees sent General Manager Brian Cashman and former manager and scout Gene Michael as their representatives.

“I was looking forward to spending time with Catfish after the season. It didn’t quite get to that,” said Piniella, his eyes teary. “My wife and I and my young son are here to pay tribute to him. He was a great guy.”

A 15-year-old Hertford boy stood outside the cemetery gate wearing a Yankee cap as the hearse carrying Hunter’s casket drove by. Players placed flowers on Hunter’s casket as they filed out of the cemetery.

Despite being baseball’s first big free agent, Hunter always returned to this small eastern North Carolina town to live, and eventually retire.

Hunter was unconscious for several days last month after falling and hitting his head on concrete steps. But he improved and was sent home to his Perquimans County farm. He died less than a week later.

Motor Racing

Mika Hakkinen lost control of his car and spun off the course, clearing the way for Heinz-Harald Frentzen to win the Formula One Italian Grand Prix.

“Winning at Monza is the biggest success of my F-1 career, it’s a dream coming true,” Frentzen said.

Hakkinen is tied with Ferrari’s Eddie Irvine for the Formula One driver standings with three races left. Irvine finished sixth and earned one point to draw even with Hakkinen at 60 points.

Frentzen, in a Jordan, won for the second time this season, following his victory in the French Grand Prix. He moved into third place in the standings, with 50 points.

Ralf Schumacher finished second in a Winfield Williams, 3.27 seconds behind Frentzen.

Boxing

Randie Carver, the North American Boxing Federation super middleweight champion, underwent surgery after being injured in a fight with Kabary Salem at Harrah’s North Kansas City (Mo.) Casino.

Kim Shopper, a North Kansas City Hospital spokeswoman, said Carver’s family requested that no information be released about his condition. The 24-year-old boxer had been knocked down in the eighth round, but continued to fight.

The final four bouts of the seven-fight were canceled.

Miscellany

Henry Zambrano scored the game-winning goal and added an assist as the New York-New Jersey MetroStars snapped a 12-game losing streak by beating the Columbus Crew, 2-1, in a Major League Soccer game at Columbus.

Columbus, which has clinched a playoff spot, fell to 16-11 in the Eastern Conference. New York-New Jersey improved to 6-22, but remains in last place.

World champion Jacqui Cooper of Australia won her second consecutive aerial freestyle ski race at Mount Buller, Australia, the opening events of the 1999-2000 World Cup season.

Cooper won her eighth race in 10 events by setting a women’s record score for a single jump of 105.45 points Saturday for her trademark double-twisting triple somersault.

In the men’s event, Alexei Grichin of Belarus won his second gold medal in two days with 249.59 points. Ales Valenta of the Czech Republic finished second and defending world champion Nicolas Fontaine of Canada was third.

Rob Heidger and Kevin Wong won their first beach tournament, beating the Spain’s Javier Bosma and Fabio Diez, 15-10, for the men’s gold medal U.S. Olympic Cup at Mission Bay in San Diego.

Nancy Reno and Linda Hanley settled a score from the Atlanta Olympics by upsetting Australia’s Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst, 15-13, for the women’s bronze. The top U.S. women’s team of Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Buckner Davis lost the gold medal match, 15-12, to the world’s top-ranked team of Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede of Brazil.

In softball competition, the U.S. defeated Australia, 5-0, behind Stacey Nuveman’s three-run homer.