Happy Days for Cunningham

By STEVE HENSON

June 3, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SHERMAN OAKS — The parade had ended and the celebration was in full swing. The Earthquake Kids, finally home after winning the 1994 Little League national championship, were being honored at their home field in Northridge, goofing and gabbing like the 12-year-olds they were.

Matt Cunningham, the skinny catcher with piercing eyes and a monster swing, was standing with his dad surveying the surrounding mob of well-wishers when an old man wearing a baseball cap and carrying a small dog walked up.

“I’ve been a major league scout for many, many years,” the man told Matt. “And I’ll tell you right now you’ve got what it takes to become an excellent ballplayer. Keep working at it.”

Cunningham smiled and thanked him. The words rang in his ears for six years.

Now a 6-foot-2, 190-pound senior catcher at Notre Dame High, Cunningham is all grown up. And he is, indeed, an excellent player.

He has a scholarship to Rice, a perennial top-20 team. His arm is so strong opponents stole only four bases this season, and none even tried to steal in the last 10 games.

He is batting .425 and has been the Knights’ top hitter throughout the playoffs, most recently driving in four runs with a home run and a double in a semifinal victory over Ridgecrest Burroughs.

He will cap a four-year varsity career today at Dodger Stadium when Notre Dame meets San Luis Obispo for the Southern Section Division IV championship. The game starts at 1 p.m.

Cunningham is so excited he feels like a little kid.

Not just any little kid. Himself, at age 12.

“I’ve been having a lot of the same feelings I had when we were going to the Little League World Series,” he said. “The excitement and anticipation are the same. It really does bring back a lot of memories.”

Like getting thrust behind the plate in the first game of the Western Regional when it was determined Northridge catcher Jonathan Higashi was ineligible to continue.

Cunningham had never caught before. A week later, he was catching Nathaniel Dunlap’s 75-mph fastballs on national television.

“I remember my dad telling me, ‘Man, you found your position,’ ” Cunningham said. “It really did feel like I belonged there. I’d always wanted to be in the game all the time. Catching is the perfect position because you are involved in every pitch.”

Tim Cunningham, an actor best known as a regular on “Cheers,” was not a coach on the Northridge team. But that’s about the only time he’s watched from the stands.

Matt, young for his grade, caught up by repeating the eighth grade. Meanwhile, Tim became freshman coach at Notre Dame.

Now Tim is Coach Tom Dill’s only varsity assistant, serving as batting instructor and a base coach.

“What Matt’s become as a ballplayer is partially a tribute to his dad,” Dill said. “A lot of the phrases he says, I hear his dad say. His dad is all baseball, it’s all he talks about.

“Tim is here every day, all year around. He is a vital part of our program and a huge reason why we are playing [in the final].”

Like his father, Matt is a student of the game. Inquisitive and intelligent, he will talk baseball for hours, dissecting details that separate great players from good players.

“Baseball is the only sport I’ve played my whole life,” he said. “When there is a subject somebody loves, they will want to learn more and more.”

Dill knows Cunningham knows. He allows his catcher to call pitches, a role few high school coaches relinquish.

“Matt came to me at the beginning of his junior year and said, ‘Can I give it a try?’ ” Dill said. “It was hard for me to give that up. We have scouting reports and charts on opposing hitters in the dugout, so it’s easier for me to call the pitches.

“But I found he’d call the same pitch and location as I would as much as 98 out of 100 pitches. Other times, I wouldn’t have called a certain pitch and his call would be successful.”

Cunningham’s thirst for baseball knowledge was not without cost. He found himself listening to too many people last summer and did not hit well during the Area Code Games.

The experience taught him another lesson: Trust yourself.

“I had to find something that is comfortable to me,” he said. “Nobody but me knows what is comfortable for me.”

Besides his father and Dill, Cunningham’s strongest influences are Chris Briones, a minor league catcher he met during scout league games, and former major leaguer Tim Corcoran. Cunningham talks to both regularly.

Hitting and catching, of course, are hot topics. But so is life in professional baseball.

“Pro baseball is my dream,” he said. “Whether it is out of high school or after three or four years of college, you never know. But I think about it all the time.”

Cunningham won’t be sitting around idly for the major league draft Monday. He leaves Sunday for Minot, N.D., to play in the amateur wood-bat Northwood League.

First things first. He has one more game in Notre Dame uniform.

Dashing on the field at Dodger Stadium will be the same kid who played in Williamsport, Pa. A lot bigger and stronger. A lot wiser.

“I’ve compared myself to who I was then and I realize I love baseball even more now,” he said. “The more I learn and the more I experience different situations on the ball field, the more I love it.

“It’s a great game to be around and I truly appreciate these opportunities.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BASEBALL PLAYOFFS

SOUTHERN SECTION

Division IV Final

Today, 1 p.m.

At Dodger Stadium

Notre Dame (19-9) vs.

San Luis Obispo (22-7)

SEE STATS AND LINEUPS, PAGE 7