All-Time Indians: Frank Funk

Frank Funk had a short, but exciting career with the Cleveland Indians during the early 1960’s, but it took him awhile to get there. He was originally signed as an 18 year old amateur by the New York Giants out of American University in Washington, DC. The Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, but this only affected which minor league club Funk played with as he moved to AAA Phoenix for the first time. The following season, Funk was sent to Toronto of the International League. While they were an independent team at the time, Toronto became an Indians affiliate in 1960 (it was San Diego in 1959 and would be Salt Lake City in 1961) and Funk joined the Indians organization.

After 90 innings, 73 strike outs and a 2.10 ERA for the Maple Leafs, Funk was moved to the Major League roster and was brilliant immediately. Despite being a September call-up, Funk closed out games in eight of his nine appearances, earning his first career save while posting an ERA of 1.99 and a WHIP of 1.14. Impressively, Funk won four games and lost two, giving him decisions in seven of nine appearances. Despite being a rookie playing in his first games, Funk was already one of the most dependable members of the bullpen with just Johnny Klippstein posting an ERA below 3.30 in a relief role.

Klippstein was drafted away from the Indians by the expansion Washington Senators after the 1960 season and Funk was thrust into his closers role. Outside of Mudcat Grant, the 1961 Indians rotation was a mess, so Funk had plenty of opportunities out of the pen. Used only in relief, Funk made 56 appearances, saving, winning and losing eleven games each. As was common in the time, Funk was often used for multiple innings including eight shut out relief innings during a win in May against the Twins. With little help around him, Funk lead all pitchers with at least 20 innings with a 3.31 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP and eleven saves.

Funk repeated this feat of leading an inept pitching staff in ERA (3.24) and WHIP (1.17) in 1962, although Gary Bell was removed from the rotation to take over the official closers role. While this was still a solid season for Funk, there were some signs that it wouldn’t continue. He finished June with a 2.57 ERA, but saw it jump to 3.54 by the end of August. While he did drop it to 3.24 before the end of the season, the Indians were already ready to give up on the 26 year old reliever. That Winter, Funk was traded the Milwaukee Braves along with Tim Cline and Don Dillard in exchange for Joe Adcock and Jack Curtis. While Adcock was an perennial MVP candidate with Milwaukee, at 35 years old he would just have one poor season in Cleveland and Curtis would pitch just five innings, allowing ten runs.

With the Braves, Funk would have one more solid season, pitching 43.2 innings with a 2.68 ERA, his last year in baseball. Surprisingly for the age, Funk pitched his entire career without a single start, despite throwing more than five innings in relief five times while in Cleveland. After 1963 with the Braves, Funk stayed within the Milwaukee/Atlanta minor league system through 1967, although he never made it back to the Majors. After taking the 1968 season off, Funk attempted a final comeback as a player with his original team, the San Francisco Giants, but he didn’t make it past the Arizona Instructional League and he retired as a player afterward.

Following his playing career, Funk became a pitching coach with the Giants in 1976, then was either the bullpen coach or pitching coach of the Mariners, Royals and Rockies through the 1998 season, after which, he retired for good. Despite his short career, Funk still ranks among the best right handed relievers in Indians history with 17 wins, 18 saves and 204.2 innings pitched. In fact, only 13 pitchers in Indians history have thrown more innings without making a single start.