Paints continue 23-year old pregame ritual

• Before every home game, Marty Dunn Sr. leads the Chillicothe Paints in prayer.
• The pregame ritual dates back to the start of the Paints’ franchise — in 1993.

CHILLICOTHE – At 6:26 p.m. exactly, before every home game, the Chillicothe Paints check another pregame routine off their to-do list.

About 10 minutes before that time, Marty Dunn Sr. — an assistant coach since the Paints’ birth in 1993 — starts to round up the troops inside the team’s clubhouse. There, all 27 roster members join hands, bow their heads and participate in a short, yet effective prayer.

Dunn has been conducting this ritual during since the 1996 season. Since then, players and coaches have embraced the act as a part of their everyday summer lives.

“My faith is that God has a plan for all of us,” Dunn said. “For 23 years, I’ve started the summer off by telling the guys that I’m not a minister and I’m not trying to force anybody to do something they don’t want to do. I tell them that at some point during the summer, baseball won’t be the most important thing going on in their lives. They’re going to need something to lean on. (Prayer) is what I lean on during all of the tough moments in my life. That’s why I share this with (our players).”

The players don’t seem to mind.

“It brings us altogether closer and helps us realize that it’s more than a game of baseball,” Paints’ first baseman Hunter Prince said. “Marty does a really good job with it. While we’re blessed to be able to play, there’s people out there that can’t do that. So it’s a time for reflection and a time for thankfulness.”

Catcher Drew Erie echoed those statements.

“You’re lucky to be able to play this game,” Erie said. “Marty acknowledges that and it’s amazing to have a coach like him be able to do something like this with us. It’s become one of our routines. It’s cool that we can to do this together. We all want to do this. That’s the really cool part.”

Dunn doesn’t stop at just a prayer. On Sundays, he holds chapel for any players that may want to attend.

“God is the leading part of my life,” Dunn said. “It’s gotten me to where I am now. I honestly feel like this is my purpose for being inside this game. This year, I’ve had between six and seven guys show up at chapel. It just depends on what’s going on. A couple of years ago, there were times I’d have 15 guys show up. We’ll even see players bring family members or a girlfriend come with them. It’s what I consider to be my ministry. Giving to them and helping young guys find their way.”

However, Dunn’s calling inside the game of baseball goes deeper than that. At some time or another, baseball won’t be there for most players. Reality will come knocking at their door.

“Most of these guys, when they play their last college baseball game, life becomes more real,” Dunn said. “I mean they’re out in the real world, they’re looking for a job, if they don’t have a significant other, they’re looking for one and once they do those things, they’ll have a family and they’ll have bills. That’s the real world. Relatives get sick, you have problems such as those. The question becomes how do you handle those types of things. I’m not trying to convert any of these guys to religion but I want them to be able to draw back on an experience.”

Dunn also served as the head baseball coach at Chillicothe High School for 26 years. There, the same prayer ritual for the same reasons took place before every contest.

“You’re going to have problems in this life,” Dunn said. “You’re going to need something stronger than another human being to be able to get through it. That’s why I do what I do. I’m trying to show all of the players that I coach that there is a higher power. There is a God that loves them and he’s got your life planned out for you. All you have to do is stay on the path that he has there for you.”

Dunn ended the conversation with a mustard seed of information — one that tied baseball into life and life into religion.

“I don’t care how far baseball takes you,” he said. “You’ve still got to be able to deal with life. A home run isn’t going to satisfy you. A no-hitter is not going to stop cancer. Going 4-for-4 isn’t going to help a child who has leukemia. So it’s my belief that you need the strength of God to be able to get through it.”

dwebb@chillicothegazette.com

Twitter: @dw1509