Robert Fontana

Robert Fontana

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born December 12, 1973 in Milan, Milan Italy
• Died May 19, 2006 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna Italy

Biographical Information

Robert Fontana played in the Serie A1 and for the Italian national team. His father Angelo Fontana also played for Italy.

He was 0 for 4 for his hometown Milano club in the 1990 Serie A1 at age 16. He was 3 for 6 with a double and a walk in 1991, then hit .174/.224/.217 in 1993 and .311/.353/.394 with 43 runs in 53 games for Caserta in 1995, playing regularly in the middle infield and leading the team in runs. Moving to Torino in 1996, he was a true utility man, playing at least ten games at every infield spot. He hit .275/.331/.360. During 1997, the 23-year-old returned to Caserta and produced at a .338/.401/.515 clip with 21 doubles and 46 runs in 51 games, playing short and third.

In 1998, he fielded .894 at third base for Caserta, hitting .327/.367/.426. He bounced around the infield again in 1999, when he batted .286/.335/.373. After not appearing in the 2000 Serie A1, he was a 3B/RF for Paterno in 2001 and had a .278/.373/.386 slash line. In 2002, he fielded .959 at second for Codogno and hit .291/.361/.413. Switching clubs again, he produced at a .333/.396/.464 clip with 41 runs in 53 games for Bologna in 2003, then was 5-for-15 with a .733 slugging in the semifinals and 2-for-13 with a run in the 2003 Italian Series as Bologna beat Modena for the championship. He played every position except catcher, short and center during that big year.

Debuting for Italy's national team in the 2003 European Championship, he was 1 for 9 with a walk, a steal and four runs. He remained hot with Bologna in 2004 at .333/.379/.440 with 12 steals in 14 tries and 30 runs in 53 games, then was 4 for 14 with a double and a walk in the semifinals and at .292/.292/.333 when they fell to Grosseto in the 2004 Italian Series. He was named the league's All-Star utility man, playing five different positions. He moved to Parma for 2005 and played right field regularly. He scored 40 runs in 54 games, hitting .318/.376/.400. He was 9th in the league in average, between Ettore Finetti and Frank Candela.

Italy finished second in the 2005 European Championship and he hit .214/.353/.286 while he and Mario Chiarini split time as their third-most-used outfielders after Jim Buccheri and Candela. He was 6 for 43 with 10 walks and a double back with Bologna to begin 2006 before he was killed in a traffic accident at age 32.

Sources

• Scorekeepers.org
• Wayback Archive, 2003 European Championship
• Internet Archive, 2005 European Championship
• Italian Baseball and Softball Federation
• Baseball.it
• Findagrave