Bob Milano obit

Legendary Cal baseball coach Bob Milano dies at 85, mentored future MLB players

 He was not on the list.

Bob Milano, the winningest head coach in Cal baseball background and a member of the university’s Sports Hall of Popularity, died Monday from problems from Alzheimer’s. He was 85.

Milano was a catcher for the Bears in 1960-61, hitting a team-leading.357 in 1960. In his 22 seasons (1978-99) running the Cal program, the Bears went 688-644-4, qualified for regional play six times and made it to the College World Collection three times (1980, ’88 and ’92).

He was recognized to a huge segment of the Cal baseball area simply as “7,” the number he used as head instructor. It is among four retired numbers in program background; the others are 12 for infielder Lance Blankenship, 13 for head trainer Clint Evans and 66 for head instructor George Wolfman, a trainer and mentor for Milano.

San Francisco Giants supervisor Bob Melvin was a backup catcher on the 1980 group that ended up third in the CWS. Melvin fondly remembered Milano’s recruiting check out to his Menlo Park home in the late 1970s. Melvin said Milano, real to the capturing fraternity, got down on his knees to obstruct Nerf rounds.

Melvin also remembered just how highly Milano’s affection for the college found during the recruiting go to.

“The minute he walked because door, I might really feel the passion that he had for Cal and it reverberated with me,” Melvin stated. “I recognize when he left, I told my parents, ‘I want to go to Cal,’ and it was as a result of Bob Milano.”

Because Melvin really did not play a load as the single freshman on the ’80 team, he invested a great deal of time unemployed, picking Milano’s brain.

“I remained in his ear all year,” Melvin claimed. “And currently when I’m managing, I consider the times and the talks that we had. … Just the inquiries around, ‘Why are you doing this? Why are they doing that?’, that have actually been so impactful for me.”

Melvin and Blankenship are 2 of the 21 major leaguers that bet the Bears throughout Milano’s tenure as head instructor.

Among the extra prominent big leaguers were first baseman Kevin Maas; Gold Glove-winning outfielder Darren Lewis; catcher Jerry Goff (the dad of former Cal quarterback Jared Goff, now with the Detroit Lions); infielder Jeff Kent, the NL MVP with the Giants in 2000; infielder Geoff Blum; infielder/outfielder Xavier Nady; and reliever Tyler Walker.

Left-hander Bryan Rate spent four seasons (1981-84) with the Bears, holds the Cal career document for innings pitched at 374 2/3 and was inducted into the Cal Sports HOF in 2011.

Though Rate didn’t make the majors as a bottle, he was a big-league throwing trainer for 5 teams over the bulk of 20 years, including with the Giants last year. Cost was the Cincinnati Reds’ supervisor for four-plus seasons (2014-18).

Rate called Milano “the skilled instructor. … What sticks out to me is his assumption that all of his gamers took the field prepared.

“We exercised hard. We exercised a lot of hours and we did a lot of detail work. It wasn’t just an issue of taking batting practice and working in the bullpen. We worked on every aspect of the video game.”

Milano matured in Oakland and mosted likely to Bishop O’Dowd Secondary School. In young people baseball, he had fun with and versus the similarity Curt Flood, Joe Morgan, Vada Pinson and Willie Stargell.

After his playing days at Cal finished, he worked as an assistant coach for the Bears before spending numerous years as the head baseball instructor at Burlingame.

Milano returned to Cal in the very early 1970s and was an assistant train for Jackie Jensen and an assistant athletic supervisor for 4 years prior to taking over the baseball program ahead of the 1978 period.

Milano two times was called the Pac-12 Southern Division Co-Coach of the Year (1980, ’92). He was an assistant instructor on the united state team that won gold in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the head instructor of the U.S. national team in 1997. Milano was sworn in into the American Baseball Trains Hall of Fame in 2010.

“Anyone that underwent the program could not assist but leave it being a much better person and being more ready wherever your life took you,” Rate stated. “We were all far better for the experience of being around ‘7’ and living up to the requirements he established.”

Said Melvin: “There are so several things about Bob Milano that have actually affected where I am right now. He’s a special male.”

Milano is made it through by his other half Diane, kid Bob Jr., little girls Paula, Laura, Audrey and Gina, their spouses, five grandchildren, and his sibling Margaret. Details on an Event of Life will certainly be announced.

Milano grew up in Oakland, California and attended Bishop O'Dowd High School, graduating in 1957. Milano went on to play baseball for the California Golden Bears in 1960 and 1961, leading the 1960 team in hitting with a 357 average. Milano played summer baseball for the Lloydminster Meridians in the Western Canada Baseball League in 1960 and 1961.

After graduating from Cal, Milano was a varsity assistant for the Cal baseball team, while playing for the Humboldt Crabs in the summers of 1962 and 1963, playing in the National Baseball Congress World Series in 1963.

After 10 years as head coach at Burlingame High School, Milano was an assistant coach at Cal under Jackie Jensen from 1974 to 1977, until he was chosen as the new Cal head coach in 1978.

Coach Milano returned to coach the Humboldt Crabs in 1979, with five of his Cal players, including Rod Booker, finishing with a record of 34-16 and a return trip to the NBC World Series in Wichita. Those five Cal players Coach Milano brought to the Crabs, formed the core of the 1980 Cal team who made the College World Series. He was inducted into the Humboldt Crabs Hall of Fame in 2018.

In 22 years at Cal, Coach Milano compiled a record of 688-644-4 (.516). His teams made the postseason six times, making the College World Series in 1980, 1988 and 1992. His Cal teams produced numerous future Major Leaguers including Bob Melvin, Jeff Kent, Lance Blankenship, Darren Lewis, Xavier Nady, and Rod Booker.