Cal Baseball and Oakland A's: The Trend Continues

One of major league baseball’s most compelling stories of the last two seasons is the performance of the Oakland A’s. And, as has sometimes been the case during that team’s runs of success through the years, there is a Cal connection.

Manager Bob Melvin, shortstop Marcus Semien (above) and outfielder/infielder Mark Canha, all played for the Golden Bears in their college days. And their ties to the campus remain strong, as each has loyalty and affection for the Berkeley campus. 

“We all try to support and give back because it is the right thing to do,” Melvin said in a recent

Oakland Athletics

Bob Melvin is still a loyal Bear

interview at the Oakland Coliseum. “I wasn’t there long enough to get my degree, but I was there long enough to go to a (College) World Series and realize what an important part of my life that was.”

The trio of A’s, so instrumental in the team’s run to the postseason a year ago and this year’s move into contention, are continuing a tradition of links between the Oakland franchise and Cal.

Mike Epstein, whose .381 career batting average (1963-64) is still the best in Bears’ history, was the starting first baseman on the A’s 1972 World Championship team.

Cal Hall of Famer Lance Blankenship played on the A’s pennant winners from 1988-90, including the 1989 World Champions.

And the team’s one-time owners, the Haas Family, have made myriad contributions to the University which include but are not limited to eponymous buildings from one end of the campus (Haas Pavilion) to the other (Haas Business School). It is no coincidence that their ownership coincided with a period of great success.

And now come Semien, Canha and Melvin. 

Finding someone whose Cal roots run deeper than Semien’s is very hard. When he talks of his “Cal family” he can mean it literally. 

His father, Damien was a four-year football letterman (1990-93) and Marcus’ wife (Tarah) was an All-American in volleyball. “She was a superstar and I was just a little guy here,” said Semien, who has known Tara since their high school days in the East Bay. “She was 6-3, the same height she is now when she was a freshman in high school.

Semien, a two-sport star (baseball and basketball) at St. Mary’s (Berkeley) High, was drafted by the Chicago White Sox out of high school. But he did not sign and chose to go to college.

Cal Athletics

Semien as a Bear

“I had decided that baseball was my better sport,” he said. “But I was 17, and I wasn’t ready for the professional game.” 

Given his bloodlines, Cal seemed an obvious destination. 

“There were a couple of other offers but the education wasn’t as good at the other schools,” he said. “The Pac-10 at the time was a better conference with the competition, plus both my parents went there, it was ten minutes from home so it was a pretty easy choice.

“That was my favorite college team, whether it was football or basketball. I also went to some baseball games

“As I got older, as it became a place where I wanted to go, I wanted to learn how they ran their program and what college baseball was all about. So that was the closest place to really check it out and I was really impressed with what I saw.”

The middle infielder did not earn a letter as a freshman, but was honorable mention All-Conference as a soph in 2010 and helped the Bears to the College World Series the next year. 

Asked to pick his favorite Cal moment he said, “Our regional heading up to that World Series. We lost our first game to Baylor. Then we were behind in our second game to Alcorn State and it wasn’t looking good for us. Then we came back and won that game.

“Then we didn’t lose again the rest of that regional. We had our backs against the wall multiple times. Then we got a walk-off hit, a walk-off hit. And I came up with the bases loaded and no outs and struck out. But one of my teammates Devon Rodriguez got a base-hit to win the game. Just a roller-coaster of emotions there. That was my most memorable moment at Cal, winning that regional.”

He was drafted again by the White Sox in 2011, this time he signed. After four years in the Chicago organization, he was traded to the A’s  He took over as the Oakland shortstop in 2015 and has been there ever since, getting increasingly better each year.

His proximity to the campus enables him to stay close to the program. 

“I still work out there a lot, I am around those players a lot,” he said. “When I get in that batting cage, sometimes they’re in class so I don’t always see them. 

“But I do cross paths with the guys. I am a lot older than they are, but I still want them to know that if they ever want to talk baseball, hitting, their experience at Cal, whatever I am fair game. 

“I really enjoy coming back, using the facilities and being around the guys.”

He has stayed close to his former Cal teammates. “We still all talk. Obviously, people are working, doing other stuff. Some of us are still playing,” he said. “In the offseason, there are a lot of events. Golf tournaments, football games, tailgate events. We all have a good chat.”

He follows the Bears teams as best he can, but as the father of two young sons, his time away from the ballpark isn't always his own.

“I go to a basketball game every now and then, but with the little ones it’s kind of hard,” he said, “They (Cal basketball) had a tough year last year. … Either way we are going to support them.”

Obviously, by the time the college baseball season starts, the pro players are at spring training. Still, Semien keeps tabs on the Bears, “I see (head coach) Mike Neu all the time,” he said. “It’s good that they’ve got a former big leaguer (A’s 2003)  to help these kids. Going from (David) Esquer to Mike is a little different style. But the players are adjusting and seem to be doing well.”

Semien recently toured the campus with a crew from the TV show “All A’s.” He stood in front of the Valley Life Science Building and pointed out one of the Cal baseball team’s training runs started there, went up to the Campanile and back. Multiple times. “How many depended on how mad at us the conditioning coach was,” he said. Adding that he spent a lot of hours inside the LSB. “I didn’t take a lot of science courses, but it has a nice library,” he said, “And it is a beautiful building.”

Canha, like Melvin and Semien is a Bay Area native. 

Cal Athletics

Canha as a Bear

“I grew up in San Jose and Stanford was a little closer to me so I was more of a Stanford fan,” Canha said. “I went to some Cal stuff too, but Stanford was more convenient.”

However, in 2007 when he graduated from high school, his affection for Stanford was not returned by the baseball team. “Stanford didn’t want me. Cal very much did,” he said. “The scholarship had a lot to do with it. Once I got offered a scholarship to Cal, my parents were all excited. Now it’s something that is very important to me.”

He played three years (2008-10) for the Bears, being selected All-Conference the last two. Drafted by the Marlins after his junior year, he spent four years in their organization and one in the Colorado system before being acquired by the A’s. He spent the entire 2015 season with the A’s, was up and down because of injuries the next two seasons but was full-fledged major leaguer last year. 

He stays as close to the Cal program as he can, although he now makes his offseason home in Arizona so he no longer has the proximity to campus.

Oakland Athletics

Canha as an Athletic

“Before I moved out of state I would work out at the facility there,” he said. “I still stay close to the coaching staff. I am not as involved as I’d like to be now that I am living in Arizona, but I try to stay in touch.I saw they had a good run this year.”

Canha’s last year in Berkeley was the one before Semien’s team made the College World Series.

“Did I see that coming? No,” Canha said. “ Not that we weren’t good, we had decent teams. But that team that won after I left, they had a lot of magic and it was a special team. I was proud of them.

“I was in pro ball and I remember listening to the game when they went to the World Series. I couldn’t be more proud of a team and a group of friends and guys that I was really close to. It was great to see.”

He maintains contact with his Cal contemporaries. “All my roommates we are still very close,” he said. “One of them is getting married this offseason and I am going to be at his wedding. I am really looking forward to it.”

When asked for a college highlight, he hesitated, then settled on the friendships he made as a Cal student.” I don’t know if there is one thing that stands out,” he said, “I always enjoyed beating Stanford but I think it was just the times being around the guys, whether it was the clubhouse or just hanging around the houses. We had a very close-knit team. We were all friends and we’d just hang out together.”

Melvin played for seven teams in a ten-year major league career after leaving college. He then managed in Seattle (2003-04) and Arizona (2005-09)  During that period he was unable to maintain

strong ties to Berkeley, but when he took over the A’s in 2011 his Berkeley connection was re-established. 

Cal athletics

Melvin as a Bear

“I support it as best I can, especially since I got back here,”  he said. “I support it in the offseason, I am a season ticket holder at the basketball games. I support the football games. One thing I don’t get to go out to is baseball games during the season. But it has been a lot of fun getting back here and supporting the program.”

Melvin said he enjoys having some fellow Bears to manage. “It’s nice,” he said, “You always get into battles with other guys about different schools. Based on the fact we have three of us here and we also have some Stanford guys (Coach Mike) Aldrete and (Stephen) Piscotty so we can team up on them.”

Once a Bear, always a Bear, Or so it seems.