The Bob Milano Scholarship Fund honors Bob’s legacy of commitment to the academic and athletic excellence of Cal’s Baseball athletes. Anyone who knows Bob knows how much Cal Baseball means to him. This very special scholarship pays tribute to Bob’s coaching legacy, love for Cal Baseball and, most importantly, his undying commitment to the student athletes he coached. Each year one player will be selected as the recipient of the Bob Milano Scholarship based on his demonstrated commitment to academic achievement and team leadership, values that define Bob’s contribution to Cal Baseball.
Donations to the Bob Milano Scholarship Fund can be made by sending a check payable to the Bob Milano Scholarship Fund to:
Cal Baseball Foundation, Inc., c/o Comyns, Smith, McCleary & Deaver, LLP, 3470 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Suite A-110, Lafayette, CA 94549
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Bob Milano — “7”
Bob Milano’s connection with Cal Baseball began more than a half-century ago and he is one of the most successful and beloved individuals in the 125-year history of the Cal Baseball program. As is fitting to the impact he has had on hundreds of his players, Bob is known simply by his game jersey number “7”. In 2003 Bob became only the fourth person in Cal baseball history to have his game jersey retired.
Bob spent three decades directly involved with Cal Baseball, as a player, assistant coach and as head coach for 22 seasons beginning in 1978. In those 22 years, the Bears reached post-season play six times and appeared in the College World Series in 1980, ’88 and ’92. Bob twice was named Pac-10 Southern Division Coach of the Year, including in 1980, when the Bears set a school record with 44 wins. Bob also served as an assistant athletic director at Cal from 1974-78 and a member of the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee from 1990-96. Bob was the Assistant Coach for Team USA in the 1985 Intercontinental Cup, the Assistant Coach of the 1988 U.S. Olympic Gold Medal Team and the head coach of the 1997 U.S. National Team.
One of college baseball’s most esteemed coaches, Milano retired in 1999 as the school’s most successful baseball coach with 688 career victories. Bob has been inducted into the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame and the American Baseball Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame.
Bob mentored 15 All-Americans and 49 all-conference selections during his head coaching career at Cal.
Several of Bob’s players reached the major leagues, including Rod Booker, Chuck Cary, Bob Melvin, Lance Blankenship, Jerry Goff, Kevin Maas, Jeff Kent, Darren Lewis, Matt Luke, Geoff Blum, Tyler Walker, and Xavier Nady. Bob has the distinction of having two of his former players working as Major League managers: Bob Melvin with the Oakland A’s and Bryan Price with the Cincinnati Reds.