Judgement Day Nears For Cal Baseball

Fate Of Baseball, Other Sports To Be Determined Next Week…

Here’s a great article on the Save Cal Baseball effort by Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle…

Today (Jan. 28) marks an annual exercise in hope and optimism: the first official day of baseball practice at Cal, as the Bears begin to prepare for their season opener Feb. 18 against Utah.

Monday brings a more ominous milepost: the school-imposed deadline to decide whether to reinstate baseball and three other sports scheduled for elimination this summer.

College baseball, lacrosse and men’s and women’s gymnastics – plus rugby, slated for demotion to club status – find encouragement in feverish fundraising efforts the past four months. “Save Cal Sports,” a group spearheaded by baseball alums and designed to preserve all five programs, has gathered more than $15 million in pledges, according to Sam Petke, a board member of the Cal Baseball Foundation.

That’s a significant number – but still well short of the $25 million school officials say is necessary to reinstate the sports.

“We clearly have the university’s full attention, and that’s something we’ve worked toward,” said Petke, a former Cal baseball player and now a merchant banker in San Francisco. “I think they realize we’re committed to this. It ultimately comes down to how much money we can raise.”

Petke and his colleagues found an ally in Giants president Larry Baer, a 1980 graduate of the school. Baer hosted a Jan. 7 meeting at AT&T Park, where those involved in the reinstatement campaign sat down with athletic director Sandy Barbour and other Cal officials.

The Giants already have an established relationship with Cal – the football team will play its home games in China Basin next season – but they also are not inclined to funnel boatloads of money across the bay.

“Having as many college baseball programs as possible in our area is good for the sport, so losing one is something we’d like to avoid,” Baer said Tuesday. “We’re not in position to write a huge check, but we might be able to call on friends of the Giants to help.”

The efforts to reinstate these four programs (and restore rugby to varsity status) require clearing two hurdles. First, the alums/donors must raise enough money to fund the sports for the next several years; they’ve been told it will take $25 million but hope there’s some flexibility on the number.

They also must produce a long-term plan to fully endow the four programs (which could require up to $80 million). School officials expect such a plan, in some form, before they would consider reinstating the sports.

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau announced the cuts Sept. 28, as a way to save nearly $4 million annually. The athletic department had a $12 million operating deficit in the most recent fiscal year; money from student registration fees and the chancellor’s discretionary fund covered the gap.

Given university-wide layoffs and cutbacks in this tumultuous economic climate, faculty members pressured Birgeneau to make similar sacrifices in athletics. The school ultimately decided it must limit its annual contribution to the athletic department to $5 million starting in 2014.

Cal officials, while respectful of fundraising efforts, have shown little public inclination to reverse their decision. One source close to the situation described a “wall of silence” from the school in providing details to those interested in saving the programs.

The university previously established Monday’s deadline, including it in an informational posting on the athletic department website. Many of the 163 affected student athletes need resolution as they contemplate whether to stay in Berkeley or transfer.

“We have an obligation to the student athletes, coaches and staff to clear up the lingering uncertainty,” Cal spokesman Dan Mogulof said. “We can’t allow that to go on – it’s debilitating. This is not a deadline for checks in hand. It will be time for a serious reality check.”

As this plays out behind the scenes, baseball coach David Esquer tries to point his team toward its upcoming and potentially final season. Three players left Cal at the semester break, transferring to UCLA (pitcher Eric Jaffe), Penn State (pitcher Joe Kurrasch) and Fresno City College (infielder Brett Bishop).

That leaves 35 players about to start practice as a final decision on the program’s fate nears.

“I’m optimistic because I believe in the people behind the efforts,” Esquer said. “I’m optimistic we’ll get this done and reason will prevail.”

And if the school announces it’s still cutting the sports?

“That would be an emotional hurdle for our guys,” he said.