Cal Baseball: MVPs Jackie Jensen, Jeff Kent Headline Bears' All-Time MLB Team

Cal is among just five colleges that have produced at least two baseball MVPs, with Jackie Jensen winning for the American League in 1958 and Jeff Kent in the National League in 2000.

Arizona State (Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds and Dustin Pedroia) and Michigan (George Sisler, Charlie Gehringer and Barry Larkin) each boast three MVPs while Auburn (Frank Thomas and Josh Donaldson) and Michigan State (Steve Garvey and Kirk Gibson)  produced two apiece.

Jensen and Kent highlight our all-time Cal All-MLB Team, with players chosen on the basis of their performance as professionals.

The COVID-19 pandemic left us without sports altogether through much of the spring and summer. The Pac-12 Conference remains shut dow, but pro sports are a different story.

With the start of the NFL season last week, the three major pro sports are experiencing an unprecedented overlap in their schedules. Typically, the NBA doesn’t begin until mid-October, just a week or so before the World Series ends.

Now, with adjustments to both the basketball and baseball calendars due to the pandemic, we will be treated to a one-month stretch where all three major pro sports are playing, and two of them will be crowning their champion.

To celebrate these once-in-a-lifetime circumstances, we are presenting our all-time Cal professional all-star teams in all three sports.

Cal’s All-MLB Team

— Catcher: Bob Melvin. The A’s manager was a good enough catcher to play 10 MLB seasons (1985-94) with Detroit, San Francisco, Baltimore, Kansas City, Boston, the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox. He hit .233 with 35 career home runs, including 11 with the Giants in 1987. In 17 seasons as a big league skipper, the past 10 with the A’s, Melvin has won 1,253 games and is on his way to a seventh postseason appearance.

— Pitcher: Andy Messersmith. A right-hander, Messersmith compiled a career record of 130-99 and a 2.86 earned run average with the California Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta and New York Yankees in 12 seasons from 1968-79. He threw 27 shutouts, was a two-time 20-game winner and a four-time All-Star. He finished among the top-5 in the Cy Young Award voting three times. But Messersmith’s lasting contribution to all of sports was challenging baseball’s reserve clause, winning his case before an arbitrator in 1975 and becoming one of professional sports' first free agents.

— Pitcher: Orval Overall. One of Cal’s first sports stars — in football and baseball. After leaving Berkeley, beginning in 1905, Overall posted a record of 108-71 with a 2.26 ERA in seven big league seasons. The 6-foot-2, 214-pound right-hander won 20 games twice and led the National League in strikeouts with 205 in 1909 when striking out hitters was much tougher than today. He was 23-7 with a 1.68 ERA for the Chicago Cubs in 1907, pitching eight of his 30 career shutouts. He also won a World Series game that year, helping the Cubs to their first title. He won twice in the 1908 Series and in the clinching victory struck out 10 Detroit Tigers, including four in one inning — the only pitcher to achieve that in a World Series game.

— First base: Mike Epstein. The left-handed slugger played for five teams over nine seasons (1966-74), batting .244 with 130 career homers. Epstein had his best season in 1969 with the Washington Senators, hitting 30 homers and droving in 90 runs. He homered 26 times for the Oakland A’s in 1972, but was 0-for-16 in the first of the franchise’s three straight World Series triumphs, although he did draw five walks and scored a run.

— Second base: Jeff Kent. Although he has never come close to being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Kent’s 377 career home runs are the most ever by a second baseman. In 17 seasons (1992-2008), he had 984 career extra-base hits and drove in 1,518 runs. A five-time All-Star, Kent had 12 seasons of at least 20 home runs and eight with 100-plus RBIs. He was National League MVP for the Giants in 2000 when he batted .334, slugged 33 home runs and drove in 125 runs.

— Shortstop: Marcus Semien. The son of former Cal wide receiver Damien Semien, Marcus has played the past six of his eight MLB seasons (2013-20) for his hometown Oakland A’s. He has a career batting average of .255 with 114 home runs, and comes off a 2019 campaign in which he played all 162 games, hit 33 home runs and scored 123 times to finish third in the American League MVP voting.

— Third base: Lance Blankenship. A true utility player during his six-year MLB career (1988-93), Blankenship played every position in the field except shortstop and catcher. He had just a .222 career batting average in 461 games, but earned his keep with his defensive work. Blankenship committed just three errors in the 42 games he played at third base.

— Outfield: Jackie Jensen. Perhaps Cal’s greatest two-sport athlete (apologies to Tony Gonzalez) as a 1,000-yard running back for a Rose Bowl team and College World Series championship star in the late 1940s, Jensen was equally impressive in the major leagues. In 11 seasons (1950-59, 1961), he batted .279 with 199 home runs and 929 RBIs. He led the American League in RBIs three times and hit at least 20 home runs six times. He won a World Series with the Yankees in 1950 and a Gold Glove with the Red Sox in 1959. He twice led the AL in outfield assists. Jensen was the AL’s MVP in 1958 when he hit 35 home runs and drove in 122 runs while playing in a Boston outfield with Hall of Famer Ted Williams. He was the first man to play in a Rose Bowl, baseball All-Star Game and World Series. Jensen retired prematurely due to a severe fear of flying.

Outfield: Sam Chapman. An All-America running back on Cal’s 1937 national championship football team that beat Alabama in the Rose Bowl, Chapman went on to an 11-year MLB career (1938-41 & '45-51). Despite missing most of four seasons to serve in the Navy during World War II, Chapman had 177 career home runs and 773 RBIs. He hit at least 20 homes five times and was an All-Star in 1946, his first full season back from the military.

Outfield: Darren Lewis. This was a tough call over Taylor Douthit, who batted .291 for seven teams over 11 seasons (1990-2002), played in three World Series and batted .336 with 206 hits for the Cardinals in 1929. But Lewis gets the nod based on his speed and defensive skills. Over 13 seasons, Lewis stole 247 bases, scored 1,021 runs and won a Gold Glove in 1995. In 1993 and ’98, while playing for the Giants and Red Sox, Lewis committed zero errors in 240 games at center field.

Designated hitter: Xavier Nady. Primarily a first baseman or outfielder for eight teams over his 12 MLB seasons through 2014, Nady lands a spot at DH in our lineup. He hit 104 career home runs, assembling his best season in 2008, when he combined for 25 home runs and 97 RBIs with the Pirates and Yankees.

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Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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