Cal Eason was a catcher and first baseman who played for the Santa Barbara Seabirds and the Oakland Athletics. He played catcher for the majority of his career, but had to switch over to first base due to knee problems. He is portrayed by Michael Trucco.
Character Biography[]
Dead Man's Curveball[]
In "Dead Man's Curve Ball", back in 1991 he was playing for the Santa Barbara Seabirds, and Shawn, who was ball boy at the time, looked up to him a lot. He then went on to play in the MLB, but due to bad knees from playing catcher so long, had to step back down to the Seabirds.
In the present, when Shawn is brought in as hitting coach by head coach Mel Hornsby so he and Gus can investigate, Cal saves Shawn from a beatdown from Izzy Jackson. Cal tells Shawn and Gus that it's his job to keep Izzy out of trouble. He also says that to get back to the MLB he has to change his position to first baseman, due to his knees, but Izzy is starting over him. The next day Izzy shows up to the game two hours late and hung over, so Mel starts Cal at second base. Shawn then suspects that Cal was the one who accidentally killed old hitting coach Grady, while trying to get Izzy suspended for amphetamenes, but Cal denies it. During the game, Seabirds GM Neil Stillman shows up and tells Mel to play Izzy as scouts are there, so Cal gets put back at catcher.
When Izzy is murdered, and it's discovered that the only person who uses the size bat Izzy was killed with is Cal, Shawn suspects Cal again and confronts him, but Cal has an alibi as he was getting his knees iced. He then excitedly tells Shawn that he got called up to play in the big leagues again in Oakland, and Shawn embraces him and promises never to accuse him of anything again. As Shawn and Gus are about to be murdered by the real killer, Neil, Cal shows up on a hunch, but is unarmed. Right then new hitting coach Wade Boggs arrives, and Neil runs away, but is tackled by Henry, and arrested. Cal then goes and plays in Oakland.