It started a few of years ago, in 1993, to be exact. Agoura Pony Baseball’s league coaches selected Seth to his first of many All Star and travel teams. They handed out the uniforms by lining up from shortest to tallest. Number one went to the shortest and so on. It was hard to tell the difference between the first seven or so. They were all short. Seth getting the number 5 was just a matter of fate. From then on, he would get that number on a jersey as often as he could. Sometimes the numbers were pre-selected and he had no choice. One time he selected 55, one time 15, and another 25, just as long a 5 was on his uniform. This continued into high school and included his jerseys for baseball, football and basketball. He was successful most of the time. In high school and college he wore the number “5” in his sophomore, junior and senior years. It seemed that each freshman year that he had to wait until some upperclassman graduated and the number was free.
For a period, Seth even had a chain necklace with the number “5” on it. His room is cluttered with 5’s, some he picked up, others given to him. Arlene’s and my cell phones speed dials are set to “5” for Seth. He even put a picture of a “5” on my cell that comes up when he calls. Occasionally I will answer the phone saying, hello “5” when he calls.
Now that Pony, travel baseball, JCC Maccabi games, high school and college baseball are over, we can look back at how well Seth and his number “5” did. There were many trophies, tournament wins and awards all the way through high school. This continued in college, except to a higher level. His junior year, he set several school records, including most hits in a single season (43), most runs scored in a single season (35), and tying the record for the most hit by pitch in a single season (14). He earned honorable mention all-conference for the NCAC (North Coast Athletic Conference). He accomplished this batting .387 and committing only 11 errors in 187 chances to lead all NCAC shortstops in fielding percentage (.941). In his sophomore year, he committed only 4 errors and this helped him get selected as a first team Jewish All American by the Jewish Sports Review. The numbers did not stop in his senior year either. Seth tied the previous record for most stolen bases in a single season (25), although another teammate passed him with 27. He also tied the career hit by pitches (30) and moved into the third place for most career hits with 130. To top his senior year off, he was selected to the 2nd team all conference NCAC (missed first team by one vote) and finished third in the player of the year voting.
Seth’s college baseball career ended May 5th, that’s right, 5\5. Not only that, May 5th was the birthday of Arlene’s father, Moniek (Zedah) who just passed this past December. Zedah (as well as the Bubbie) were holocaust survivors. This leads us to the next chapter. By now Seth has signed a contract to play baseball in a new professional baseball league in
And the mystique of “5” continues…
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