Author: fartheroffthewall

This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage.  Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.

The most obvious choices for No. 5:

= Reggie Bush: USC football
= Albert Pujols: Los Angeles Angels
= Robert Horry: Los Angeles Lakers
= Freddie Freeman: Los Angeles Dodgers
= Kenny Easley: UCLA football
= Baron Davis: UCLA basketball, Los Angeles Clippers

The not-so-obvious choices for No. 5:

= Brian Downing: California Angels
= Dieter Brock: Los Angeles Rams
= Misty May Treanor: Long Beach State women’s volleyball
= Ali Riley: Angel City FC
= Corey Seager: Los Angeles Dodgers
= Normar Garciaparra: Los Angeles Dodgers

The most interesting story for No. 5:
Hunter Greene: Notre Dame High of Sherman Oaks baseball (2014 to 2017)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Sherman Oaks, Stevenson Ranch, Compton, Woodland Hills

Hunter Green might be No. 19-5511 TCX on the Patone color spectrum, described as a cool-tone, earthy, woodland shade that “can evoke feelings of peace and balance, and can also embody growth and new beginnings.”

Hunter Greene — add the “e” on the end of his swatch — wore No. 5 as the Notre Dame High of Sherman Oaks’ pitcher/shortstop/attention grabber when he arrived on the varsity baseball team as a freshman. That was pretty cool unto itself.

Greene found his own inner peace and balance as a two-way star. He wasn’t throwing shade. By the time he reached the end of his senior season, many saw him as Major League Baseball’s next big deal.

In numerology, No. 5 is said to represent flexibility and resilience. It represents the pentagram. It is supposed to bring luck for those intelligent, adventurous and have good communication skills.

Exhibit A: Hunter Greene.

When Sports Illustrated still had cultural relevance and media clout, it presented Hunter Greene to the world on the cover of its April 24, 2017 issue. A few months heading into the Major League Baseball draft, it proclaimed: “Baseball’s LeBron or the new Babe? He’s 17. He mashes. He throws 102. Hunter Greene is the star baseball needs (First he has to finish high school).”

It was suitable for framing.

While SI had put high school athletes on the cover before — less than a dozen — Greene was the first California high school athlete honored. Also, the first African-American prep baseball player on the cover.

Next came the June cover of Sports Illustrated for Kids: “Meet 17-year-old Hunter Greene, the slugging, flame-throwing, violin-playing painter who is on deck to become baseball’s biggest superstar.”

That’s a lot for one teenager to be saddled with. But if anyone might be best equipped to handle that sort of attention, Green, who grew up 20 miles north of the campus up in Stevenson Ranch near Santa Clarita, may have been the too-good-to-be-true story for a three-time All-CIF player.

“People are going to look at him expecting things and he’s still just a kid,” his father, Russell Greene said. “He has to rise to that occasion and he will.”

Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times whetted the appetite prior to SI with his own profile of Greene a couple months earlier, as the 2017 baseball season started, and the headline called him a “a teenage star in the making.”

“At 6 feet 4 and 211 pounds, with a still-maturing body and a powerful right arm that could lead to a $9-million signing bonus, Greene … scored 31 on the ACT and is on a first-name basis with many in Major League Baseball’s hierarchy, from the commissioner, Rob Manfred, to Hall of Famers Joe Torre and Tommy Lasorda. This smart, humble, communicative teen could be an ideal role model to perform on baseball’s highest stage.”

He was serving up 100-mph-plus fastballs in the recent winter league games.

He had become a fascinating fielding shortstop whose “power is only getting better since his 5-foot-10 freshman days when he batted just .122 on varsity. He has since hit .419 and .390 in the last two seasons. His improvement has been both consistent and dramatic.”

Green had the green light to do big things.

This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage.  Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.

The most obvious choices for No. 43:

= Troy Polamalu, USC football
= Raul Mondesi, Los Angeles Dodgers
= Mychal Thompson, Los Angeles Lakers

The not-so-obvious choices for No. 43:

= Greg Lee, UCLA basketball
= Rick Sutcliffe, Los Angeles Dodgers
= Dave Ball, UCLA football
= George Brunet, California Angels

The most interesting story for No. 43:
Troy Polamalu, USC football safety (1999 to 2002)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Garden Grove, Santa Ana, L.A. Coliseum

The best chance Troy Polamalu had for survival when he was a kid was to move out of Southern California. His mother agreed.

So when he was 9 years old, with an incredible amount of self awareness, Troy went to live in Oregon. His Uncle Salu Polamalu would be a major influence on him.

Eventually, the next best chance Troy Polamalu had for self fulfillment as an talented, passion-filled athlete when he was a teenager was was to come back to Southern California. His family agreed.

So when he graduated from high school in Oregon, his Uncle Keneti Polamalu, better known during his USC football days as a running back named Kennedy Pola was a major influence on his finding a spot on the Trojans’ football roster.

It didn’t take all that long before Polamalu stood head and shoulders above his Trojan teammates. Aside from his signature head of hair.

Dynamic. Acrobatic. But with his soulful calmness, integrity and dedication to family and spirituality. He also became another link in a line of influential and admired Polynesian/American Samoan players in the region’s storied history history.

This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.

The most obvious choices for No. 40:
= Elroy Hirsch: Los Angeles Rams
= Frank Tanana: California Angels
= Troy Percival: California/Anaheim Angels
= Bartolo Colon: Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels


The not-so-obvious choices for No. 40:
= Bill Singer: Los Angeles Dodgers
= Roman Phifer: UCLA football
= Karl Morgan: UCLA football
= Manu Tuiasosopo: UCLA football
= John Vallely: UCLA basketball

The most interesting story for No. 40:
Billy Bean, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder (1989), Loyola Marymount outfielder (1983 to 1986)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Santa Ana, Westchester, Dodger Stadium

******

When the Los Angeles Dodgers fumbled their way through a regrettably controversial Pride Night at Dodger Stadium in June of 2023, Billy Bean wasn’t going to shy away from any of it. He arrived in his No. 40 jersey — the number he wore during his one and only season with the team in 1989 as a reserve outfielder — and this event, however convoluted it had become, or misunderstood by those who had to have their own opinions, was going to have his positive spin.

That was likely the last time many in the organization saw him.

Just two months later, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. He revealed the diagnosis during the MLB’s Winter Meetings in December to help with a “Stand Up To Cancer” fundraiser. He had been awaiting a bone marrow transplant.

After a year-long battle, Bean died at his New York home on August 6, 2024. He was 60.

The photo of Bean in No. 40 was atop the New York Times/Athletic obituary of him that helped explain how he “played a groundbreaking role in pushing MLB to reshape its relationship with the LGBTQ community.” He had been actively serving as the MLB’s Senior Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Special Assistant to the Commissioner as a way to amp up “visibility of LGBTQ issues in the sport and deliver education initiatives to players and front offices throughout the game.”

Bean never asked for this job. He just sort of evolved into it. As the sport did around him.