By Chris Kazarian

Statistics are an important part of baseball, but for Sean O’Brien only one number matters - 32. 
    It is emblazoned on the left side of his Chatham A’s cap and has nothing to do with batting average, home runs, or runs batted in. 

    It is why Sean plays the game; it is why he could care less whether he goes hitless in a Cape league game this season. 

    32 is what gives O’Brien perspective. 

    Flash back three months ago, towards the end of his junior year at Virginia Tech. It was Monday, April 16, 2007 and Sean was leaving his off campus apartment heading to his accounting class when the unthinkable happened. 

    He received word of the first two killings in Johnston Hall and immediately picked up the phone to call his father, John. "He called me to say there was a shooting on campus and asked me, ‘Should I go to class?" his father said. "I told him absolutely not, go back to your apartment."

    The story and images have been retold and rehashed time and time again since that day. In the deadliest mass shooting in American history, Cho Seung-Hui left 5 Virginia Tech faculty members and 27 students in his wake before eventually taking his own life. 

    As he watched the news unfold from his apartment, O’Brien, the captain of the Virginia Tech club spent the day trying to contact each one of his teammates. His worst fear - that one of them may have been a victim of this senseless crime - was alleviated when he received word that all were safe. 

    The days following the incident were not easy for him, his teammates, classmates, or the residents of Blacksburg, Virginia. "It was a tough time for everybody, not just people on our campus, but everyone in the world," he said. "I think people realized that this could happen anywhere to anyone." 

    To help take their minds off the tragedy, Hokies head coach Peter Hughes opened up his home to the team as a way to escape the constant bombardment of media coverage. "We had dinner at coaches’ house a lot... we would watch baseball, play wiffle ball," he said, anything to divert their attention. 

    O’Brien’s father, who was planning to come down to see the William and Mary game on Wednesday, which was eventually cancelled, arrived at Tech on Thursday with his wife, Joan. They stayed into the following week to be with their son. 

    "You feel bad for the parents that had to go through that," John O’Brien said. "It really was just a horrible situation. You can’t put it into words." 

    An aspiring major leaguer, the shootings gave O’Brien a chance to be in the limelight, but not in the manner he ever envisioned. He was a guest on Cold Pizza answering questions, not about baseball, but about the Virginia Tech massacre. "I wish I didn’t have to do it, given the circumstances," he said. 

    A native of Chappaqua, New York, O’Brien was asked by the hosts to compare the killings with what happened on 9-11. When they started playing baseball in New York, he told them, it started the healing process and helped life return to "normal." 

    O’Brien admits that it will be a long time before that happens. "It will never be necessarily back to normal," he said. 

    Yet, the healing process took place five days later when Tech took the field against the University of Miami at English Field. It was the first sporting event held on campus since the shootings. Athletics had been temporarily put on hold, having been replaced by counseling and candlelight vigils. 

    Yet, the community clearly wanted a sense of normalcy in their lives. A record 3,132 fans came out to witness the Tech team, adorned in commemorative patches, black armbands, and one black sock accompanying the typical maroon one, fall one incredible catch short of pulling off the improbable. 

    Down 10-5 in the eighth inning, the Hokies rallied to pull within two runs in the ninth. With third baseman on first, shortstop Warren Schaeffer stepped up to the plate. He stroked what seemed to be a sure home run only to be robbed by Miami left fielder Nick Freitas. 

    For the Hokie faithful, this was no reason for sorrow. Through the rest of the season, O’Brien said, wherever they went "Everyone was wonderful. Even at away games fans rooted for us. It really was something to see. Everyone was a Hokie. It definitely brought the team closer together." 

    Despite a mediocre 23-31 overall record, that included going 6-10 after the tragedy, O’Brien said, the tragedy made the team realize what was truly important. "We had a difficult year, but that kind of put everything into perspective," he said. 

    After every game, win or lose, O’Brien and his teammates, made the painful walk onto campus and placed a game ball at one of the 32 memorials. The team honored each one, O’Brien said, and it is who they played for during the remainder of the season. 

    These days the incident is never far from the mind of the longtime Chatham summer. In addition to the 32 on the front of the cap, the date, 4-16-07, is written on the back. "It reminds me of who I am playing for," he said. "This will be a big part of my life for the rest of my life." 

    As the only Tech player in the league, he realizes that the questions about that day will come and he willingly accepts them. "I don’t mind telling them about it at all," he said. 

    When people find out he attends Tech, the first words out of their mouth are usually, "I’m sorry," he said. "They have nothing to be sorry about. Blacksburg is the greatest place in the world. I have the greatest group of friends and I think the world of the school. I am not sorry to go to Virginia Tech." 

    As a father, John O’Brien said, "It makes you proud to see your son feel for the entire community, the school, and the families of those that lost loved ones that day. You don’t want them to forget what happened that day." 

    In his second season in the Cape league, O’Brien’s .327 batting average and .420 on base percentage at Tech has carried over to Chatham. 

    He hit his first home run of his Cape league career on June 18 against Orleans and is enjoying a solid season, playing in the outfield and occasionally as a designated hitter. As of last Friday, he posted a .286 batting average, and was second on the team in hits, 18, and in on base percentage, .416. 

    Chatham A’s manager John Schniffner was effusive in his praise of the one-time temporary player. "He is a good solid player," he said. "He is versatile, can play first base, outfield, or DH. He is the perfect Cape Cod league player. He has really helped out our team." 

    For someone who grew up attending Cape league games, it is a thrill to be playing here this summer. "I spent my summers in Chatham since I was five," he said. "I love the Cape league and everything about it." 

    O’Brien, who counts being drafted by the Montreal Expos out of Horace Greeley High School in New York as a career highlight, is not unlike many in the Cape league. He envisions smacking singles, doubles, and triples not on the Cape, but in a big league park one day. 

    Yet, if that does not happen, he said, the deaths of 32 total strangers on 4-26-07 have taught him that, "there are more important things than baseball and life in general."