MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF : REGGIE SMITH JR. : After playing all over the football field for Montclair Prep, the son of the ex-Dodger outfielder is splitting his time between the outfield and the mound for the Mounties

The best player on the Montclair Prep baseball team has a problem.

“I have the longest name in the newspaper,” he says. “My name is Reggie Smith Jr., son of ex-Dodger Reggie Smith. That is my name.”

Smith, a 16-year-old junior at the Van Nuys school, would rather earn attention on his own merits. He doesn’t want to be known only as the kid whose dad played in the major leagues for 17 seasons, including six years with the Dodgers, and two in Japan.

Based on his performances during the past football season and the current baseball campaign, Reggie Smith Jr. is well on his way toward establishing his own identity.

“He’s as good an athlete as anybody I’ve coached,” said Jeff Pressman, Montclair Prep’s baseball coach. “He’s as dominating a player as you’ll see in high school, in regards to hitting the long ball and the strength of his throwing arm.”

Said John Hazelton, the Mounties’ football coach: “If I had to choose one player to play, I’d take Reggie Smith, period.”

Smith, who is 5-7 1/2 and weighs 183 pounds, played all over the field for Montclair’s football team. He started the season on offense as a fullback, moved to quarterback after the top signal caller got hurt, then back to fullback. On defense he played strong safety and linebacker.

“He played wherever we were shy,” Hazelton said. “That’s the type of person he is. He’s willing to do it. And that’s the type of athlete he is. He’s able to do it.”

The Mounties won the Alpha League, advanced to the second round of the playoffs, and finished the season at 9-3. Smith led the team in tackles, intercepted seven passes, passed for nearly 700 yards and rushed for 400 more yards.

He was named first-team all-Alpha League for the second straight season, team MVP and first team all-Southern Section as a defensive back.

Heading into today’s game against Western Christian, Smith has eight hits in 16 at-bats for the baseball team. In his first game of the year, Smith hit two home runs. He has four for the season and has eight RBIs in five games.

When Smith isn’t playing center field, he’s the team’s best pitcher. He has made three appearances, compiling a 1-0 record. In 11 innings, he has struck out 14 batters, walked nine, allowed five hits and one earned run.

“He’s literally carried us,” Pressman said.

Pressman said that if Smith pursues baseball, there is no question he will have a future in the sport.

“Offensively, he resembles his father,” Pressman said. “It’s almost scary: his stance and his power. He’s a tough out, as tough an out as you’ll find.”

If Smith has his way, he will play football in college.

“Football is my favorite sport,” he said, adding that wherever he went he’d like to play both.

Hazelton, who sees Smith as a strong safety in college, said, “he’s Division 1, absolutely.”

Smith has drawn interest from UCLA, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Washington and Washington State, to name a few.

“There is no question that there is no better skilled position player in the Valley,” Hazelton said. “Toss him into the hat with any player in Southern California, break down all the elements, and he’d come out on top.”

Dick Lascola of the Scouting Evaluation Assn. said: “He’s got the tools. It depends on how he does as a senior. Obviously, size is not his asset.”

Lascola said there are some players he sees as juniors who merit another look as seniors. Reggie Smith is in that group.

An L.A. Baptist player laid down a bunt and Smith charged from the mound to make the play.

He bobbled the ball and drew an error.

“Just like his old man,” someone shouted.

The comparisons are easily made.

Reggie Smith Jr. wears No. 8 for Montclair--the same number his father wore as a Dodger outfielder.

Reggie Smith Jr. can switch-hit, though he mostly bats right-handed. The senior Smith was one of the National League’s top switch-hitters for years.

Reggie Smith Jr. has a choice to make. Just like his dad.

When Reggie Smith Sr. watches his son play, he can almost see himself.

“Football was my first love,” the elder Smith said the other day after Reggie Jr. earned the decision in a 5-3 win over L.A. Baptist. “My senior year in high school I had to make a choice whether to play college football or baseball.

“He has the same decision to make. I chose baseball because of the longevity. I’m still a frustrated football player. I do wonder what it would have been like.”

Smith, 39, retired from baseball after last season and now is a partner in a hair-care products business in Los Angeles. He tries to watch Reggie Jr. play as much as he can.

“I enjoy watching him play,” said Smith, who lives his daughter, Nicole, and Reggie Jr. in Woodland Hills. “Over the years when I was playing, I didn’t get a chance to get out and see him play. That’s one of the reasons I decided to retire from baseball. It’s important for me to see his development.”

The development of Reggie Jr. began when he joined his father at the ballparks and in the clubhouses.

By the time he was 4, Reggie Jr. was beginning to comprehend the game. “Being around clubhouses, I picked up information here and there that is helping me now.”

It helped him then, too.

In 1976, while his dad was playing for the Cardinals, Smith was voted MVP of the Khoury League in St. Louis. He batted .732, going 30 for 41 and hitting two grand slams.

Milt Richman of United Press International was quoted as saying: “Reggie Jr. isn’t eight yet. Even when you see him do the things he does, you don’t believe it. He’s too much.”

When the senior Smith was traded to the Dodgers later that year, Reggie Jr. went along.

“Probably one of the greatest times for me in my career was when Reggie was a bat boy for two years, the 1977 and 1978 (National League) championship teams of the Dodgers,” Reggie Sr. said. “I still have picture of the team photo and he’s in it. He was part of a championship team.

“As a bat boy he got a chance to be in the World Series. I think to myself, Ernie Banks never got a chance to play in the World Series. And he’s involved as much as the players. He has to get the balls to the umpires, he has to know the idiosyncrasies of the players and what bats they like.”

Growing up with a major leaguer for a father, Reggie Jr. learned the game of baseball. He also learned the game of growing up with a father in the major leagues.

“People would ask me at school, ‘Is your dad Reggie Smith?’ ” the younger Reggie said. “I would say yes and they’d say, ‘No, he’s not. You’re a liar.’ You get used to it after a while.

“I was always supposed to be good because of him. I was always picked first for the baseball team. It really didn’t bother me. But I’d rather be known for myself.”

Because he is Reggie’s son, he is supposed to be good.

“I can do things that without the pressure I might not be able to do,” he said.

Reggie Smith smiled as he described why he likes playing defense in football.

“Playing strong safety gives you a chance to crush receivers,” he said. “You have to strike the fear of God into them.”

Smith’s nickname is Hit Man.

On the back of his letterman’s jacket is a character of a gangster wearing a football helmet and carrying a gun. There is also a tombstone with the letters R.I.P. and the names of certain schools on it. The schools, the jacket says in embroidered script, “Made My Day.”

During a game against La Verne Lutheran, Smith caught a pass and headed up field. He met a defender head-on.

The defender’s helmet cracked.

“I have a chip of the helmet at home,” said Smith, smiling.

Smith said he can bench press 330 pounds and squat 560 pounds.

Pressman said Smith has the strongest throwing arm of anyone he has ever coached.

During the football season, Smith threw right handed as a quarterback. Twice while rolling out to his left, he completed the pass left-handed, much to the surprise of the defenders.

He pitches and plays center field left-handed. He can pitch from the right side, but hasn’t done so in a game.

Smith said he has a 43-inch vertical leap. “I could slam if I could palm a ball,” he said. “I can slam a volleyball.”

The basketball coaches at Montclair asked Smith to play basketball. He said he is considering it for next season.

Reggie Smith Jr. almost didn’t play baseball this season.

“I didn’t feel too good about my performance last year,” he said. “I just wasn’t comfortable playing baseball.”

Smith’s sophomore season was his first at Montclair Prep. He said he didn’t get along well with the seniors on last year’s team.

“They didn’t have much time for me. They really didn’t care,” Smith said. “They were all in tight. I was always by myself.”

Being the son of a former major leaguer didn’t help, Smith said.

“If I showed what I knew in baseball,” Reggie Jr. said, “it would be like I was showing off.”

Smith, who batted about .250 last season, pitched and played the outfield. In a game against L.A. Lutheran, he struck out 13 batters and got a shutout.

“At times he was brilliant,” Pressman said. “At times he was inconsistent.”

After the 1984 football season, Smith just planned to lift weights. He decided to play baseball this season because his cousin, Damond Hogon, is on the team.

Because of his late decision to join the team, he missed the first two games. Montclair Prep is 4-3 overall, 3-0 in league play. With Smith, the Mounties are 3-2 and 2-0.

“He’s made all the difference in the world,” Pressman said.

Smith’s name, plus the fact that he is batting cleanup, is earning him respect. Last Tuesday, with the score tied, 3-3, Smith came to bat in the top of the sixth inning with two outs and no one on base.

He didn’t get a good pitch to hit and was walked on four deliveries. Darrell Handlesman followed with a two-run home run that won the game.

“Obviously, we pitched around him,” Baptist Coach Bill Ball said. “It hurt us, it probably cost us the game. The rule is you don’t put the winning run on base. That shows our respect.”

Reggie Smith Sr. watched his son score the winning run and then shut down the Knights in the last two innings.

He could have been thinking about the money he could still be collecting in Japan. But he wasn’t.

“I could play myself,” the elder Smith said, “but money can’t buy what it means to me to see him playing.”