Santiago Provides Sock at Demanding Position

So little Johnny wants to be a catcher when he grows up, huh?

Tell him he should look for an easier job with more potential for longevity. Something like milking cobras or spearfishing for piranha or maybe coaching the Chargers’ defense.

You see, all a catcher has to do is make about 120 to 140 deep knee bends a day in the face of a 90 m.p.h. sphere that does crazy things like twist, sail, dive and occasionally explode in the dirt at his feet. He does all this with another man standing about three feet away and waving a stick. And there also is the hazard of trying to block behemoths, such as Dave Parker, as they thunder toward home plate.

If all that is not enough, the job description also demands that the catcher be the brains of the defense. He must call pitches and locations, and deal with headstrong pitchers who often have different ideas of exactly what might be the smartest plan.

Of all the specific positions in team sports, catching is likely the most demanding.

Bill Dickey and Mickey Cochrane, Hall of Famers and two of the all-time greats at the position, never caught more than 137 games in a season. Gabby Hartnett and Roy Campanella, likewise Hall of Famers, never caught more than 140 games in a year.

Roger Bresnahan, a great catcher at the turn of the century, had his best year when he hit .350 in 1903. He caught 11 games that year.

Johnny Bench was playing first base, third base and the outfield by his third full year in the major leagues, trying to limit the wear and tear of everyday catching. Yogi Berra finished his career in the outfield.

Bob Boone might never have passed Al Lopez’s record for career games caught if he had not also played some first base, third base and outfield earlier in his career. Of course, Lopez did a little bit of the same thing.

Catching is that tough.

It’s almost an afterthought that catchers might also hit the ball. You get brawny types who might occasionally come up with a home run or RBI title, such as Bench or Gary Carter, but no catcher has won a batting title since Ernie Lombardi did it for the Boston Braves in 1942.

All this considered, it is not surprising that catchers are conspicuously absent from the list of longest hitting streaks in history. None, in fact, had hit in as many as 30 straight games.

Until this week.

Until Benito Santiago.

Make that weary Benny Santiago. He caught the 144th game of his rookie season Friday night, when he extended his hitting streak to 34 games with a first-inning double.

This came a day after he had enough energy to keep the streak alive with his first big league bunt single in his fourth and last at-bat.

A bunt single? Geez, Benny, weren’t you tired?

“I got up today and I didn’t feel tired tired,” he said late Thursday afternoon. “Maybe it’s because I’m 22 years old and I work hard.”

That’s right. The kid is all of 22. But still . . .

This is not the time of year when anyone, much less a catcher, figures to be on a hitting tear. These are the days when all but the champions and/or contenders are thinking more about hunting, fishing and golf than baseball.

And yet . . .

Benito Santiago hit a three-run home run against the Montreal Expos on Aug. 25 . . . and he has had a hit in every game he has played since then.

This is remarkable, not just because it comes at the end of the season and not just because Santiago is a catcher, but also because of the type of hitter he is.

“I’m a free swinger,” he said, not exactly making a profound revelation. “It’s surprising to get numbers like this from a guy like me that likes to swing at bad pitches.”

Bad pitches? Santiago has never met a pitch he didn’t like. All it has to be is in the air, and that is not an absolute necessity. If the pitcher can just get it in the same zip code, Benny will take a rip at it. He even bunted on the first pitch.

During the streak, in fact, Santiago has walked once . . . presumably on four pitches thrown so high or wide that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar couldn’t reach them with a rake.

One of the amazing things about Santiago is that he has gone about his business as if a streak like this is no big deal. It’s as if there is not an ounce of pressure involved.

On Wednesday night, in fact, he thoughtfully held a press conference during a game. Manager Larry Bowa took him out of the game after he extended his streak to 32 games, but Santiago realized the media would want words with him before he left the stadium.

And so it was that three pool representatives visited the clubhouse in the sixth inning.

“Ah,” Santiago said, “the three amigos. “

And he was more helpful than that. He revealed that he had passed Rico Carty for the longest hitting streak by a Latin player. Thank you, Benito.

The next afternoon, after his bunt single kept the streak alive, Santiago asked reporters if they would wait until after Bowa finished his postgame remarks so he could talk to everyone at once.

Later, he would emerge from the shower and take a seat in the midst of a pack of humanity carrying tape recorders and microphones.

“What’s up, guys?” Santiago asked.

Nothing much, Benito. Just another day in the life of a free-swinging 22-year-old rookie catcher.