Tuesday, February 24, 1998
Jack of all trades
BASEBALL: Bruin proves that size doesn¹t matter when
realizing a dream
By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Staff
All the freshmen pull tarp, give hot dogs to umpires after the
game, carry bags on road trips and carry balls while on the road to
Long Beach, Loyola Marymount, Fullerton, among other places.
Then an umpire who underestimated Jack Santora¹s baseball
abilities due to his size, made a simple but huge mistake.
³As freshmen, we had all the low-rank jobs that no one
wants to do and someone has to do,² Santora explained.
³We were playing in the game … I don¹t know who it was.
It could¹ve been anybody. It was just a random game and it was
my job that day to take umpires balls in between innings when they
need them. So I¹m doing that all day and after the game we
have to give hot dogs to the umpires in the locker and I go on and
give them their hot dogs and one of the looked at me and said to me
ŒGood job bat boy.¹ And I just started busting
up.²
Santora also found the experience embarrassing at the time, but
the humor of the situation did not get past him. But what could
Santora do about the umpire¹s mistake? He simply had to go out
on the field next year and prove that he belongs.
At five feet, nine inches and 160 pounds, Santora is not an
imposing figure.
He is not the prototypical baseball player. That title belongs
to former Bruins like Eric Karros of the Dodgers, Troy Glaus of the
Angels and current Bruin Eric Byrnes. Therefore, Santora must fight
to prove himself on the field. With his stature, people are just
looking for a reason to say he¹s too small.
So far this year, Santora belongs.
³We will find a spot for his bat in the lineup,² UCLA
hitting coach Vince Beringuele said. ³He has really solidified
his swing and knows what his swing will do; he has pretty much
perfected it.²
The spot assigned to Santora this year is the leadoff spot. He
is a catalyst for the offense and has the responsibility to get on
base any way he can. Prior to the Stanford series this weekend,
Santora was hitting .340 with an on-base percentage of .393. His
thirteen runs scored were tied for the team lead and his 17 hits
ranked him second on the team.
³We need Jackie,² UCLA head coach Gary Adams said.
³He¹s the spark-plug to our offense. He gets on base a
lot and is a great team guy that will do anything for the
team.²
That ³anything² includes moving around on the field.
His freshman year Santora played shortstop. His sophomore year
Santora played third base.
This year he will play second base until regular second baseman
Nick Theodorou¹s hamstring heals.
Second base is just fine with Santora. The fact that at second
life is a little bit less hectic is ideal for a guy like him. There
is not as much pressure to make the spectacular play like at
shortstop and third base.
This allows Santora to remain more relaxed and bring his wit and
playful personality onto the field.
³When you¹re out there on the field things are so
crazy,² Santora said. ³You have to be into the game and
so mentally focused to play and be ready for every pitch that it
would drive you nuts if you didn¹t laugh a lot out there and
enjoy it. And that¹s what we do. We have a lot of
fun.²
All Santora wants to do is play. Whether he has a good day or a
bad day, playing baseball is the ultimate goal. Santora believes
everyone hits streaks and he considers his scorching hitting early
in the season one of those streaks.
Therefore, due to the law of averages, a slump could come soon
and Santora¹s belief in streaks will keep him from getting
down on himself.
³When it¹s over, he has the ability to put the game
behind him,² his father Victor Santora said. ³If he has a
bad game today, he won¹t carry it onto the next game tomorrow.
And it¹s funny, because I remember that even in little league
he played hard and he¹d sweat and be like a throwback player
in the 20s. And all he cared about after the game was to go to
McDonald¹s.²
One of the advantages of being small is that you¹re able to
keep everything in perspective. Santora knows his job on the field
and in the grand scheme of things. He wanted to be drafted by a
major league club ever since he was young and now the dream is so
close he can taste it.
Santora talks to his dad about baseball on a regular basis. His
most enjoyable series are every time he travels back home to the
Bay Area and plays both Cal and Stanford.
That¹s one of the few times his devoted father and ex-coach
gets to watch him.
³My dad is a nut,² Santora said. ³He¹s a
nut. He went to all my games in high school and little league and
then I decided to come down to Southern California to go to college
and he was crushed because that was it  boom. He wasn¹t
coming to see any more games. So he makes up for it by calling the
press box every game four or five times.
³I have no problem with that. I think it¹s great. It
saves me a lot of time talking to him after the game.²
His father was actually happy that Santora chose UCLA. As a high
school coach, he sent three football players that started at UCLA
and his best friend was once the captain of the UCLA football team.
But it¹s still not easy for Victor Santora to be miles away
from his son.
Victor Santora calls the press box almost every game in order to
find out how his son is doing in the game.
³I know he¹s playing and I want to be there so bad to
see it and I can¹t,² he explains.
He also manages to call the press box just about when his son is
about to bat. Jack Santora says his father may have the force.
Victor Santora has a much simpler explanation: having been a coach,
you get a feeling as to when things are going to happen.
With his sixth sense and all one would think Victor Santora
could watch his son do anything. But there is one thing that his
father can never quite do as a coach or a fan: watch Jack hit.
³Every time Jack came up or every time I coached him, I
never watched him hit,² Victor Santora said. ³I always
turned my head. I can¹t watch him. Once I hear the crack of
the bat, then I look … Defensively I have no problem watching.
But offensively, I just wait until the crack of the bat.²
People who saw Santora bat against Cal State Dominguez, though,
were pleasantly surprised with the first official at-bat of the
Bruins in 1998. Santora drilled a ball into straight center field
for his first and only homer of the season.
Thanks to a devotion to weight training in the off-season,
thoughts of many more home runs passed through Santora¹s mind.
But 59 at bats later, Santora is still stuck at one.
That fact, though, doesn¹t prevent Santora from looking for
the long ball.
³I visualize home runs a lot,² Santora said. But
having three total home runs in his career here you wouldn¹t
think that¹s the way he thinks.
³Every time I go up to the plate, my mind is always saying
ŒI¹m going to get a fastball and I¹m going to rip
one.¹²
Power won¹t get him drafted and both Santora and his father
realize this. Therefore, Santora has worked on his versatility to
make him more appealing to major league scouts.
³He knew with his size he had to do things that a lot of
bigger guys didn¹t do  like switch hit, run faster and
throw harder,² Victor Santora said. ³Things that teams
would have to say why they would want to take Jack over a bigger
guy. And I think for his size  of course I¹m very biased
 I think he does very well for his size.²
Santora spent a lot of times with father and brother and a
whiffle bat. He gives 100 percent every time out only because
it¹s impossible to give 101 percent.
After all of his hard work and dedication, Santora would welcome
a change in his lifestyle. Last week after a seven-hour bus ride
back from the Bay Area, Santora had to take one of the three
midterms he had that week. He also had to turn in a paper and get
ready for top-ranked Stanford.
Talking to a lot of good friends from last year¹s squad
that now are in the minor leagues and trying to reach the majors,
Santora¹s desire to reach his dream has heightened.
³If I happen to get drafted I would love to get out of
school for a while,² Santora said. ³I talked to all of
them and they all loved it. They said it was kind of rough, but
it¹s so much just walking up and playing every day. That would
be unreal.²
His size will make scouts shy away from drafting him. That only
makes Santora work harder for what he wants: to prove to others
that he belongs.