Is Santiago’s Future In the Cards?

SAN DIEGO —  Craig Biggio, obviously a connoisseur of fine art, leaned over Benito Santiago’s shoulder and took note of the gallery in the back of his locker.

Baseball cards.

Thirteen of them.

“Hey,” said Biggio, feigning indignation, “where am I?”

“You’ve never been a Padre,” Santiago said.

It’s amazing how many players in the National and American League clubhouses couldn’t say that Monday afternoon. Seven former Padres were in uniform, four for the American League and three more for the National League.

One of them, John Kruk, was sitting a few lockers away.

“You don’t have Krukky,” Biggio said. “I don’t see Ozzie Guillen either.”

“Yeah,” Santiago said, “I’m missing some.”

He is missing some. His gallery, for the record, includes Kevin Mitchell, Mike Pagliarulo, Fred Lynn, Randy Ready, Joe Carter, Kevin McReynolds, Garry Templeton, Jack Clark, Luis Salazar, Sandy Alomar Jr., Roberto Alomar, Dickie Thon and a special spot for the injured Ed Whitson.

“Dickie Thon?” Biggio said. “Why Dickie Thon.”

“He was a Padre,” Santiago said.

Benny needs some help. He can use Carlos Baerga, Ozzie Smith, Bip Roberts and, of course, Kruk to make his collection more complete.

Santiago himself was a former Padre of sorts last week, when he was on a rehabilitative assignment with the Las Vegas Stars, the Padres’ triple-A farm club in the Pacific Coast League. He was there to get a few at bats after being out since May 31 with a broken finger.

Indeed, it is not often a player is in the minor leagues one week and the Major League All-Star game the next. It’s like going from the second race at Caliente one week to the Kentucky Derby.

I can hear the introductions now:

“Catching and batting eighth, from the Las Vegas Stars, Benito Santiago.”

What I am not sure is what I will hear after the introduction.

Will San Diego fans boo their own player at the All-Star game? They boo him very other time they get a chance. They booed him last week when he came back from Las Vegas, for heaven’s sake.

How does Santiago think he will be greeted? Does he think he will be cheered?

“I hope so,” he said, “but I really don’t know what they’ll do. I’m just going to play my game and not let things bother me. I’m happy to be playing and I’m ready to play.”

That was one of the nice things about that little stint in the minor leagues. The Stars were playing games in Tucson and Colorado Springs. Those folks weren’t used to having a National League All-Star on the visiting team.

Needless to say, Benito Santiago was cheered . . . and not booed.

“Everybody seemed happy to see me,” he said. “They seemed excited and it made me feel good to be there. I actually had a pretty good time.”

Indeed, Santiago seems to be appreciated everywhere but at home. His injury came at the most critical period of times when it came to All-Star voting. Suddenly, his name disappeared from box scores as if he had fallen from the face of the earth.

You couldn’t have told it from the All-Star voting.

No one ever got close to him. Philadelphia’s Darren Daulton and St. Louis’ Tom Pagnozzi are both having healthier and, consequently, more productive years, yet Santiago received almost half a million more votes than the runner-up Daulton.

“I think I got selected because fans understand what I’ve done during my career,” he said. “For example, I was having a great season my rookie year and putting up some good numbers, but Gary Carter was the best with a great career behind him and he got selected.”

Gary Carter was voted the All-Star starter for eight straight years through the 1980s. Santiago finally dethroned him in 1989 and he has since been the elected starter.

The question, to be sure, is how much longer San Diego fans will have Santiago to kick around. It seems quite obvious he will not be re-signed when he becomes a free agent after the 1992 season. Even if the Padre ownership loosens its collective wallets, which is highly unlikely, he would still have to think more than twice about the way he is treated by the fans.

“Sooner or later,” he said, “maybe people will come to realize I hustle and play hard.”

Probably later.

Probably too late.

That gallery of former Padres will have a new face.

Benito Santiago.