Thursday, July 8, 1999 Older Editions

An All-Star replay

By Neil Fater

When pro baseball's summer classic, the All-Star Game, returns to Fenway Park for the first time in 38 years Tuesday, diehard Red Sox fans Mike and Ernie Paicopolos will return to the old ball yard, too.

In 1961, Mike brought his then-10-year-old son Ernie to the last All-Star Game at Fenway. This year, Ernie plans to return the favor, by bringing his 79-year-old father to the star-studded stage.

That's the ticket -- Ernie Paicopolos displays the goods.

A 10-year season-ticket holder, Ernie has two seats to what may be the most sought-after All-Star Game in history.

He says nothing will stop him from turning this unique family double play. He's refusing high-priced offers for his tickets, because he want to bring his father to the game.

Clearly, this is an interesting twist on the old adage "like father, like son."

"Despite the enticement of $4,000, I'll be keeping these," says Ernie, displaying the oversized treasures. "I figure I owe it to him.

"My father knows he's going to the game, and he's been boasting," says Ernie. "It's great. He'll tell his friends and they'll say 'Come on, it's the toughest ticket in the world.' He's thrilled."

Ernie seems pretty happy about things, too. After the game, the son plans to frame the colorful, intricate 1999 tickets, along with his relatively plain ticket stubs from the 1961 game.

Ernie, of Somerset Drive, says he still remembers the thrill of going to the 1961 game as a 10-year-old boy.

"I remember being impressed that the place was decked out and full, maybe beyond capacity," he says. "(The Red Sox) had never been to a World Series in my lifetime and I remember being amazed at the bunting."

He also remembers watching rookie Red Sox phenom Don Schwall give up the National League's only run and seeing Rocky Colavito belt the American League's lone homer. The game ended in a downpour and the only tie in All-Star history.

"I was very excited about going and I can't remember how my father got the tickets," says Ernie, who was a lefty first baseman and right fielder on Mike's Somerville Little League team.

"I was thrilled for weeks. I think it was mostly to see the National League players. At that time there was no chance to see them, and I was one of those kids who always read the box scores," he says.

Patrolling the National League outfield were Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente.

Baseball lingo

Through the years, from Mays to Griffey Jr., baseball has always provided a common language for his family, says Ernie.

Even during the teen-age years when he and his father didn't always agree on other matters, Fenway represented a peaceful patch of common ground.

"It was that way then and it's that way now. We haven't always seen eye to eye," says Ernie. "Baseball's the common thread. It's something we've shared my whole life. It transcends all the ups and downs of life."

It doesn't matter if the outfield is Aaron, Mays and Clemente or Kenny Lofton, Ken Griffey Jr. and Manny Ramirez. Either way, both Mike and Ernie will enjoy the game.

With the Paicopoloses and baseball, it's clearly a case of like father, like son.

Lifetime Red Sox fans, both have suffered their share of heartbreaks. Yet, you can bet that both men's hometown hearts will be full when they watch Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciaparra take their starting spots Tuesday.

"(My father) is still an avid fan. He was born in 1920 so he missed the last championship as well," say Ernie. "Hopefully my son will see it. Some generation has to be the one."

Love of the game

While the father and son share a love for the game, Ernie Paicopolos shares his season tickets with some friends. Fortunately, they agreed to give him the tickets to the main event, the actual All-Star game, while they took tickets to the Fan Fest, home-run hitting contest and other games.

"I kind of tugged at the heart strings there. I told them the situation and they agreed to let me take them," says Ernie. "It is meaningful to me to be able to pay my dad in this way, because we both share the love for baseball."

For Ernie's 40th birthday, both his mother and father and his wife, Gail Bloom, helped send Ernie to a Red Sox fantasy camp in Winter Haven, says Ernie.

During his second time up against Luis Tiant, he says he grounded out to deep short, scoring a runner from third.

"I think I'm going to have to have it engraved on my gravestone that I got an RBI off Luis Tiant," he says. "Of course, he was still throwing junk even then. I faced him twice and the first time up I struck out pathetically. I looked like a 10-year old."

Hopefully, he'll feel the joy of a 10-year-old again when he sees his first Fenway All-Star game as an adult.

"My wife tells me it's an obsession I should cut back on, but I can't. Once it gets in the blood..."

... there's not much you can do. Red Sox-itis isn't a disease that skips too many generations. At least, not in the Paicopolos family.