08:14 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 14, 2004

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer

PROVIDENCE -- It had the dramatic flair of a Hollywood movie: 40 men on the stairs at Waterplace Park, each carrying a torch. There was even the obligatory music, the kind that is epic but cheesy at the same time.

Last night, the players participating in tonight's Triple-A All-Star game at McCoy Stadium became part of WaterFire, helping to light the floating cauldrons that dot the Providence River.

As an added touch, the usual splints of wood in each cauldron were surrounded by baseball bats.

The All-Star game festivities moved to the Renaissance City last night, and though the ground may have been wet, it seemed there were still plenty of fans willing to brave the cool, damp conditions and to continue the celebration that began on Monday night and won't end until after tonight's game.

At the fan festival, hundreds lined up to get autographs from former Red Sox players Bob Tewksbury, Luis Tiant, Jim Wright, Sam Horn, Bill "Spaceman" Lee and Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd.

While the other players took breaks from signing, Lee stayed put at his post. He wasn't there just to sign posters, he was also there signing copies of his tome, The Little Red (Sox) Book, and regaled the occasional fan with one of his quirky stories.

At one point, Lee donned a balloon creation that suited his nickname perfectly: makeshift "sleeves" to pull up to his shoulders that held up a clear arc, made to look like the helmet of a spacesuit. Shortly after, Lee was seen with an inflatable green alien around his neck.

Up the hill, the International League and Pacific Coast League All-Stars took turns putting their John Hancock on the memorabilia presented them, and some current members of the PawSox got in on the action, too.

Boyd and Horn were clearly among the more popular players, having both played for the PawSox and Red Sox.

Boyd drove 30 hours to get here from his home in Mississippi, and arrived at the legends tent last night dressed in all black, with dark shades perched upon his graying head.

At one point, he got up to smoke a cigarette, but was quickly surrounded by more than a dozen Sharpie-wielding fans holding baseballs and binders of trading cards.

Now living in East Greenwich, Horn has cultivated a more public image in recent years. He is now president of the website sonsofsamhorn.com, which was initially started several years ago by some devoted fans as a chat room for all things Red Sox, but has since grown considerably.

It is still a forum for Sox diehards, but it gained some notoriety when Curt Schilling visited the site while Boston was courting him in the offseason. Schilling has said the knowledge and devotion shown by fans on the website helped in his decision to join the Sox.

Schilling helped bring SOSH, as it is sometimes called, into the limelight, and other recent events have further upped its popularity.

"After the all-star break, we're going commercial (with the site)," Horn said last night during a pause from signing and shaking hands. "We have 26,000 people waiting to be members, and now we're going to be able to do that. We've gone from 70,000 (site hits) a day to 112,000 in the last month and a half."

Aside from his eponymous website, Horn has also remained in the public eye through his work with NESN. He appears on the Red Sox post-game show fairly often. While he enjoys his television work (more than one fan was overheard last night praising him), Horn, who also runs the Around the Horn sports center in East Greenwich, said he'd like to add more to his plate.

"I would definitely like to be like Tewksbury, have two affiliations," he said, "where I can express my opinions and be used as a hitting instructor."

Unlike many athletes, Horn said he likes meeting fans and signing autographs.

Part of the appeal, he said, is liking being looked at as a celebrity. But, Horn said, he only obliges those that ask nicely.

"I call it supply and demand. If people ask nicely, I want to help. If they demand, then (he is more likely to turn them down," said Horn.