FanFest Leads Off Festivities for 63rd All-Star Game : Baseball: Major league memorabilia and batting cages will be among attractions at Convention Center event.

Celebration for the 63rd All-Star Game will begin Friday, when the first of an expected 100,000 people attend the All-Star Game FanFest, a baseball theme park that will re-create the rich history of America’s National Pastime at the San Diego Convention Center.

Presented by Major League Baseball Properties Inc. and several corporate sponsors, the festival will run through next Tuesday, the day of the All-Star Game, which will be played at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

FanFest will feature 25 attractions, including video batting cages where fans can hit against the images of current Major League pitching stars. Fans will also enjoy menu specialties from various baseball parks--from County Stadium in Milwaukee to Dodger Stadium--a simulated Major League clubhouse and dugout, and bat- and glove-making demonstrations.

MLB officials said about 100 former major leaguers--from the obscure to the stars--will sign free autographs.

One of the more popular exhibits will be a collection of memorabilia from the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y. This will include hallowed items such as legendary New York Giants manager John McGraw’s shirt and cap, Willie Mays’ New York Giants shirt and spikes worn by pitcher Carl Hubbell, widely credited with introducing the screwball to the repertoire of modern pitchers.

During the festival, the Convention Center will be draped in red, white and blue bunting, the traditional decor at Major League ballparks for World Series and All-Star games.

MLB Properties, a corporation run by owners of the 28 Major League Baseball clubs, said FanFest was designed for fans who cannot afford the high ticket prices for next Tuesday’s All-Star Game, where the face value of tickets is $40, $50 or $60.

MLB officials said admission to FanFest “is the lowest possible,” but the show is still not cheap. Tickets can be purchased at the Convention Center box office for $6 for children and $8 for adults before Friday, the first day of the event. On Friday, ticket prices will increase by $2.

Advance tickets can also be purchased through TicketMaster at an even higher price. The ticket company is charging baseball fans a $2.25-per-ticket “convenience” charge plus a $1.55 handling fee per order when ordering tickets by phone.

MLB spokesman Stu Upson said the TicketMaster fees were the lowest that could be negotiated. Major League officials gave TicketMaster exclusive marketing rights in California.

Once inside, fans will also be able to purchase MLB-licensed merchandise, such as shirts, caps and All-Star Game memorabilia, all at retail prices.

This is the second All-Star Game FanFest held by Major League Baseball. The first one was last year in Toronto and drew about 70,000 fans. According to the Adweek’s Marketing Week publication, the 1991 event turned a small profit.

However, Upson said MLB officials only expect to break even this year. In keeping with the owners’ policy, Upson refused to discuss revenues from the 1991 event or say how much money this year’s FanFest is expected to generate.

He said the show will cost more than $2 million to produce. The event will be staffed by several hundred unpaid local volunteers but is expected to pump about $1.5 million into local companies hired to build the theme park.

MLB officials’ prediction of about 100,000 patrons for the event rests largely on the hope that, despite a weak economy, there are enough baseball fans in Southern California and Baja California willing to travel to San Diego.

As of Monday afternoon, fewer than 10,000 advanced tickets had been sold for the event, said a spokesman for a local public relations agency hired by MLB Properties to promote the event.

FanFest tickets will be sold in a way that limits the number of people who may enter the event each hour. The exhibit hall will be open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day. But, once inside, a fan can stay as long as he or she wants, and all the exhibits are free.

Fund-raising activities associated with FanFest are also expected to raise at least $40,000 for local charities. The money will be distributed through the Los Angeles Times Fund. The Times is one of several corporate sponsors of the event.

A pregame All-Star workout next Monday at the stadium is also expected to raise thousands of dollars for charity. Tickets for the workout, which will feature players chosen to play in the All-Star Game, cost from $3 to $10, said Andy Strasberg, a spokesman for the San Diego Padres.

He said that more than 50,000 tickets have already been sold for the workout, and 100% of the revenue will go to the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation of San Diego and the Baseball Assistance Team. BAT helps former players, umpires and others previously associated with Major League Baseball who have fallen on hard times.

Of course, FanFest is only a sidelight to the All-Star Game. And ticket prices for the game are more out of the reach of many fans, even if they could get tickets.

Dave Gilmore, San Diego Padres director of ticket operations, said about 59,000 tickets were sold for All-Star Game, which is a sellout. Ticket sales are expected to generate about $3.1 million in revenues, which will be wired to Major League Baseball on the night of the game.

The Padres have tacked on an additional $5 service fee on most tickets sold for the game. The additional fee was to cover postage and handling, Gilmore said.

Padres officials said that about 80% of the game tickets went to local fans in one way or another. Gilmore also said that more than half of the 59,000 tickets were set aside for Major League Baseball, corporations that bought blocks of tickets (including the Los Angeles Times, which provided them to advertising clients) and other “entities.”

Gilmore said the Padres have no set policy when it comes to deciding which corporations requesting blocks of tickets actually get them.

“Basically, it’s a judgment call by our management,” Gilmore said.

He said the Padres’ 16,000 season ticket holders were able to purchase about 24,000 tickets. Another 2,500 fans who were lucky enough to have their names drawn in a lottery of 70,000 entries purchased an additional 5,000 tickets, Gilmore said.

The rest of the All-Star Game tickets went to other entities.