In January of 2000, a group of Red Sox fans grew tired of lamenting over the Olde Towne Team in a low-tech mode. So, Ernie Paicopolos and Ric Glaub set out to put together a website that would offer a 'virtual water-cooler' for their fellow Sox-obsessed buddies. And, for a while, that's all that FenwayNation was. Then, it morphed into a one-stop-shopping site for all things Carmine Hose. The site steadily grew in popularity and, today, we attract visitors from over 180 countries. Mark Lawrence is emblematic of this new worldview—giving readers a fresh perspective on the team from 'Down-Under' in Sydney, Australia.
Editor-In-Chief Ernie Paicopolos grew up in Somerville, Massachusetts—precisely 5.49 miles from Fenway Park (you could look it up!). As a small child, he attended his first Red Sox game on Sunday, July 8th, 1956. The Red Sox swept the Baltimore Orioles that day in a double-header, and his Section 19, Row 4, Seat 18 grandstand ticket set his Dad back a whopping $1.90 (he still has the actual ticket framed). Ernie lived through some pretty bad Red Sox teams—when the only shining lights were players like Ted Williams, Frank Malzone, and Jackie Jensen. Pennants (let alone World Series titles) were a complete and total impossibility. His despair was so deep that he briefly flirted with rooting for another team (those self-same Orioles from his first game). Ironically, his one year of fanhood resulted in the Birds winning the 1966 World Series in a sweep of the Dodgers. Guilt-ridden, he decided to re-apply his loyalty to the Red Sox in 1967. 'Nuff ced. Oh, and by the way, if you really prod him, he might tell you about the RBI he got off Luis Tiant at Red Sox Fantasy Camp in 1992. Anyway, the angst of the Sox championship drought undoubtedly shaped his generally pessimistic attitude toward the Olde Towne Team, so the 2004 win was almost too much to bear. The 2007 crown was, for him, the fulfillment of the New Order. The 2013 championship was an uplifting inspiration for the entire metropolitan Boston region. And 2018—the fourth ring in 15 years—was an enjoyable celebration of baseball excellence. He expects many more titles in his lifetime. Or else. He now resides in the plush, but not overly ostentatious, Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts and is a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association Of America—IBWAA.
Co-Founding Editor Richard Glaub was born just after the turn of the past half century in Boise, Idaho - a place bereft of major league baseball. His first brush with the major leagues was at the age of eight, when the Milwaukee Braves came to Boise to play an exhibition game with the Boise Braves, of the Class C Pioneer League (for two seasons the Boise Yankees were a Yankees farm team, before affiliating with the Braves). It was a thrilling day as Richard was able to get Warren Spahn's autograph. Catching for the Boise nine that day was a young prospect named Joe Torre. A year later, Richard became a strong Pittsburgh Pirates fan because an Idaho-born pitcher named Vern Law helped lead the Pirates to a thrilling World Series win in 1960. It was then that Richard began to hate the Yankees. The Pirates thing didn't really take root and Richard became a free agent major league fan, flirting with such teams as the L.A. Dodgers and later the Seattle Mariners. That all ended on a shiny day in 1983 when he first walked through a tunnel at Fenway Park to see a twi-night double header and was presented with the emerald green Sox playing field and the Green Monster. Richard was smitten on that day and has been a loyal, naturalized Red Sox fan ever since. While there are those who consider Richard suspect, as he has only been a Red Sox fan for around three decades, he points out that he has hated the Yankees for over a half century, and that anyone who stayed loyal through the ’86 season should be cut some slack. For many years, he lived in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where he continued to follow and report on The Carmine Hose. He is now back in his native Boise, Idaho.
International Editor Mark Lawrence, born in Sydney, Australia, became a Red Sox fan simply because a travel agent booked him a flight into Logan instead of JFK—he still shudders to think what might have been. Mark's first game at Fenway was 30 May, 1994 where he saw the Red Sox beat the Royals and promptly fell in love with Boston Baseball—and why not? Gator Greenwell and Andy Tomberlin both homered to tie the game in the 8th and Boston went ahead to win it in the tenth. Curiously, the DH on that day was a guy named Ortiz—Luis Ortiz—and no one's heard much of him since. Lawrence, on the other hand, stayed with the Red Sox and over the years has developed a great affection for the team, Fenway Park, the city of Boston and the United States in general. Mark is a member of the Internet Baseball Writers' Association of America and is the author of 36 States: An Australian's Road Trip of a Lifetime Across America.
