THEY are their father’s sons – athletic, competitive and fearless. They just aren’t on the same New York stage as their dads.

Don’t expect that to stop Jim Burt Jr. and Jeff Nettles from chasing their dreams.

“If my uniform’s not dirty at the end of the game, I’m mad,” Nettles says, flashing the same impish grin of his father. He’s a third baseman, just like Graig, who won World Championships with the Yankees in 1977 and ’78 and was the greatest defensive third basemen ever to wear Pinstripes.

“My dad taught me there’s only one way to play the game,” says outfielder Jim Burt Jr., whose father won a Super Bowl with the Giants in January of 1987, playing one of the toughest positions in sports, nose tackle. “Play hard and play to win. And he knows my swing better than anyone.” It’s not often two sons of New York sports icons are on the same team in the metropolitan area – especially since their fathers played different sports – but Jeff Nettles and Jim Burt Jr. play for the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League.

The Patriots do things first class under owner Steve Kalafer, who is close friends with Joe Torre. This is great family entertainment, but the independent league also is the Last Stop for ballplayers trying to make it back to major-league organizations.

Jeff, 27, spent two years in Triple-A with the Yankees. Jim Jr., 25, spent two years in the Mets’ system. Nettles is entering his fourth season with the Patriots and holds the club record for career homers with 63. He’s won two championships with the team.

“I’m telling you,” says Sparky Lyle, Patriots manager and former Yankee closer, “Jeff can make every play his dad made.

I’m glad to have both these guys, but I hope they’re not here for long.” When Jim Burt went to the 49ers in 1989 after eight years with the Giants, his roommate was equipment manager Ted Walsh. Walsh later got a similar job with the Cleveland Indians, so Burt would bring Jim Jr. to Indians games to get a battingcage view of the likes of Manny Ramirez, David Justice and Jim Thome, all under the watchful eye of hitting coach Charlie Manuel, who also became friends with Burt.

“We got to know them all pretty good,” says Burt, who is in real estate and looks just like he did 20 years ago, except his dark hair is now gray.

“When we had Jim, I was only 21 and my wife Colleen was 20. I took Jim everywhere. When he was two, he’d come work out with me at the gym. I’d put him on the bar, do a set and he’d be hanging from the bar. I’d be done with my set, and then he’d drop and I’d catch him. We had great times together.” Jim Jr. joined the Patriots last week after a tryout. The Mets released him the final week of spring training. Burt had a stellar career at the University of Miami.

His father went to nearly every game and can still rattle off all the Newark-to-Miami flight numbers.

“Jim’s got more mental toughness than anyone I know,” says the elder Burt. “He got 1,400 on his SATs, so he could have went to Princeton or Harvard and played football, but he wanted to go to Miami to play baseball.” Burt was looking forward to playing this year at Single-A St.

Lucie for Gary Carter. “He’s competitive,” Jim Jr. says of the Hall of Famer. “I think he would have liked my style.” The two sons of champions are comfortable with who they are and the names they carry. “I want to go out on my own terms,” says the righty-hitting Nettles, who was stuck behind Drew Henson in the minors.

Nettles and Henson eventually became close friends.

“Jeff’s really hung in there; I’m proud of him,” Graig says. “It puzzles me why a kid like him, who has put up good numbers, knows how to play the game – just ask his managers – and is great in clubhouse, why a kid like that, can’t get back into an organization.” Being a third baseman like his dad, Jeff has heard it all from the fans. If he doesn’t make a play, someone will yell: “Your dad would have made that play.” Jeff Nettles smiles and says, “My dad’s 61. He ain’t making that play.” Jeff was born in the magical ’78 season and grew up in Del Mar, Calif. His father played 22 years in the majors. The son has lived the baseball life.

“I remember my dad picking me up from school and we’d go to the ballpark, and I’d shag flies,” Jeff says. “How many kids can say they did that? I remember being a batboy for the Yankees, and older kids like Ken Griffey Jr.

would be playing tapeball in the clubhouse.” “Jeff could track a fly ball by the time he was seven,” explains Graig, who lives in Tennessee with his wife Ginger. He plays a lot of golf, and is always with the Yankees in spring training. Jeff is a scratch golfer. Graig is a four-handicap.

Jeff may eventually turn to pro golf.

Jim Burt Jr. recently got married. His wife, Vanessa, is a student at NYU. Jim owns a degree in finance but wants to make sure he gives baseball everything he’s got.

“Most of my memories of my dad are when he played with San Francisco,” says Jim Jr. “I do remember being at that Super Bowl with the Giants. Dad retired when I was 12. It was great. We went to the park in Waldwick (N.J.) every day and played baseball.” Will Burt make it back to a majorleague organization?

Scouts say he has to show more power and he is working toward that end. “His swing just needs to click,” says his father as he watches a recent game at Commerce Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater. There are two outs in the ninth, the Patriots trail, 1-0. Nettles singles to center to put runners at first and third.

Larry Barnes, who played in the majors, doubles off the centerfield wall. Nettles scores from first, diving headfirst across the plate with the winning run. His uniform is dirty. He is happy. In the dust cloud, one of the first teammates to rush to greet him is Jim Burt Jr.

No, this is not the big leagues, but this is how you play the game.levan