Close your eyes and think of somewhere that’s special to you.

We all have places that hold significance in our lives—places where memories linger, where moments unfold in ways that stay with us forever. Often, these places are personal, tied to family, friendships, or personal milestones. But some places are more than that and become special to entire communities. One of those places was McCoy Stadium.

After attempts to build a new ballpark in Rhode Island were unsuccessful, the team announced their intentions to move to Worcester, Massachusetts. The area was devastated. 2020 would be their final season in Pawtucket. Unfortunately, the 2020 MiLB season ended up being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic robbing fans (myself included) of the chance to say goodbye with one more day at the park.

The final barrier to tearing down McCoy Stadium was crossed late last year. It will be torn down any day now to make way for a new high school.

I’ve been sitting on this post for a while now. Loss is a strange experience to deal with. It can take quite a bit of time to collect your thoughts. I wanted to write something, but didn’t know what.

The other night when I pulled up YouTube, the first recommendation was a video that I had seen teased on social media. I couldn’t hit play fast enough. It’s so sad to see something you loved in a state of such disrepair. But the memories came flooding back like rapids. And it was the perfect time to start writing.

A Cornerstone of Minor League Baseball in New England

For decades, McCoy Stadium was a foundation of baseball in Southern New England. Home to the Pawtucket Red Sox (the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox), it was a proving ground for future major leaguers and a haven for local baseball lovers. Many great players passed through McCoy on their journey to Fenway Park and accomplishing their life long dream of making it to the show.

If you’re unfamiliar with Minor League Baseball (MiLB), it serves as the developmental system for Major League Baseball (MLB). Players under contract with an MLB team spend time in the minors, honing their skills until they’re ready for the big leagues. Teams can promote or demote players based on performance, injuries, or roster needs, making the minor leagues a constant rotation of names.

There’s a great Netflix documentary called The Battered Bastards of Baseball that shares the story of an independent team (not affiliated with an MLB franchise) in the 1970s and sheds light on how the modern MiLB came to be if you’re interested in learning more.

At the heart of the Paw Sox was Ben Mondor, the longtime owner of the Paw Sox. Mondor purchased the team out of bankruptcy in 1977 and firmly followed a family-first mentality when making all business related changes. The fan experience was at the heart of every decision he made. Parking was always free, tickets were available for less than $10, and concessions were always very reasonable.

“You can’t go to church as cheap as you can come to McCoy”

Ben Mondor – Pawtucket Red Sox Owner

Despite winning the pennant in 1977, the Paw Sox only drew 50,000 fans. By 2010 that had increased to nearly 700,000 despite the fact that McCoy was the smallest stadium in the smallest city in all of Triple-A baseball. McCoy was a neighborhood ballpark, placed smack in the middle of a thickly settled area of the city much like Lambeau Field.

The Religion of Sports

Being a sports fan is not for the weak. The lows are low, but the highs can be higher. For many including myself, it’s a religious experience. Ritual, tradition, communal worship in sacred spaces, emotional transcendence, devotion, faith, redemption, heroes, lore, and searching for meaning. For many, there is heavy overlap with sports, families, and communities (especially in locations like Massachusetts). I vividly remember visiting my Memere and Pepere where the Celtics and Red Sox were always on.

When I go to a ballpark I often sit back and look at the seats around me, wondering about the fans who had sat there before. What did they witness? Who did they get to see? Who were they here with? What did those moments mean to them?

McCoy played host to its fair share of memorable moments: the longest game in the history of professional baseball, two perfect games, one of the most unorthodox baseball brawls, countless home runs and walk-off hits, high school football annually the night before Thanksgiving, professional wrestling, and even a political rally lead by Harry S. Truman for the re-election of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

But just as important were the stories behind who shared those moments—the fathers and sons, the grandparents and grandchildren, the lifelong friends, and even strangers brought together by the love of competition and sport.

Memories at McCoy Stadium

I can’t tell you exactly how many times I went to McCoy to see a baseball game, but I know it’s in the dozens.

Post game fire works. Fishing for autographs. Chasing home runs in the bleachers during batting practice. Sitting on the grass behind the left-center field wall. Heckling the other teams (sorry, Chase Lambin, but you always seemed to be in the lineup when I went). Days at the ballpark with my Grandfather. Clinching the 2011 International League North Division.

MiLB is special not only because it brings established Major League Baseball players within reach through rehab assignments, but also showcases emerging talents, many of who go on to have great careers in the MLB.

Looking back at photos while writing this post I realized I saw some pretty big players without knowing it at the time: Xander Bogaerts, Andrew McCutchen, Dustin Pedroia, Jed Lowrie, Alex Cora, David Ross. I saw “Big Sexy” Bartolo Colón open the 2008 season, Tyler Glasnow pitch as the number 8 overall prospect in 2016. And those are just the ones I was able to figure out from photos (I have not been able to find a great resource for Triple-A box scores going back to the mid 2000s).

One of my favorite things to do in life is share my love of baseball with others. Especially those I care about. Parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, good friends, their parents and siblings, professors turned friends, casual acquaintances. McCoy wasn’t just a ballpark. It was a meeting place and a backdrop for doing just that.

I’m sad that I won’t get to share the summer nights with local Minor League Baseball at McCoy Stadium with my kids. I had some great memories at those games. Boston is closer to me than Worcester, so we’ll likely just default for the pricier, busier, Fenway instead. Last summer we took them there for the first time. They loved it and ask to go back all the time. There’s also the Cape Cod Baseball League. I’ve never actually made it to one of their games. It’s high on our list for our next trip over the bridge.

Miscellaneous Photos of McCoy

I spent some time going through social media and some old folders of photos. Here are some more from my trips to McCoy.

Here are a few other interesting things I found when reading about McCoy while writing this. First is a post on Reddit with some photos of the stadium in its abandoned state from the first half of 2024. The second is a video interview of Brian Rose by Don Orsillo. Don eventually went on to serve as the play by play announcer for the Boston Red Sox from 2001-2015. He was the voice of the Red Sox for the majority of my childhood. He now does the broadcasts for the Sand Diego Padres, which I sometimes tune into when I’m feeling nostalgic.

Brian Rose was a pitcher that graduated from my high school. He spent portions of 4 consecutive seasons with the Paw Sox while also playing for the Red Sox and eventually a few other MLB teams. When I was a senior in high school, I would play catch with him in the gym as he stayed loose hoping for another invitation to Spring Training. When he decided to hang up the spikes, he went on to coach and asked me to join him. I coached at his summer clinics for 6 or 7 years and we’re still friends today.

So Long, Old Friend

I don’t really know how to close this out other than saying thank you for all the memories. I’ve brain dumped pretty much everything about my times at McCoy that I could remember. I’m sure more will come back to me when I see random player names going through old baseball cards or watching game clips from the past. I’ll try to come back and add more as I remember.

My hope is this page will serve as a memorial of sorts. If you’re from the area and have memories from McCoy, share them below! I’d love to hear them.

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Featured image credit: jpellgen (@1105_jp) on Flickr.