“Hey, batter, batter, batter! Swing, batter!”


Modern amenities is not exactly a term you’d use to describe McCOY STADIUM and its immediate surroundings, one of the primary reasons why the team’s new ownership is looking to uproot and take the game elsewhere. Nevertheless, it seems the Stadium will remain open until at least 2020!

But the Pawtucket experience is more than many other surrounding towns in Rhode Island can claim--affordable family fun without a twist.
Baseball enthusiasts and Boston Red Sox fans hailing from Rhode Island or nearby Massachusetts will score big at McCoy Stadium. A ballpark with unique features, record breaking history, and ample free parking, the McCoy steps right up to the plate.

“Take me out to the ballgame, take me out to the park.”

In 1938, then Pawtucket Mayor Thomas P. McCoy conjured building a baseball stadium on swampland known as Hammond’s Pond. His field of dreams was completed in 1942. The structure was officially dedicated and named in honor of the Mayor in 1946, and hosted Minor League Baseball.

You might say a curve ball was thrown when pro baseball disappeared from Pawtucket for several years, and then returned in 1966, though the Stadium hadn’t a home team. In 1969, the Boston Red Sox scouted the McCoy and moved in where they remain today, known as the Pawtucket Red Sox or Paw Sox.

Much knuckle balling transpired during the Seventies with debt and threats of moving the team elsewhere. Under Ben Mondor’s ownership until his death in 2010, he put the spin back into the fallen franchise. The Paw Sox has not only thrived, but McCoy Stadium has garnered the reputation as one of the most fan-friendly ballparks in all of professional baseball. Frankly, it’s not the hot dogs that make McCoy a triple – A facility worth taking in a ballgame.

When renovations for McCoy Stadium were completed in 1999, seating capacity increased from 6,000 to 10,031. A new grandstand with seats under cover raised about ten feet from the field, has been criticized for keeping the fans too far from the action. However, this drawback has led to McCoy’s unique fan-friendly tradition for autograph seekers to “fish” by hook and reel or hollowed-out milk jug and rope.

Paw Sox ballplayers sign memorabilia such as a scorebook, hardball, or baseball card and tug on the line for their fans to haul the autographed item.

A terraced berm or grassy knoll in left field offers an inexpensive alternative for fans to sit next to the Paw Sox bullpen and watch the game up close. Walkways above the berm afford one a panoramic view of the diamond.

Another unique feature of the stadium is the ballpark’s vast foul territory. Since the ballpark is a complete semicircle, in order to fit the baselines in between the ends of the seating area, the area behind home plate is quite expansive. Therefore, McCoy may have the largest foul territory in the minor leagues.

Although the mighty McCoy is the oldest and still one of the smallest stadiums in the International League, it is home to baseball’s famous “Longest Game” between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox which took place in 1981. A stretch of 33 innings took more than eight hours over two different days to complete, beginning the evening of April 18th and halted by the League president at 4:09 AM. Resuming on June 23rd, the game was completed in 18 minutes with a 3 – 1 victory for the Paw Sox.

Other memorable stats for the Paw Sox at McCoy Stadium include winning the Governor’s Cup-- the championship of the International League in 1973 and 1984.

If you’re within reach, make a pitch for McCoy Stadium located at 1 Columbus Avenue, Pawtucket, RI. Paintings of former Paw Sox players adorn the old entrance ramps. Buy yourself some peanuts and Cracker Jack and root, root, root for the Paw Sox.