Going down Memory Lane with the PawSox ........

 

Some of us who have covered the Pawtucket Red Sox over the years – some for decades – gathered at McCoy Stadium a few days ago to take in the atmosphere and to swap stories about the ballpark and the team that called Pawtucket home for 50 years, most of that as the Triple AAA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
Even though it was a warmish November afternoon, the newly-cut grass and having the sprinklers on during most of our visit made it seem as though we were waiting for a night game to start, but that was, of course, not the case. With the coronavirus pandemic having wiped out the 2020 minor league baseball season – and what would have been the final one for the PawSox at McCoy Stadium before the team moves to its new home (Polar Park) next year in Worcester– the final night game at McCoy had taken place on Aug. 31, 2019.
The socially-distanced afternoon outing, during which a few people played catch, was a badly-needed shot of normalcy in what has been for the most part an extremely lonely and isolating year for most of us.
The reality is that no one could say with certainty what the baseball – or sports, for that matter – landscape will look like in 2021.
In the meantime, I’m sharing this column that I wrote for The Sun Chronicle on my personal Top 10 favorite PawSox memories from over the years. May it help you bring back some of your own memories from what had always been one of the best places to take your family to a professional baseball game, thanks to the vision of the longtime late owner of the PawSox, Ben Mondor.
I’ll, in the coming weeks, share some columns that pertain to some of the particular memories listed here. Enjoy.

 This column was published Saturday-Sunday Oct. 31-Nov. 1 in the Weekend edition of The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro, MA

“It seems like the pundits have been writing baseball’s obituary for over 50 years, but the game endures. It’s a simple game, yet it’s complex; it’s a sport, a business, and for some a religion.”
--- Mike Tamburro, the team’s former president and current vice board chairman

Tamburro made that observation during an interview in May 2018 for a profile in The Sun Chronicle in conjunction with his induction into the Pawtucket Red Sox Hall of Fame’s third class. Tamburro, a Seekonk resident, helped build the PawSox into the Triple A franchise that it became from his decades of working with late owner Ben Mondor, and had told me then that he hoped the team would be able to stay in Pawtucket.
That, of course, didn’t happen and the result has been more bitter than sweet for area PawSox fans, as the team eventually reached a deal with Worcester to move the team there in 2021.
The 2020 season was supposed to give fans a chance to celebrate their beloved PawSox, but the coronavirus pandemic scrubbed those plans. Fans instead dined on the field in the summer, and in August and September received free swag – bobbleheads and jerseys – in drive-thru giveaways at McCoy. Then on the weekend of Oct. 17-18, the team held events to give fans a final chance to bid farewell to the 78-year-old stadium.
The next time the franchise welcomes fans it will be at Polar Park, their new Worcester home, but the team’s departure won’t wipe out fans’ McCoy memories. Here are this fan’s Top 10:
10. Being a charter member of the PawSox Hall of Fame Committee and playing a role in electing the classes of 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. (The pandemic canceled the 2020 induction.) Over the years, it was a thrill to meet inductees Jim Rice, Wade Boggs, Mo Vaughn, “Walpole Joe” Morgan, Fred Lynn and Roger Clemens. (I couldn’t attend in 2017 when Carlton Fisk was inducted a month after Vaughn and Morgan.) Thank you, Bill Wanless, for giving me that opportunity.
9. Watching a 16-inning game July 3, 2016, when the PawSox won 5-4 on a walk-off homer to ensure that the holiday fireworks show would still be held. Many fans started thinking about The Longest Game sometime after the 14^th inning.
8. Closing out the 2016 season by being one of about 1,200 fans who helped set a Guinness record for the Longest Game of Catch. The event consisted of playing catch with a stranger across from you for 5½ minutes. That involved a lot of trust, as we were tossing old PawSox practice balls to each other, in most cases without baseball gloves. As I recalled that memory, it hit me that given the pandemic, it will be years before a similar event is held again.
7. Seeing future Red Sox stars in Pawtucket, including Kevin Youklis, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Michael Chavis, Mo Vaughn, Jon Lester and in 2019, pitcher Tanner Houck, who was a highlight of an otherwise dismal 2020 Red Sox season.
6. Enjoying the in-between inning activities, including the last few years when fans would try to win chicken sandwiches for the whole ballpark by catching three balls tossed at them by a PawSox staffer, a staffer wielding a slingshot and mascot Paws’ cannon.
5. Soaking up the atmosphere at the ballpark, from the friendly ushers and concession stand workers to the national anthems performed by Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts residents and salutes to veterans.
4. The way that McCoy broke down the barriers between strangers. It was always much easier to strike up a conversation about baseball at the stadium than it was in the “real world.” I still recall talking to one fan who thought of the same thing I did when we saw that the Columbus Clippers first baseman was named Mike Papi. We both wondered whether he was related to Stan Papi, who the Red Sox got for trading Bill “Spaceman” Lee to the Montreal Expos. (He wasn’t related.)
3. Spending afternoons and summer evenings at McCoy watching games and fireworks with friends and my wife. It was nice when the PawSox won, but I always enjoyed watching the games, even in 2018, when my win-loss record was 4-13.
2. Taking my daughters to their first baseball games, my older daughter when she was 4 in July of 2000, and my younger daughter on July 3, 2004, when we sat in the bleachers and then saw the fireworks from the parking lot. In later years, she became a huge fireworks fan and especially loved to watch them from the field.
1. Last, but not least, getting the chance to throw out the first pitch on Monday
evening Aug. 20, 2012, a few days after my 60^th birthday. Despite practicing, I bounced the pitch in front of home plate, and got roundly booed by The Sun Chronicle’s legendary scribe Peter Gobis.
Thank you, PawSox, for the memories.

Larry Kessler is a retired Sun Chronicle local news editor and can be reached at larrythek65@gmail.com. He blogs at larrytheklineup.blogspot.com

LINK TO THE STORY AS IT APPEARED ON THE SIUN CHRONICE’s WEBSITE:

https://www.thesunchronicle.com/sports/local_sports/one-pawtucket-red-sox-fans-top-10-memories-of-the-team-at-mccoy-stadium/article_9105099f-e79a-5b33-9db8-713fc383b84c.html