Preserve, protect McCoy Stadium

Posted 2/26/15

Providence Journal sportswriter Bill Reynolds got it just right this week when he said that McCoy Stadium belonged to Rhode Island just as much as Rocky Point does and we should collectively find a …

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Preserve, protect McCoy Stadium

Posted

Providence Journal sportswriter Bill Reynolds got it just right this week when he said that McCoy Stadium belonged to Rhode Island just as much as Rocky Point does and we should collectively find a way to preserve the stadium, if not as the Red Sox “farm” but as a structure that has woven its way into our collective memories. McCoy is a state of mind that was born at the end of the Great Depression, when there was still will enough and money to build things that were there not to make a profit but to contribute to the quality of life of urban folk.

It was conceived in 1938 as a public and private partnership, completed in 1942 and dedicated in 1946, just in time to welcome our veterans with a taste of home as they were finding their way after one of the biggest man-made disasters of all time. An inexpensive seat at a minor league game must have seemed a real holiday after D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge and the War in the Pacific. 

The Pawtucket Slaters, a minor league affiliate of the then-Boston Braves, played there for several seasons before baseball abandoned McCoy for over 15 years. Then the Cleveland Indians brought the Pawtucket Indians. The Red Sox came in 1969, just as the Boston team looked like it could be a national power again. But even Boston wasn’t sure it would stay when a few iffy business deals and real disputes about where the ball players would end up. Ben Mondor came down from Canada and made McCoy one of the best family destinations in New England.

Sometimes we have to be reminded of just how valuable landmarks are, not as eyesores to be stripped away to make room for more profitable ventures, but as living treasures that are worth a few deficits to maintain. It is very likely that the new owners, with even stronger ties to the Boston Red Sox, will move the team somewhere where profits are easier to make.

It’s time for the people of Rhode Island to realize that McCoy Stadium is an integral feature of our geography, our history, our quality of life and our sense of nostalgia for a simpler time, when a family could go to McCoy and discover the simple joy of a hot dog and an evening’s entertainment that’s still slow enough to savor.

People are sick of public-private deals that leave the taxpayer holding the bag when they go south, like retired Red Sox pitchers do. But there are thousands of kids in Rhode Island who have dreamed of playing at McCoy. If the state could buy the stadium and use it as a mecca for all-state high school baseball; have a rotating schedule that allows every high school kid in the state the opportunity to play there at least once; and read a plaque that says it was the site of the longest game in professional baseball history. If the state could buy it and all the amateur players could pay some sort of structured fee to use the facilities, baseball will stay alive in Rhode Island.

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  • Justanidiot

    Just waiting for the other shoe to drop. When the new owners don't get what they want, they are going to stamp their feet then take their ball(team) and head to Foxboro. Almost a done deal.

    Friday, February 27, 2015 Report this

  • ScottJ794

    That's great, but who's going to fund the preservation effort. We all have great memories of McCoy stadium, and I sure hope that it can be preserved in some way, but the fact of the matter is it costs money to maintain a stadium, whether it's played in or not. Also, that's a large piece of land that could be used for the development of revenue generating businesses. Given the current fiscal condition of both the city of Pawtucket and the state or Rhode Island, although it pains me to say it, we can ill afford to keep this stadium around as a giant souvenir.

    Saturday, February 28, 2015 Report this