PAWTUCKET – Autographed baseballs, an official Pawtucket Red Sox program and a “prosperity letter” signed by then-city Mayor Thomas P. McCoy were among several contents unveiled Monday afternoon by city officials at the site where McCoy Stadium once stood.
The items commemorating local baseball history were once sealed for generations and buried both within McCoy’s cornerstone and beneath the field that the PawSox played on for five decades. The AAA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox moved to Worcester, Mass., in 2021 after plans for a new ballpark for the team within the city never materialized.
The capsules were discovered by Shawmut Design and Construction’s crew over a two-week period as construction personnel took down McCoy from March through the end of May. The stadium’s demolition is making way for a new $326 million unified city high to replace the aging Charles E. Shea and William E. Tolman high schools – with
officials breaking ground on the project back in April.
“As I've said many times before, losing the PawSox was a sad day for Pawtucket. So many of us have cherished memories of attending games, grabbing a hot dog, taking home bobbleheads and bats, getting autographs from players, and watching Fourth of July fireworks at the stadium,” Mayor Donald R. Grebien said during Monday’s ceremony. “While we were sad to see McCoy Stadium demolished, we are so excited about the future of this site as the new Pawtucket High School, which will be incorporating stadium seats, the foul poles and [the items in the capsules].”
City officials held the unveiling on what was the 44th anniversary of the PawSox’s historic 33-inning win over the Rochester Red Wings in 1981, the longest game ever played in professional baseball history. One capsule contained items commemorating that historic, lengthy affair.
Such items include autographed baseballs from both PawSox and Rochester players who participated in the game; a baseball signed by then-PawSox owner Ben Mondor, then-team president Harold Cooper, then-general manager Mike Tamburro and LeRoy White, who created the time capsule out of PVC plastic pipe. A PawSox hat, a laminated poster and laminated scorebook pages of the game were also housed in that capsule.
The cornerstone capsule contained a standard envelope with a mayor's office city seal marked “Municipal Stadium” in pencil and a Nov. 3, 1940, prosperity letter from the special committee that was created for the stadium project at that time. McCoy, along with other city officials, signed the letter.
“These items are a part of McCoy Stadium's legacy, and we'll be preserving them so that future generations of Pawtucket residents know the joy this place brought to so many,” Grebian said.
Grebian also said Monday that the city, through a contribution from the Mondor Family Foundation, will annually award scholarships to city high school graduates attending college. He announced 34 city high school graduates each received $1,000 in scholarships from the foundation to further their studies in higher education.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
