PAWTUCKET, RI – The long goodbye to McCoy Stadium began in August 2018, when the International League AAA Class Pawtucket Red Sox announced that the franchise would move 50 minutes down Route 146 to Worcester, Massachusetts, beginning with the 2021 season.
The news added even more weight to the team’s 2020 season, which was also the 50th anniversary of the Boston Red Sox minor league presence in Pawtucket. Club president Charles Steinberg had planned events throughout the season, drawing on memories of star players like Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, Mo Vaughn and Mookie Betts who had passed on the way to Boston.
Then, the coronavirus pandemic closed the door on the season, which was officially canceled this week, leaving McCoy Stadium as the host of a farewell party with no guests.
PawSox officials, as they are known locally, feared they would not have a chance to formally say goodbye to the community. They did what they could, holding virtual events with players and inviting fans to post personal messages on the stadium’s video board.
But when Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island announced in May that the state would allow outdoor gatherings of more than 10 people, “It turned on the light for all of us,” said Mike Tamburro, vice president of the team that has been involved with PawSox since 1974. , including a long stretch as general manager.
The collective brainstorming created “Dining on the Diamond,” an outdoor picnic on the pristine grass of McCoy Stadium. What started the first weekend of June with 20 tables, two seats, and basic food (burgers, hot dogs, fries, and nachos) has expanded to include a third seat, more tables, and a menu that includes a Rhode lobster Island roll, a barbecue platter and caprese chicken.
With the minor league season canceled, McCoy will be used as an alternate training site for members of the Red Sox ‘active 60-man roster, which could disrupt “Dining on the Diamond,” but Steinberg said the club ” will continue to explore ways to have a proper farewell to McCoy Stadium. “
Clearly there is an appetite. When the team announced the promotion on its website, the tables for the first two days, June 6 and June 7, sold out in 88 minutes. When added on June 8, it sold out in the same amount of time.
For Father’s Day weekend, the team expanded to 33 tables, a nod to the 33 innings played at the stadium between PawSox and Rochester Red Wings in 1981, the longest game in professional baseball history. And at the behest of fans, the team’s executive chef, Tom Whalen, added more expensive items, including his favorite eggplant parmesan. The tables were also moved from the dirt field to the garden lawn.
Fans reserve tables, order their food, and pay in advance online. At the ballpark, the green metal tables are set up at least 14 feet away and are restricted to five people. Servers wear masks, but diners are not required.
On each table, which is cleaned between the seats, is a sign with the table number and an image of a notable PawSox student or Red Sox Hall of Fame fame (Naturally, Ted Williams represents Table No. . 9).
Finally, diners at each table receive a miniature McCoy replica to take home.
Like other members of the club’s main office and full-time staff, Tamburro has helped to manage the makeshift restaurant, escort diners to their tables, and immerse themselves in stories of McCoy’s memories.
Sitting at table 4 with his wife, son, and daughter on a recent Friday, James Vierra of East Providence said he had seen his first game at McCoy in the mid-1960s, when it was home to the Indians’ Class AA team from Cleveland. He recalled attending an activity sponsored by the Red Sox on a Saturday morning with his son, Brad, who ended up playing with Nomar Garciaparra.
“Actually, it was right around here,” he said, pointing to his place on the lawn in the garden. “And here I am sitting at this table.”
Under former owner Ben Mondor, who passed away in 2010 after maintaining the club for decades, the Pawtucket Red Sox became a local institution with strong ties throughout Rhode Island for its charities. In 2015, a group led by Larry Lucchino, then president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox, bought the club and attempted to build a new stadium to replace McCoy, which opened on July 4, 1942.
After failing to reach an agreement with the state legislature, Lucchino signed a letter of intent in August 2018 to move to a new stadium in Worcester, Massachusetts, 42 miles away.
But the team is making the most of its final months in Rhode Island. Steinberg, whom Tamburro calls “the master of event planning” for his work with the Red Sox, Orioles, Padres and Dodgers, marveled at the box in front of him last month. “Look anywhere on the field and there is a story,” he said. “A who’s who of some of the best players in baseball history has been here.
“It is also a reminder,” he added, “of the vital role stadiums play in our lives.”
At table 21, in honor of Clemens, Tina Trahan recalled working at the memory booth as a teenager during the years the same star pitcher had passed. She was joined by two friends and her father, 90, Fred, who saw Pawtucket Slaters Class B play at McCoy in the 1940s, including a 19-year-old Chuck Tanner in 1948.
Alex Richardson, 23, the club’s community relations assistant, said he delights in the tales he hears at each table. One night, he said, he served a family who told him that McCoy had been chosen for his first night away from home since the start of the pandemic.
“This is an incredible experience,” he said.
The immediate popularity of the PawSox ballpark restaurant was noted across the country, and Tamburro thought it might be just the beginning. “This type of idea could be innovative for the industry in the future,” he said. “Can you imagine Fenway Park doing this when the Red Sox are on the road?”
As the sun was setting behind the left field, casting shadows from the patrons and tables towards the plate, three children were rolling in the garden after finishing their dinner. Her parents were a couple of Boston couples who had gone to high school together.
AJ Shepherd, the father of one of the children, looked over to where they were playing, while a song by Frank Sinatra was playing on the stadium sound system, and commented: “How many times can you sit on a real baseball field and put the toes on the grass? “
Claudison Jean-Francois added: “The temperature is right, there is music and the children are having fun. It is perfect.”
More than 2,600 families are currently on the waiting list, anticipating when the promotion will resume. “Unbelievable,” said Bill Wanless, who started the franchise in 1985 as an intern, worked as a director of public relations for 29 years, and became a senior vice president of communications in 2015.
His new job – greeting customers as they enter the stadium through a gate in right field and helping them obtain their table number – provides a front-line opportunity to assess the success of Dining on the Diamond.
“It is not a home run,” he said. It’s a grand slam. “
