The first team to be dubbed as the Pawtucket Red Sox debuted at McCoy Stadium in 1970 as a member of the AA Eastern League. Following the 1972 season the Red Sox switched leagues, moving up to the top-class AAA International League. The team was an instant success on the field, led by future major leaguers Cecil Cooper and Dick Pole, winning the 1973 Governors' Cup Championship in their inaugural year in the league. The following season the team finished 30 games below .500 and in 1975, while the parent club was on their way to the World Series, the Pawtucket Red Sox finished with the worst record in their history at 53-87. Following another sub-.500 season in 1976 the franchise went bankrupt, unable to pay off $2 million worth of debt.

Although it appeared the Red Sox's brief flirtation with the Pawtucket area was about to come to an end, retired businessman Ben Mondor stepped in and made sure the team would remain entrenched in the city. What Mondor wanted, and got, was a new franchise; although to outsiders it would appear as if nothing had changed since the team name remained the same. So it was really in 1977 that the current Pawtucket Red Sox, and PawSox, were born. To his credit, Mondor has turned Pawtucket into a viable baseball market, where so many others had failed before. In his 25 years at the helm of the PawSox, Mondor has seen the average attendance for Pawtucket games go from barely 1,000 fans per game in 1977 to nearly 9,000 in 2000. Mondor has been part of the management that has overseen the transformation of McCoy Stadium from an aging 1942 relic into its currently renovated form. And while keeping the price of tickets between $4-8, parking has always been free.

In addition to their success at the box office, the PawSox have excelled in the field. In 2000, Pawtucket set an all-time franchise record for victories with 82, as the team completed their 5th straight winning season. Pawtucket has fielded winning teams in 10 of the last 17 years, including the 1984 team that defeated the now-defunct Maine Guides 3-2 to win the 1984 Governors' Cup trophy for the second championship in Pawtucket Red Sox history.

As for the name PawSox, the origins are traced back to the first season in which Mondor owned the club. Despite rescuing the team from bankruptcy, up until three weeks before the 1977 season was to begin Pawtucket lacked uniforms. That's when former Boston GM Haywood Sullivan stepped in and sent Pawtucket 48 sets of old home and away uniforms. The home unis were fine, but since the road uniforms had "Boston" stitched across their chest Pawtucket GM Mike Tamburro, who's been GM with the club since Mondor's start in 1977, suggested using the moniker "PawSox" across the front, with each unstitched "Boston" letter replaced with one that spelled "PawSox." So the name was born out of the necessity of a uniform crisis, not a clever focus group-based marketing campaign.

As a man who made a career of buying and selling bankrupt business, Mondor has turned around the fortunes of Pawtucket baseball, instituting an affordable and friendly atmosphere, and giving Pawtucket a baseball tradition in line with what one would expect from an affiliate of the storied Boston Red Sox.

Professional baseball has been played in Pawtucket, Rhode Island since 1892 and continually since 1970. The first team to call Pawtucket home, the Secrets of the New England League, disbanded on July 26, 1892 with a dismal 17-43 record. The team played its games on the Dexter Street grounds, which housed two other Pawtucket teams in the New England league through 1899. Following the Secrets ('92), the Maroons (1894-95, 97-99) and Phenoms (1896) called Pawtucket home. After the Maroons were expelled in August of 1899, Pawtucket would be without baseball until 1908, although the Colts of the Class C Atlantic Association lasted only 9 games before disbanding and leaving Pawtucket without a team for 6 more seasons. In 1914 the Rovers joined the Class C Colonial League, playing their games at the Sabin Street grounds in the Royal Square area, but were kicked out in August of 1915 because of an affiliation with a competing league.

McCoy Stadium was dedicated just in time for the return of professional baseball in 1946 as the Slaters of the Class B New England League debuted. The Slaters lasted 4 full seasons, but in 1950 the New England League disbanded and 8-year old McCoy Stadium was left without a permanent tenant. That would change in 1966 when the Cleveland Indians' AA Eastern League team relocated to Pawtucket. The Indians left after the 1967 season but professional baseball, and the Eastern League, would return to McCoy in 1970 when the city's affiliation with the Boston Red Sox began. After 3 seasons (1970-72) as a host to Boston's AA affiliate, the Red Sox moved their AAA operation to Pawtucket in time for the 1973 season and the team has remained there since. The 1977 Red Sox were the first Pawtucket team ever to finish a regular season in first place, a feat that has been duplicated since by the '91 and '96 teams.

Built in 1942 and in 1946 was named in honor of Thomas P. McCoy, the Mayor of Pawtucket from 1936-1945.

Capacity: 10,031; General Admission ($5): 6,017; Box Seats ($8): 6,017

The height of the left and right field fences (5 feet) are the lowest in the IL.

When current owner Ben Mondor bought control of the team in 1977, the PawSox drew only 70,354 fans (1,082 per game) to McCoy, which seated 5,800 people at the time.

Easily the oldest stadium in the 14-team International League, with the closest being Toledo's Ned Skeldon Stadium, which was built in 1965. After that, Columbus's Cooper Stadium opened in 1977 and the Richmond Brave's ballpark in 1985.

Until the newly renovated McCoy opened in 1999, it was the league's smallest park. Currently, McCoy's capacity excedes the stadium's of only two other IL teams, and by only 31 seats at that: Durham Athletic Park and Charlotte's Knights Stadium seat 10,000.

Pawtucket averaged 8,733 fans per game in 2000, playing to 87% of the stadium's capacity. No other team in the IL was above 70%. The per game average was a PawSox record, although the season total of 585,107 fans in 67 games trailed the 1999 season's total of 596,624 fans in 71 games. The difference: 4 games were rained out in 2000 and not made up.

Going into 2001, of the Top 25 all-time crowds at McCoy, 24 of the 25 have come in the past 2 years. The one exception, at #23, is from 1982 when 9,389 showed up for the pitching match-up of Mark Fidrych vs. Dave Righetti. That mark was finally broken 17 years later when 10,586 turned out for opening night at McCoy on April 14, 1999.