Those still reeling from the loss of one of Rhode Island’s most beloved athletic traditions will soon be able to take solace that a little piece of that history will be enshrined and memorialized right here in East Providence.

And even better? You’ll get to sit on that history and watch America’s favorite pastime.

A few months back, the city was informed that the City of Pawtucket had agreed to donate three rows of seats from the former McCoy Stadium, which is slated to be demolished in the coming weeks after the Pawtucket PawSox famously left town in September of 2020.

Last week, DPW workers poured a concrete pad behind the home plate backstop at the East Providence High School baseball field, where the circa-1946 seats will soon be installed to provide family members and fans a chance to not only get a great view of the action, but be a little part of the PawSox lore.

“I’m looking at it as more of a nice piece of history more than the convenience of a seat,” said Bob Rodericks, East Providence City Council President and an eternal supporter of Townie athletics. “Even if we don’t fill them every game, it’ll be a nice little Rhode Island story.”

The whole story started around a year ago. The city was sitting on some leftover funding that went unused from the bond that built the new high school — ironically, funding that remained in part because the city opted not to include bleachers next to the playing fields, including the baseball field, to reduce costs.

“We were keeping the costs down so we didn’t add the seats. So people have been sitting on the hill that goes up on Pawtucket Avenue, they bring chairs and beach blankets,” he said. “The high school won the Division 2 State Championship, and they played at RIC, and they have nice seats built stadium style. I said this would be a great idea for our high school.”

The city got a quote for $25,000 to purchase 30-50 seats in the area behind home plate, not including the costs for labor to install them.
It was Rodericks who then decided to throw a wild pitch to Pawtucket mayor, Donald Grebian.

“McCoy was in the news at the time, and I thought maybe we could buy some of the seats cheap from them,” he said. “In the back of my mind I thought maybe we’d get a donation, but I thought I’d be courteous and offer to purchase them.”

After going back and forth with Pawtucket officials, including former Senator Sandra Cano, Rodericks got the good news that they would donate three connected rows, amounting to as many as 45 individual seats. All the city had to do was pick them up.

Even better? They got the red ones.

Now, Rodericks is hopeful that the seats will be installed in time for the Townies home opener against Portsmouth on April 3 (where his son, Bobby, will coach a hungry Townies team that is back in Division 1 for the first season since 2022).

Rodericks said he wants to do a dedication ceremony and get a plaque installed before the game, so young ball players for generations will be able to learn about the PawSox, and those who grew up with memories of McCoy will always have a little piece of it to cherish.

“It’s a bonus. We got them for free and it’s a piece of history and it’ll look cool,” he said. “It will look like actual baseball seating.”