McCoy Stadium - Famous Games and Incidents

Famous Games and Incidents

• On April 18, 1981, the Pawtucket Red Sox began a game at McCoy Stadium that seemed to go on forever. It would go down in history as the longest game in professional baseball history. For 20 innings, the PawSox battled the Rochester Red Wings in a 1-1 tie. The Red Wings would finally score in the top of the 21st inning to take the lead. The PawSox then scored a run in the bottom of the inning. The game was far from over. The game went on until 4:07 a.m. because the umpires did not have a curfew rule in their copy of the rule book. Finally the league president was reached and demanded that the game be suspended. The score was tied, 2-2 after the 32nd inning. When the game finally did resume on June 23, it took only 18 minutes to complete, as Dave Koza of the PawSox drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 33rd inning. Two future Hall of Famers were part of the historic game. Cal Ripken, Jr. went 2-13 on the night playing third base for Rochester. Wade Boggs played third base for Pawtucket and went 4-12 with a double and an RBI. Nineteen fans remained in the stands when the game was called for the night, and they received lifetime passes to McCoy Stadium.

• On April 9, 1992, during the PawSox' home opener against Rochester, then-WJAR-TV sports reporter Joe Rocco was trying to do a live report on the field for that day's 6:00 edition of "News Watch 10". Assumedly because the bright lights bothered some of the players, the home plate umpire went over and confronted Rocco and told him that they were not going to hold up the game for a live news report. Rocco tried to ask for 30 seconds to finish his report, but the umpire ejected him from the stadium, so Rocco had to toss it back to the studio immediately. The incident has since been seen on various blooper specials.

• On July 3, 2001, McCoy was the site of one of the most bizarre incidents in recent times. PawSox player Israel "Izzy" Alcantara was hit by a pitch by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons pitcher Blas Cedeño. Feeling that he had been thrown at, he responded by kicking catcher Jeremy Salazar in the chest, karate-style, before charging the mound. The pitcher wisely backed out of his way, and after momentarily trying to get anyone on the Red Barons to fight him, was engulfed in the ensuing bench-clearing brawl. Alcantara was suspended; his career never recovered.

• On July 14, 2004, McCoy Stadium hosted the Triple-A All-Star Game between the International League and the Pacific Coast League. The IL won the game 4-3 before a crowd of 11,192.

• On April 26, 2006, Durham Bulls player and Tampa Bay Devil Rays prospect Delmon Young (younger brother of the Washington Nationals' Dmitri Young) threw a bat at a replacement umpire who had ejected him from the game. Young struck out on a called third strike, and stood at the plate (silently, according to PawSox catcher Corky Miller) before walking away. When the umpire signaled that he was ejected, Young responded by throwing his bat, end-over-end, at the umpire, who was hit in his chest protector with the bat. The International League suspended Young for 50 games for the incident.

• McCoy has seen two perfect games thrown by PawSox pitchers. On June 1, 2000, Tomokazu Ohka defeated the Charlotte Knights 2-0, needing just 76 pitches to retire all 27 Charlotte batters. On August 10, 2003, Bronson Arroyo blanked the Buffalo Bisons by a score of 7-0. Arroyo was called up to the Boston Red Sox later that month.