Wahoo!



Approaching Community Maritime Park, Aug-2012.

The seating bowl, as seen from beyond the first-base line.

Nearly every seat offers a view of Pensacola Bay.

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Quick Facts: Rating: 4 baseballs
After the city supported an independent league team at the University of West Florida for several seasons, Minor League Baseball saw fit to transfer one of its clubs to Pensacola, a city on the bay with a strong military presence. Community Maritime Park opened in 2012, with views of Pensacola Bay from nearly every seat. (The stadium sits in Community Maritime Park, but the name now on the outside of the park is Blue Wahoos Stadium. The field is separately dedicated to Vice Admiral Jack Fetterman, who settled in Pensacola after his Navy career ended and, as chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, lobbied for the park development.)

In addition to the gorgeous views, the park also features a rounded seating area, rather than the more typical (and probably easier to build) squared-off look that has become common. It is not possible to walk all the way around the outfield on the concourse, owing to the fact that city planners wanted to leave intact a public walkway along the water’s edge, but there is a combined general admission area and beer garden in right field. Fans also get a nearly complete auxiliary scoreboard (line score, total runs, count and outs) mounted above the souvenir shop directly behind home plate.

Perhaps the only drawback is that there is very little shelter in the park for those rainy nights. There is sufficient shade, based on the layout of the park and also some tarpaulins mounted above the first-base (west side) concession stands. The batter faces southeast here.

Parking runs $3 to $5 at nearby lots, but there is also on-street parking within a few blocks, as meters in the city hall area only operate Monday through Friday during business hours. Concessions are a little bit on the high side; instead of trying the Big Wahoo hot dog, I went with a slice of pizza that completely failed to impress me.


More photos from 2012 in this Facebook album (public, no account required)
Game Date League Level Result
1212 Sun 12-Aug-2012 Southern AA PENSACOLA 7, Chattanooga 3
1870 Thu 15-Aug-2019 Southern AA PENSACOLA 13, Chattanooga 0
1953 Wed 12-May-2021 Double-A South AA PENSACOLA 4, Birmingham 1
2184 Thu 14-Jul-2022 Southern AA PENSACOLA 7, Chattanooga 3
2292 Thu 20-Apr-2023 Southern AA PENSACOLA 6, Birmingham 0
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This page updated 20-Apr-2023