The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fra ...

. They are based in

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal c ...

, and play their home games at

Admiral Fetterman Field Admiral Fetterman Field (located in the Community Maritime Park and also locally referred to as Blue Wahoos Stadium) is a multi-use park in Pensacola, Florida that includes a stadium, commercial buildings, a waterfront public park and amphitheat ...

. In 2012, the team relocated to Pensacola from

Zebulon, North Carolina Zebulon is the easternmost town in Wake County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 6,903 at the 2020 census. Zebulon is part of the Research Triangle metropolitan region. Five County Stadium, home to the Carolina Mudcats minor le ...

, where they were known as the Carolina Mudcats.

History

The franchise began in 1959 as the

Charleston White Sox The Charleston White Sox were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Class A South Atlantic League from 1959 to 1961. They were located in Charleston, South Carolina, and played their home games at Hampton Park. Known as the Charleston ...

of the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

(now the Southern League); it subsequently moved several times, playing in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, (1959–1961);

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, (1962);

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch, the city's population was 79,009 at the 2020 census. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mounta ...

, (1963–1965); and

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city i ...

, (1966–1968), before moving to

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it o ...

, in 1969 to play in Golden Park. The team was known as the Columbus Astros from 1970 to 1988, when it became an affiliate of the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after s ...

. Following the 1988 season, new owner Steve Bryant held a contest among season ticket holders to rename the team, and as a result, in 1989 the team became the

Columbus Mudcats The Columbus Mudcats were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Double-A Southern League from 1969 to 1990. They were located in Columbus, Georgia, and played their home games at Golden Park. Founded as the Columbus White Sox in 1969, ...

. In 1991, Bryant moved the club to

, and renamed them the Carolina Mudcats. In Zebulon, the team played in

Five County Stadium Five County Stadium is a baseball stadium located in Zebulon, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. It is the home of the Carolina Mudcats of the Carolina League. The ballpark, which was opened in 1991 and extensively renovated in 1999, has a cap ...

and won Southern League championships in 1995 and 2003. In 2010, Quint Studer, owner of the Pensacola Pelicans independent baseball team, acquired the Mudcats franchise in a complicated series of moves and purchases designed to bring affiliated Double-A baseball to Pensacola. First, he sold the Pelicans to a group in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for " yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall Cou ...

, where they became the Amarillo Sox in 2011. General manager of the Pelicans, J. C. Evers, provided the success that would prove Pensacola a viable minor league town. Studer then bought the Carolina Mudcats franchise. However, to settle this purchase, he had to facilitate the move of the Kinston Indians to Zebulon, where they assumed the Carolina Mudcats name and branding. Additionally, as Pensacola is within the franchise territory of the Mobile Bay Bears, Studer paid that team an undisclosed sum of money. The arrangements cost a total of $2 million. The Blue Wahoos nickname was decided in a fan contest run by

Wendy's Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was ...

in conjunction with the '' Pensacola News Journal''. It refers to the

wahoo Wahoo (''Acanthocybium solandri'') is a scombrid fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. It is best known to sports fishermen, as its speed and high-quality flesh makes it a prized and valued game fish. In Hawaii, the wahoo is ...

(''Acanthocybium solandri''), a local fish species. Their team colors are Neon red, Gulf Coast royal, Blue Angel navy, and Tin Roof tin. It was officially announced on May 23, followed by the logo and colors on November 18. Following the inaugural season that saw Billy Hamilton break the all-time professional baseball single season stolen base record, the team was named the Southern League's Organization of the Year. Two-time Masters Champion Bubba Watson became co-owner in January 2015. In 2016, the Blue Wahoos were chosen by Baseball America as the Double-A winner of the prestigious Bob Freitas Award as the best overall franchise among the nation's 30 affiliates at this level. It was announced at the Baseball Winter Meetings at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. They entered into a two-year PDC with the Minnesota Twins that ran from 2019 to 2020. The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

before ultimately being cancelled on June 30. Starting in 2021, the Blue Wahoos were affiliated with the

. In a further result of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Blue Wahoos were organized into the eight-team Double-A South. In 2022, the Double-A South became known as the Southern League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.

Television and radio

All Pensacola Blue Wahoos games are televised live on MiLB.TV. The Blue Wahoos are also televised on delay Monday through Thursday on Cox Sports and Friday through Sunday on Blab-TV (WFBD). All Blue Wahoos games are broadcast on radio on WTKE/1490 and

TuneIn Radio TuneIn is a global audio streaming service delivering live news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the company TuneIn Inc. which is based in San Francisco, California. The compan ...

Season-by-season records

Roster

References

External links

*
Statistics from ''Baseball-Reference''

Pensacola Blue Wahoos blog
{{Florida Sports Baseball teams established in 2012 Southern League (1964–present) teams Sports in Pensacola, Florida Cincinnati Reds minor league affiliates Minnesota Twins minor league affiliates Miami Marlins minor league affiliates 2012 establishments in Florida Double-A South teams