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 franc ...

. 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 ...

, 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 lea ...

, where they were known as the

Carolina Mudcats The Carolina Mudcats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Zebulon, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh, and play their home games a ...

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 (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...

, (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 in ...

, (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 ...

, in 1969 to play in

Golden Park Golden Park is a 5,000-seat baseball stadium in Columbus, Georgia, United States, that opened in 1951. Located on the Chattahoochee River in Downtown Columbus, it is currently home to the Columbus Chatt-a-Hoots as of 2021 . The exterior of the ...

. The team was known as the

Columbus Astros Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

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 ...

. 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 capa ...

and won Southern League championships in 1995 and 2003. In 2010,

Quint Studer Quinton D. Studer (born 1951) is a Pensacola, Florida businessman and philanthropist, known as the co-owner of the minor league baseball team the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and founder of the healthcare consulting company, Studer Group. Early life a ...

, owner of the

Pensacola Pelicans The Pensacola Pelicans were a minor league baseball team based in Pensacola, Florida. In various incarnations, they played in three different independent baseball leagues (leagues unaffiliated with Major League Baseball) from 2002 to 2010. They ...

independent baseball Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...

team, acquired the Mudcats franchise in a complicated series of moves and purchases designed to bring affiliated Double-A baseball to

Pensacola 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 ci ...

. 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 County ...

, where they became the

Amarillo Sox The Amarillo Thunderheads, formerly known as the Amarillo Sox, were a professional minor league baseball team based in Amarillo, Texas. They were members of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, an independent baseball ...

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 The Kinston Indians were a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League (CL) located in Kinston, North Carolina, from 1978 to 2011. They played their home games at Grainger Stadium, which opened in 1949. The team began play in 1978 as the Ki ...

to Zebulon, where they assumed the Carolina Mudcats name and branding. Additionally, as Pensacola is within the franchise territory of the

Mobile Bay Bears The Mobile BayBears were a Minor League Baseball team based in Mobile, Alabama, United States. The team, which played in the Southern League, served as the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres (1997–2006), Arizona Diamondbacks (2007–2 ...

, 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 the ...

in conjunction with the ''

Pensacola News Journal The '' Pensacola News Journal'' is a daily morning newspaper serving Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida. It is Northwest Florida's most widely read daily. The ''News Journal'' is owned by Gannett, a national media holding company th ...

''. 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 kn ...

(''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 identif ...

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 (AL), ...

's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Blue Wahoos were organized into the eight-team

Double-A South AA, Aa, Double A, or Double-A may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''America's Army'', a 2002 computer game published by the U.S. Army * '' Ancient Anguish'', a computer game in existence since 1992 * Aa!, a J-Pop musical group * Do ...

. 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 company ...

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