Atlanta Braves Notes from a Sunday Afternoon Minor League Game

May 15, 2016: The Mississippi Braves vs. the Pensacola Blue Wahoos from Bayfront Stadium in Pensacola, FL

Kyle Tait, the radio voice of the Mississippi Braves told me last year that Pensacola had done it right with their new stadium.  He’s right.  This is a venue like I’ve never seen before in the minor league parks I’ve visited (Huntsville, Mobile, Winston-Salem, Viera, Orlando – two of these are now defunct).

This is an attempt to share that game and that experience – lots of observations; lots of thoughts.

The Venue

Pensacola Bayfront Stadium is literally that:  it sits directly on Escambia Bay in South Pensacola, with water on three sides of the property, which includes walking areas, picnic areas, a large amphitheater, beautifully landscaped grounds, and more.  Palm trees (duh), seagulls, pelicans… and it’s still located downtown. This was a great job done by the city:  it is a visually striking minor league park.

This was an exceptional day, being that while the humidity was definitely present, the Florida heat did not really kick in.  The temperature got to 80°, but with the breeze coming in off the bay, it was actually pleasant… and 5,038 patrons showed up to enjoy the afternoon.  Heckuva draw.

Parking was somewhat confusing… on approach, it became obvious that many were parking along the streets and in public metered lots two full blocks away.  Given that my on-line ticket-buying experience showed precious few seats available, this scared me into parking there, too:  which made for a long walk in.

Turns out that pay-to-park areas adjacent to the stadium were still available, but if you’re good with the hike, then freebies could be had.

The park is built ‘up’:  surprising because of its location, but not surprising if you’re a Floridian and understand that you simply can’t dig in Florida – especially near the coast.  You’ll hit water quickly.  In other places, if you don’t hit water, you hit sand… which fills in your hole quickly.  So if you’re mobility challenged, an elevator is needed.  Thus even the field of play had to have regular infield clay brought in, which raised it up, too.

The Schticks

Every minor league club has their “things” that they broadcast over the PA system.  By this I mean things like the sound of broken glass (or a horn honk) when a foul ball is hit over the roof and toward a parking lot… that kind of thing.  The Blue Wahoos do need to diversify here:

• On opponent strikeout, there’s a famous line pulled from the first ‘Willy Wonka’ movie:  (Shouted) “You get nothing… you lose… good day, sir!”  That’s pretty obnoxious and (IMHO) should be limited to once per game.
• On a home team home run:  a cannon goes off in center field.  That has a really strong report – hopefully all players involved know it’s coming, though they also repeated that around the 7th inning stretch for no particular reason.
• “Dayyyy Ohh“… can we all agree to just ban this forevermore?  Everybody does it.  And nobody reacts anymore.
• The Wahoos had a promo based on an opponent striking out during the game.  It happened to be Swanson, but I didn’t like it regardless.
• “Freeze!  Ev-ry-bo-dy-clap-your-hands!”  This was overused.
• The dizzy bats gag where two guys spin around a bat for 10 seconds and then try to stumble to a finish line 10 feet away.  This never gets old.
• A pest control company sponsored a cockroach chase in between innings.  They ‘released’ a costumed employee at the RF corner and 100 kids chased it (unsuccessfully) to the LF corner.  Chaos.  But cockroaches are a Florida thing, so fortunately the kids did the right thing.
• There were a couple of servicemen recognized, plus some military personnel got free seats:  very good.  The Pensacola Naval Air Station is located there, and Eglin Air Force Base is an hour to the East.
• Bottom of the 9 inning: the Rally Fish came in with sounds of the ‘Jaws’ theme.  That was good.

The best thing?  A Wahoos “Bat Boy” can dance… with footwork reminiscent of Michael Jackson.  They featured him at least 3 times during the game.  Might be a little much if you have season tickets, but he’s pretty good.

The Wahoos also did ‘Scream!’ (make some noise) and a clapping thing… but not enough organ playing for my tastes.  In general at any park, I’d like to see less repetition of the oft-used sound effects.

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