(PENSACOLA, Fla.) - Hattiesburg, Mississippi is proud of Billy Hamilton. And so is Pensacola, Florida. And rightly so!
The Blue Wahoos' shortstop is giving his home team plenty of attention by breaking the minor league record for most stolen bases in one season...
And he's doing it here, at another point of pride for Pensacola, the new Blue Wahoo Baseball Stadium in the city's new Maritime Park.
"What this did is take somewhat of a blighted area and turned it into a focal point of community use," said team president Bruce Baldwin. "We see a lot of people jogging, walking, fishing, picnic, parties out here constantly. I get in about 7:30 in the morning and there is a yoga class going on on one of the lawns, people doing wind sprints, families doing fishing expeditions and cookouts in the afternoons."
And that's just the outside of the stadium. Inside, the stadium design is already a favorite, and destined to become a classic.
"It's a very cool place," continued Baldwin. "There's not a bad site line. It was designed with the idea to bring as many people as we can as close to the action. We have 14 rows in the stadium. We purposely didn't design any general admission seating so we could take advantage of the scenery and mother nature and everything with it. And then we also wanted to make it more of a gathering place and a social opportunity."
There are 5,000 seats in the stadium and management is proud to say that there is not a bad seat in the house. You can see everything. But if you want to see the view, you might want to climb the stairs to The Hancock Bank Club.
It's one big open air executive suite that features premium stadium food and The View!
And what you see is a panoramic vista that is Pensacola Bay.
You might actually forget there's a game going on, until Billy Hamilton goes for another steal!
