Fathers And Their Kids Share Special Father's Day Experience At Blue Wahoos Stadium

His wife, Stacy, kept the special gift a total surprise for husband Billy Lawrence, all the way into the parking lot Sunday at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

She bought the Blue Wahoos’ Father’s Day “Dadzilla Experience” for him and 14-year-old son, Jacob, so they could have some memorable fun together on the field at the bayfront stadium.

“She got me good,” said Billy Lawrence, laughing, after taking a round of batting practice in the batting cage positioned at home plate.

“We were going to the Fish House (for Father’s Day) and she drove right by, passed through downtown and I thought she was just driving us to the stadium to turn around,” he said. “I had no idea. And (June 20) was our wedding anniversary, too, so this is just really cool.”

The Blue Wahoos offered an ultimate Father’s Day upgrade for the special lunch event, which provided for $55 the “Crabzilla” sandwich, a 32-ounce Mason jar of chilled beer, plus the ability to take a round of batting practice with son or daughter on the field.

Billy Lawrence figured it had been decades since he last swung at pitched baseballs on a full-size field, much less one with the ambiance of Blue Wahoos Stadium.

He was grateful for the reconnection.

His son is preparing to begin his high school baseball career in 2021 as a freshman at West Florida High.

“It blows my mind. This is incredible,” said Lawrence, whose son is now preparing for 2021 when he’ll be a freshman player at West Florida High. “We have a batting cage at our house, but I haven’t been on a field like this in 20-25 years, so this is special.”

Beginning June 18 with a Thursday Trivia Night at the ballpark, the Blue Wahoos hosted four days of various events, including two movie nights, two fireworks shows following those movies, during the Father’s Day weekend.

Out here taking big daddy hacks on Father's Day.

Father's Day BP 💯 pic.twitter.com/JoHDWNIMTq

— Pensacola Blue Wahoos (@BlueWahoosBBall) June 21, 2020

The first half of the Blue Wahoos 2020 baseball season would have concluded June 21. The next few days would have been the Southern League All-Star break. The second half of the season was to have started June 25.

As replacement, the Blue Wahoos used Father’s Day weekend to showcase the ballpark in different ways.

“I think anything facilities like this stadium can do to keep people interested, keep people on the field, that is great,” said Cory Brown, who joined with his 7-year-old son, Nathan, to enjoy the batting practice experience on Father’s Day. “You don’t get many opportunities like this.”

Cory Brown’s wife purchased the experience after seeing it on the Blue Wahoos’ Facebook page. The family attended the June 20 movie night featuring “Field of Dreams” and the post-game fireworks.

“My son was teaching some of his Cub Scout friends how to throw,” said Brown, smiling with pride.

About 14 hours later, they were back on the field at Blue Wahoos Stadium taking batting practice. They were among the father-son, father-daughter combinations who took advantage of

“(Son) plays in the rec lead at (Pensacola) NEP,” Brown said. “So it was a real treat for him to come out here and do this. It was really nice.”

The Blue Wahoos had four members of their front office staff throwing batting practice in 30-minute intervals. While it was going on, the lunch event had more than 125 guests dining at the Hancock-Whitney Club level.

It was part of the team’s continued quest to come out with new ideas, new ways to bring people to the stadium.

“When the park was built, it was all about creating a neighborhood,” said Blue Wahoos owner Quint Studer. “A stadium, a place where people could mingle, a place where people could get together and that’s what it has been for us.”