Mullet Mania Takes Hold As Blue Wahoos Revive Hairdo Contest, Hats, Theme Event 

The Blue Wahoos have quickly learned there is a lot of buzz about a hairdo.

Yes, Mullet Mania is back.

Five years after staging a “What-If Night” on May 26, 2016, featuring a one-game theme with the team renamed as the Pensacola Mullets -- complete with mullet-logo uniforms and contests -- the Blue Wahoos are returning the special event in 2021.

This very idea, opting on a hunch that people love their mullets, already has blown up with popularity.

The first post Oct. 27 on the Blue Wahoos’ Facebook page, announcing the mullet hairstyle contest, was shared so many times by fans, it quickly became the most viewed post in team history. It reached more than 80,000 fans.

The next Facebook post, this one showing off nearly 100 mullets submitted by fans, blew away the previous posts record, being liked, shared, and re-posted so many times that more than 100,000 fans saw it.

The fans’ vote for “Best Mullet In The Minor Leagues” will end this weekend. Next week, sometime between Nov. 16-18, voting will begin for the overall winner.

Fans can view the entries and cast a vote for their favorite mullet at this link.

“Really, it has been incredible for us to see our fan base right now, in a time with no baseball, become so energized about a promotion for next eyar,” said Daniel Venn, the Blue Wahoos media and public relations manager. “We can’t wait to play as the Mullets for a game next year and bring our contest champion to throw out the first pitch that game.”

There are two different Pensacola Mullets hats that fans can pre-order for delivery in spring 2021. One is royal blue, similar to the one worn by the team for the 2016 game. The other hat is pink and blue with the mullet fish logo.

The hats fans who pre-order will receive will be the same the team’s players receive, and will arrive in March or April before Opening Day.

Since the one-day promotion in 2016, fans have eagerly awaited the return of sold-out Mullets hats and shirts.

“I would say that during the past two years, at least once a week someone Tweets at us or sends a Facebook message asking, ‘Hey do you have any mullet hats for sale, or Hey, when will you have mullet hats for sale.’ It’s still a popular question.

“So, I am glad that I will be finally able to say yes, the gear will be coming in 2021.”

When the request went out for fan submissions and photos of their mullet hairstyle, the thought was that maybe five, 10 or a dozen entries would be emailed. But that changed within minutes of the Facebook request, as mullet photos poured into Venn’s email inbox.

“It’s been surprising and exciting to see the reception our fans have given this,” Venn said.

In addition, the Blue Wahoos are a candidate for the MiLB Alter Ego Challenge, a contest put on by Minor League Baseball to choose the best alternate team name identity a MiLB team has worn for a game.

The team announced on social media last week that they plan to play as the Mullets once next season. But, if they win the MiLB Alter Ego Challenge, they’ll up that to once a week.

During the “name-the-team” contest prior to the Blue Wahoos’ inaugural 2012 season, Pensacola Mullets was a close runner-up choice to Blue Wahoos.

That led into 2016 for a one-time, name switch. Fan response that day in May was phenomenal.

“In the team store back then, all Mullets’ hats and apparel sold out within hours,” Venn said.

In Venn’s four years working for various professional sports teams, he’s experienced all sorts of promotions and theme ideas.

Utilizing the name Mullets, both for hairstyle and reference as the edible fish commonly enjoyed on the Gulf Coast, has fit what he views as the natural, unique lure of Minor League Baseball.

“I think the Mullets as a name is the ultimate minor league thing,” he said. “Because the minor leagues are all about being goofy, being zany, being off-the-wall and, most of all, just being fun.

“And what is more fun than a baseball team being called the Mullets? What’s more fun than a logo that is a fish that has a mullet? I think it connects with fans in Minor League Baseball and I think it connects with fans in our area.”