After Long Absence, Blue Wahoos Bring Joy With Sale Of Individual Game Tickets 

Michael Craig and his girlfriend, Kathy, gladly pushed back returning this week to their Colorado home for a chance to reexperience baseball.

Blue Wahoos baseball.

The couple were among the first to arrive Wednesday when the box office at Blue Wahoos Stadium opened at 10 a.m. on the first day of selling individual game tickets.

It has been more than 20 months since the Blue Wahoos could sell a game ticket, but an even longer void for Craig, a long-time Colorado Rockies’ season-ticket holder.

“We didn’t get any (Rockies) baseball last year,” said Craig, referring to the empty stadiums in 2020 across Major League Baseball for an abbreviated seaso amid the coronavirus pandemic. “And this year will be the first time in 28 years that we won’t have Rockies’ season-tickets.”

In fact, the urge to see baseball again was so great, the two went recently to a T-Ball game in Gulf Breeze, not far from where they have a boat docked that has been their home here for months.

Once learning the Blue Wahoos home opener was May 11, they knew getting back to their home in Breckenridge, Colorado could wait.

“We were going to leave Friday,” said Craig, after requesting and purchasing the best available seats for the May 11 game. “And then we found out the Wahoos started on the (May) 11th (first home game), so we postponed our departure to see that game.

‘We’re so ready for baseball. We actually went to Gulf Breeze last week and watched a T-ball game.”

That’s loyalty.

And it was shared Wednesday by others in line at the box office, led by Pensacola native Jim Hearn, who was the first in line to grab tickets for the team’s home opener and new era as the Miami Marlins’ Double-A affiliate.

Hearn showed up an hour before the box office opened. He patiently waited in a folding, stadium tailgate chair as he visited with Craig and others.

“I get a front seat and help open the season,” said Hearn, laughing. “I’m excited. I mean, what a loss and a void to the community with not only this venue, but other venues throughout the community. This is a big spark. This is what we need to kinda move us forward back to some sort of normalcy.”

Hearn was part of the Wahoos’ game-day staff during the team’s first few years and now tries to attend selected games during the season.

“It’s great to have (Wahoos baseball) back,” he said.

The interest resonated with non-stop, telephone rings inside the Blue Wahoos front office. Receptionist Dawn Williams charted 35 ticket calls in less than 20 minutes after the first sale.

The team was approved by Major League Baseball to operate at near-capacity at the 5,038-seat stadium. Only seat rows by the railing near both bullpens and selected ones near the dugouts are being affected.

It means the Blue Wahoos won’t have to rope off sections or rows. At least for the start of the season, fans will be required to wear masks to enter the stadium and when they are not eating.

“We are just glad to be able have baseball back here again,” said team president Jonathan Griffith. “And adhering to the requirements put in place by Major League Baseball means we can have baseball back. After each month the situation will be evaluated and we may be able to make changes.”

Kyle Williamson, ticket operations manager, said the team sold more than 500 tickets in 30 minutes. The team announced weeks ago that April 28 would be the first day of public sale for individual games.

The Blue Wahoos will play 60 home games this season, a reduction from the 70-game schedule in place since their inaugural 2012 season.

“We’ve had a bunch of voice mails, because we just couldn’t answer the phones fast enough,” Williamson said, between returning the voice messages. “We’ve had questions daily about individual tickets and different things we were offering.

“Our promotional schedule came out (Tuesday). So everything is kind of coming together here.”

The Blue Wahoos spiced up the morning at the stadium with music spun by popular on-field personality, MC Buddy James.

They did a Facebook live with Blue Wahoos broadcaster Chris Garagiola and communications coordinator Katie Florio. It put an entertaining touch on ticket-buying.

“We are trying to have fun with it,” Williamson said. “We are all about having fun and making buying tickets. We are rolling now.”

WANT TO GO?

WHAT: Blue Wahoos Baseball

WHEN: Home opener is May 11, which begins 6-game home series against Birmingham Barons. 60-game home schedule runs through mid-September.

TICKETS: Single-game tickets, season tickets and mini-plans, available online at www.bluewahoos.com, or visiting Blue Wahoos ticket office Monday through Friday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. For more information, call 850-934-8444.

SEASON-TICKET HOLDERS: A reception will be held May 4 at the stadium from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. for season-ticket holders to pick up their tickets, or they can visit the front office during business hours next week.