Pelican Park

Entrance to Pelican Park (now Jim Spooner Field) at the University of West Florida, Jul-2004.

The central seating section and press box.

The park overlooks the tree-lined campus.

Chronological Tour: Stop 269

• Location: University of West Florida, Campus Drive off US 90 Alt/FL 10, north of I-10, Pensacola, Fla.
• Opened: 1981 (2003 for pro baseball)
• Additional names: Jim Spooner Field (2008)
• Home team: Pensacola Pelicans, Southeastern League (2003), Central League (2004-2005), American Association (2006-10); University of West Florida Argonauts, Gulf South Conference
• Capacity: 3,000 (including lawn seating)

Rating: 2 baseballs

The Southeastern League folded after the 2003 season, but the Pelicans’ owners bought the Central League’s Springfield-Ozark Mountain Ducks and moved them to Pensacola for 2004.

Pelican Park (which the school called simply the “UWF Baseball Complex” until dedicating it to long-time coach Jim Spooner) consists largely of aluminum bleachers, some of which were added for the Pelicans during the 2003 renovation. There is a small selection of “premium” seats behind home plate, but most of the park is sold as general admission.

The Pelicans announced that they were building their own park and it would be ready for the 2009 season, but that project got tied up in red tape. The logjam was broken in late 2010 when an investor group announced that they were purchasing the Carolina Mudcats and building a new park for them in Pensacola for 2012, giving the Florida panhandle Double-A baseball (and giving the Mobile BayBears a natural geographic rival through 2019). As a result, the Pelicans went dark for the 2011 season.