The story of Pensacola’s Community Maritime Park begins not with grand plans or city council meetings, but with folding chairs at a junior college and a man who “didn’t know there was a difference between independent and affiliated baseball teams.
An Accidental Owner’s Origin Story
Quint Studer’s entry into baseball ownership reads like something out of a Hollywood script. After attending a Pensacola Pelicans game at Pensacola Junior College in the summer of 2002, he found himself captivated by what he described as “a magical time of maybe reliving what things could be simple and just fun.”
- Background: “Well, I was very idealistic. I didn’t grow up around minor league baseball. I grew up around Major League baseball, the Chicago White Sox. I decided the other day that the reason I was a White Sox fan is that the Cubs played during the day, and at night, I would listen to a transistor radio, so I became a White Sox fan. Plus, we’d go to games on certain Sundays to Joe Kovich’s tavern down the street. We’d hop on a bus. So I always loved the thought of baseball.”
When he learned the team had been sold, and that the buyer had backed out, Studer made an impulsive decision. “I called Gordon Pollis and asked him if he knew anything about it,” Studer recalls. What he discovered was a team drowning in approximately $80,000 of debt and an ownership group “so excited to get a call” that they practically gave the team away.
- “It wasn’t unusual to be in a baseball game and have somebody come up and say, ‘Hey, you owe me money for this, owe you money for that,'” Studer remembers. “And we just paid everybody. We had no record keeping.”
Why buy the team? “The reason I did it though, Rick, is when I was president of Baptist Hospital, the favorite part of my job was the employees and the community. And when you’re on the road, you’re a soloist. So you’re on the road and you’re speaking, even though you’re enjoying your work, you’re never feeling part of a team. And so I think part of this was helping me feel part of something again.”
The Struggles of Independent Baseball
The early days were far from glamorous. The team played in what Studer describes as challenging conditions, with “no parking whatsoever” at UWF and a press box that “wasn’t handicap accessible.” The Pelicans struggled to find independent leagues to join.
- “It was pretty much one league would open one year, close the next year. It was pretty tough. Now, there were some real solid teams like the Lincoln Salt Dogs, St. Paul Saints and those things, and their teams would play in their ballparks. Then they’d come to Pensacola, and they’re in a trailer and they’re in porta-potties. So we were on the fringe of even independent teams.”
The difference in players: “The Blue Wahoos have had like 120 players from the Blue Wahoos playing in the major leagues. And in nine years with the Pensacola Pelicans, we had one with a few relief appearances. So it’s definitely a different world, but it’s still great for communities to have baseball, whether it’s affiliate or independent.”
The Downtown Conversation That Changed Everything
The pivotal moment came during a breakfast meeting with Tom Bonfield at Garden Street Deli. “Tom Bonfield asked to meet with me,” Studer explains, “and out of the blue, just said he’s very concerned about Pensacola, that it seems like there’s no corporations downtown.”
When Bonfield suggested moving Studer Group downtown, the conversation naturally turned to baseball. “I mentioned to him about getting a ballpark downtown, and he showed a real interest in this.”
This chance encounter would prove transformative. As Studer puts it: “Tom Bonfield wasn’t for him. There wouldn’t be a community maritime park, and I don’t think there’d be the downtown as we know it today.”
Sometimes the biggest changes start with the smallest conversations—and a love of baseball played while viewed on folding chairs.
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