'Banana Ball': Introducing the Savannah Bananas' baseball iteration that is taking the country by storm

From the start, the Savannah Bananas were not your ordinary collegiate summer baseball team.

Whether it was their eccentric branding, humorous in-game gimmicks or gregarious, yellow-tuxedo-wearing team owner, the Bananas have always been about more than baseball.

But after a successful run in the Coastal Plain League (CPL) from 2016 to 2022, a stretch that included three championships (2016, 2021, 2022), they are no longer about baseball at all.

Now, it’s all about “Banana Ball.”

The birth of the Bananas

After experimenting with creating a baseball-centric spectacle during their stint with another minor-league baseball team — the Gastonia Grizzlies — Jesse and Emily Cole founded the Savannah Bananas in 2016. The Bananas competed in the CPL until August 2022, but even in highly competitive games, they made sure to incorporate a hint of flair.

If there was any avenue to stray from the typical baseball fan experience and create a more engaging product, the Bananas pursued it. That meant things such as on-field TikTok dances and the creation of “The Banana Nanas” — the Bananas’ senior citizen cheerleading group — among other amusing hijinks.

The result of the Bananas’ shift toward a more entertainment-focused approach was Banana Ball, an original baseball adaptation that emphasizes the theatrical, light-hearted elements of the Bananas experience.

The key to this transition was that it allowed the Bananas to take their creativity to the next level, introducing all sorts of new tricks such as flaming bats, players on stilts, twerking umpires and break-dancing coaches.

Banana Ball was first tested in 2018, when the Bananas played exhibition games against a few college teams, before making its official debut in 2020. The Bananas’ unique spin-off was such a success that from 2020 to 2022, they played a separate slate of Banana Ball exhibitions, in addition to their regular CPL schedule.

With it becoming increasingly clear that the Bananas were on to something with this idea of “making baseball fun,” they leaned into it. They began to further embrace their nonconformist antics, adopting the self-proclaimed billing of “the greatest show in sports.”

As 4,000 fans poured into Grayson Stadium on a nightly basis and waitlists emerged, the likes rolled in on social media. Soon enough, the Bananas were something of a national phenomenon.

So what now?

Now, the Bananas have become a Harlem Globetrotters-esque traveling circus.

After winning their second consecutive CPL championship in 2022, the Bananas announced that they were backing out of the league due to the growing, nationwide demand for Banana Ball. Rather than splitting their time between playing CPL games and Banana Ball exhibitions, the Bananas opted to dedicate themselves entirely to showcasing their innovative version of the sport.

Currently, the Bananas are in the midst of their third "World Tour" — and their first solely "Banana Ball" junket — on which they travel to minor-league ballparks and play exhibition games primarily against their partner touring team, the Party Animals, who were established in 2021. Occasionally, the Bananas take on a minor-league "challenger" team, but the majority of their games pit them against their fellow Banana Ball experts.

The Bananas first took Banana Ball on the road in 2021 for a successful one-game cameo in Mobile, Alabama, and in 2022, while still balancing their CPL schedule, the Bananas made a few stops throughout the South, visiting seven cities for 14 Banana Ball games.

In 2023, the Bananas' 33-city, 21-state, sold-out tour goes from coast to coast, marking their first trips to the East Coast, West Coast and Midwest. With the way they continue to fill stadiums across the U.S., perhaps the Bananas have a shot at a true world tour in the future.

What exactly is Banana Ball?

The beauty of the Banana Ball experience, in many ways, lies in its spontaneity, but there are, of course, some rules. Currently, there are nine, but that number is fluid, as the Bananas are always looking to create a more entertaining atmosphere.

Here are the rules:

1. Every inning except the last is worth one point. The team that scores the most runs in an inning gets the point for that inning, except in the last inning, when every run counts.

2. There is a two-hour time limit for games, so after 1 hour, 50 minutes, no new inning can be started.

3. If a hitter steps out of the batter’s box, it counts as a strike.

4. If a hitter bunts, they are ejected from the game.

5. At any time during an at-bat, a hitter can attempt to steal first base.

6. If a pitcher throws four balls, the hitter can try to advance as many bases as possible before each member of the defensive team touches the ball and it becomes live again.

7. Managers are not allowed any mound visits.

8. If a fan catches a foul ball, it counts as an out.

9. If a game is tied at the end of the time limit, the game goes into a one-on-one showdown. With just one defensive player, a pitcher, a hitter and a catcher allowed on the field, the batter tries to score before being tagged out.

Who are the Bananas?

Make no mistake, while the Bananas like to refer to their routine as a circus in which a baseball game breaks out, the stunts don't come at the expense of the on-field product. There are times, of course, when the shtick inhibits the level of play, but every player on the Bananas and Party Animals is ripe with baseball experience.

That said, it is certainly an eclectic mix. In a Bananas vs. Party Animals game, the crowd will see anyone from 76-year-old former Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee to Mat Wolf, an Oklahoma City firefighter who played college baseball.

Through the years, players such as Cade Marlowe, who was recently drafted by the Seattle Mariners, have used the Bananas as a springboard to MLB, and others, such as Eric Jones Jr., have left the majors for the lighter, more joyous lifestyle the Bananas provide.

Between the mix of rising college baseball players and MLB alumni, along with a few fun wild cards thrown in, there is no lack of talent in the Bananas clubhouse.

And there is no lack of interest, among both players and fans, either.