As originally aired on The Rochester Press Box
Following their 2022 baseball season, the Savannah Bananas made a momentous decision. They dropped out of the Coastal Plain Collegiate League and took their show on the road. The Bananas while still based in Savannah, played in 33 other cities across 21 states this summer. They finished up their season in upstate New York with games in Syracuse and Cooperstown. They played seventy games in all. All of them were sellouts.
Banana ball is an amazing curiosity. The Bananas bring their own band. If a fan catches a foul ball cleanly in the stands, the batter is out. Each inning is its own game. Celebrations are required and routinely spread to the seats. There’s no bunting. No walks. You can steal first base. The game is nine innings or two hours. Whichever comes first.
Walk up music is played throughout the at-bat. The stadium soundtrack is continuous. Everything from Tom Petty and Taylor Swift to Sponge Bob and a Burker King commercial.
The Bananas save some of their best work between innings. There was a baby race. Grandma Gladiators with a couple of 70 somethings going at it with swimming pool noodles. And my personal favorite… human cornhole. Two families compete. The kids throw water balloons at their dads and score points by hitting them in the face. What’s better than that?You come away from the event spiritually spent. Satisfied but spent. A steady diet of banana ball would be too much. It’s only drawback. But until these guys run out of places to play… which isn’t likely… the crowds will follow.
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