The Savannah Bananas are an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

barnstorming Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in t ...

baseball team based in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

. They play a variation of baseball known as Banana Ball, which emphasizes showmanship, fan participation, and quick-paced games. The players engage in dance routines, comedic sketches, and other performances between, and often during, innings. They are often compared to the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...

, though Savannah Bananas games are unscripted and competitive. There are four teams of players, many of whom are former

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

and

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

players, with former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

athletes as occasional special guest players. The team was founded in 2016 with Grayson Stadium as its home ballpark. Until 2022, the Bananas competed as a

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

team in the

Coastal Plain League The Coastal Plain League (CPL) is a wood-bat collegiate summer baseball league, featuring college players recruited from throughout the nation. The league takes its name from the Class D level Coastal Plain League which operated in the area f ...

's (CPL) West division, where they won three Petitt Cup championships (2016, 2021, and 2022). In 2018, they began playing exhibition games outside of the CPL season under the Banana Ball format. In 2023, the team moved entirely to exhibition games against their partner touring teams, the Party Animals, the Firefighters, and the Texas Tailgaters. The team has been featured by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', '' CNN 10,'' and ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' because of its

sports entertainment Sports entertainment is a type of spectacle which presents an ostensibly competition, competitive event using a high level of theatre, theatrical flourish and extravagant presentation, with the purpose of entertainment, entertaining an audience. Un ...

and viral videos.

History

Following the departure of the South Atlantic League's Savannah Sand Gnats for

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

, on September 22, 2015, the

(CPL) announced Savannah as its newest team to begin play for 2016. On February 25, following a name-the-team contest, the Bananas name, logo, and colors were officially revealed by the team. In 2016, the Bananas ended their inaugural season as the first seed in the CPL West Division, earning home-field advantage for the first two games of the playoffs. In game one, the Bananas beat the Asheboro Copperheads, 3–2, with the first walk-off in franchise history. The Bananas then defeated the Forest City Owls, 2–0, to win the CPL West Division championship and advance to the Petitt Cup Championship. Game one of the championship was played at Grayson Stadium, where the Bananas defeated the Peninsula Pilots, 8–4. The team traveled to

Hampton, Virginia Hampton is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, seve ...

, where the Pilots' 4–3 win in game two forced an all-or-nothing game three. The Bananas took home the Petitt Cup after a 9–7 win in game three. The Bananas were named the league's organization of the year in both 2016 and 2017. In 2018, the team created the alternative "Banana Ball" rule set and played its first intra-squad

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

using the new format. As the format became more popular, the team played its official game with Banana Ball rules on June 26, 2020, while playing away games under the standard CPL rules. The owner noted that this distinction, where the Bananas were effectively two different teams playing with two different rules, confused fans who might not know what to expect when they came to a game. In 2020 the Savannah Party Animals debuted as the opponent in Banana Ball games, similar to the relationship between the

and the

Washington Generals The Washington Generals are an American basketball team who play exhibition games against the Harlem Globetrotters. The team has also played under several aliases in their history as the Globetrotters' perennial opponents. Function The Gener ...

. Unlike Globetrotter exhibitions, the teams are more even and the Bananas do not win all games. Following the 2022 summer league season, the Bananas announced they were folding their collegiate amateur team and only playing Banana Ball, both in Savannah and on the road as a

team. In August that year,

ESPN+ ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...

released a miniseries about the team called ''Bananaland''. , the team has over six million followers on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

, more than any

team. In 2021, the team signed Dakota Albritton. Nicknamed "Stilts" and dubbed the "World's Tallest Baseball Player" and the "Tallest Pitcher in the World", Albritton stands 10-feet 9-inches tall and plays the field, bats and pitches all while on stilts. Albritton is the most recognized player on the team. In 2023,

Jocelyn Alo Jocelyn Aloha Pumehana Alo (born September 23, 1998) is an American professional softball player for the Oklahoma City Spark of the Association of Fastpitch Professionals (AFP). She played college softball for the Oklahoma Sooners softball, Okla ...

became the first woman to play for the Bananas, getting an

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

in one of their games. In 2024, the team announced that Alo had become the first female member of the Bananas, and signed a one-month contract.

Banana Ball world tours

2021

The Bananas announced their first "world" tour called the ''One City World Tour'', where they traveled to

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

, and sold out both nights in Hank Aaron Stadium, with a combined crowd of over 7,000 fans.

2022

The Bananas added six more cities across four different states to the tour, creating a 14-game "world" tour in which all games were sellouts. While the majority of Banana Ball games feature the Bananas versus the rival Party Animals, the Bananas introduced a "Challenger Series" in which they play against a different opponent. The first such series was played May 5–6 against the

Kansas City Monarchs The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 193 ...

of the

American Association of Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor ...

and saw each team win one game.

2023

The "world" tour was expanded to over 80 games, with the team implementing their new exhibition-only status. The tour was scheduled to start at

The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, formerly called The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, is a baseball park located in West Palm Beach, Florida, West Palm Beach, Florida. The stadium has a capacity of 6,500 people in fixed seats with room for 1,000 more ...

in Florida on February 17 and end seven months later at Doubleday Field in

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and the county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in ...

. The tour also includes numerous challenger games against teams such as the Charleston Dirty Birds,

Southern Maryland Blue Crabs The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs are an American professional baseball team based in Waldorf, Maryland. They are members of the South Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent "partner league" of Major League Base ...

, Florence Y'alls, The MLB Players Alumni Association, and a rematch with the Kansas City Monarchs. Additionally, the Bananas played their first international opponent, the Aussie Drop Bears, a team from Australia featuring professional and collegiate players.

2024

The "world" tour kicked off its 2024 season at George M. Steinbrenner Field in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

on February 8 and ended eight months later at

LoanDepot Park LoanDepot Park (officially stylized as loanDepot park, and named Marlins Park until 2021) is a retractable roof stadium located in Miami, Florida, United States. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins. It is located on on ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, followed by a trip on a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

The Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

called "Bananaland at Sea". The tour also included five other MLB ballparks:

Nationals Park Nationals Park is a baseball stadium along the Anacostia River in the Navy Yard (Washington, D.C.), Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals. Since its completion in 2008, it wa ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

;

Minute Maid Park Daikin Park (originally Enron Field and formerly Astros Field and Minute Maid Park) is a retractable roof stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. It opened in 2000 and is the home ballpark of the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

;

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a ballpark located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home field of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantia ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

;

Citizens Bank Park Citizens Bank Park is a baseball stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Home to Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies, the stadium opened April 3, 2004. It is named after Citizens Financi ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

; and

Progressive Field Progressive Field is a baseball stadium in the downtown area of Cleveland, Ohio. It is the ballpark of the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball and, together with Rocket Arena, is part of the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex. ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

2025

The Savannah Bananas announced they would play games in 40 cities in 2025, including three NFL stadiums and 17 MLB stadiums. Their first NFL stadium game was at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football ...

, where they played in front of a sold-out crowd of 65,000. On Saturday, April 26, the Savannah Bananas and the Party Animals played a game in front of 81,000 people at Clemson University's Memorial Stadium, home of the Clemson Tigers.

Attendance

In their inaugural 2016 season, the Savannah Bananas ranked second in average attendance among 160 summer collegiate teams, as reported by Ballpark Digest. They averaged 3,659 fans per game across 22 regular season home games, with 17 sellouts, totaling 80,504 fans and breaking the Coastal Plain League single-season attendance record. Including postseason games, they hosted 91,004 fans with 18 total sellouts. This also set a record for the highest average attendance in the history of Grayson Stadium. The Bananas recorded over 500,000 total fans in attendance on their Banana Ball World Tour in 2023. The team drew their largest attendance on April 26, 2025, with 80,000 spectators at Memorial Stadium in

Clemson, South Carolina Clemson () is a city in Pickens County, South Carolina, Pickens and Anderson County, South Carolina, Anderson counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. Clemson is adjacent to Clemson University, - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university pr ...

, a football stadium.

Current roster

Television coverage

Banana Ball made its national television debut in 2022 through a six game agreement with

. One game aired on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

, with the remaining games on

. The agreement returned in 2023 with one game on ESPN2 and two others on ESPN+. The Bananas significantly expanded its television coverage for the 2024 season. In April 2024, the Bananas announced that 19 games would air on

Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

and Bally Live. In July 2024, the Bananas announced a five game agreement with ESPN. For the first time, three games will air on ESPN with two others airing on ESPN2 as part of the annual

ESPN8 The Ocho ESPN8 The Ocho is a special program block showcasing seldom-seen obscure sports that airs on the networks of ESPN Inc. The Ocho is also offered as a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel on the Roku Channel and DirecTV Stream. ...

event. In August 2024, the Bananas announced an agreement with

TNT Sports TNT Sports is the brand name for sports television channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world that are owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The name originates from the American cable television ...

to exclusively air five games on

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...

. In 2025, the Bananas announced a 10 game agreement with ESPN. For the first time, all 10 games will be simulcast on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

and

, along with airing on ESPN or ESPN2. It was later announced that two additional games will air only on ESPN+ and Disney+. Other games will continue to stream on

and Bally Sports Live. One game in July will air on

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

, marking the first time a Bananas game has aired over-the-air.

References

External links

* {{Sports in Georgia (U.S. state) , state=collapsed 2016 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Amateur baseball teams in Georgia (U.S. state) Baseball teams in Savannah, Georgia Baseball teams established in 2016 Coastal Plain League Sports entertainment