The Savannah Bananas began when one couple emptied their bank accounts for a dream: to add joy, fun and ultimately singing and dancing to baseball. 11 years later, it’s an entertainment juggernaut.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The Savannah Bananas are kind of like the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. They barnstorm across the country, selling out major and minor league stadiums with their unique blend of trick plays and dancing. They broadcast all their games for free on YouTube, and some also air on networks, including ABC and ESPN. The Bananas slipped into Yankee Stadium recently, and reporter Jeff Lunden went to check them out.
JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE: Baseball has a certain kind of rhythm. Before every game, there’s batting practice and fielding practice, but for the Savannah Bananas, there’s dance practice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BILLIE JEAN”)
MICHAEL JACKSON: (Singing) I am the one.
JESSE COLE: We had a dream to make baseball fun, to change the game, to add more joy, more entertainment.
LUNDEN: Jesse Cole and his wife, Emily, bought a college summer baseball team 11 years ago, wiping out their bank accounts and turned it into what Forbes estimates is a $500 million entertainment juggernaut. They now have a league with six teams playing, singing and dancing across the country.
COLE: We want to look for players that are talented and are entertaining. But what people don’t realize is we’re not looking for the best baseball players in the world. We’re looking for the most entertaining players in the world, and it’s different.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DEREK KLENA: (Singing) Sing once again with me, a strange duet. My…
LUNDEN: This year, one of the attractions is Broadway’s Derek Klena. He starred in “Anastasia,” “Wicked” and “Jagged Little Pill” and was a pitcher in college. He says doing songs and choreography for the Bananas is Broadway-adjacent.
KLENA: The unique quality about this particular sport is every week we’re doing a new show. So you never really get to settle into anything. You can’t get too precious with things. Sometimes you get one rep at it, and then you got to go out there and just rip the Band-Aid off and do it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Now coming to pitch…
LUNDEN: All of the players bring their particular skill set, like Dakota Albritton, who plays the game on stilts.
DAKOTA ALBRITTON: I’m the world’s tallest baseball player. I hit and pitch and entertain on the stilts.
LUNDEN: There is a bit of P.T. Barnum in banana ball. Jesse Cole wears a yellow tux and acts as master of ceremonies.
COLE: You know, hey, if your owner will wear a yellow tuxedo, a top hat and not take themselves too seriously, why can’t everyone else do that the same way and just have fun? And so that’s what it’s all about.
LUNDEN: The philosophy of banana ball is fans first. And there are even unique rules to make the games go faster, say 11-year-olds Carter and Cooper Thomas, twins who go by the name Twinstripe Reporters on Instagram.
COOPER THOMAS: So there’s a time limit, a two-hour time limit.
CARTER THOMAS: If the fans catch a foul ball, it’s an out.
COOPER: No walking. Instead, it’s a ball-four sprint, and all the players need to touch the ball before the play stops.
CARTER: No bunting.
COOPER: No bunting.
LUNDEN: Before the game, fans got to meet some players on the infield, including Ashton Lansdell, who plays second and third base for the Party Animals, the opposing team. She’s one of several female players in banana ball. Lansdell says playing at Yankee Stadium provided a wow moment.
ASHTON LANSDELL: So on Friday, I got in to bat, and when I was walking up to the box, I did the whole plate tap and everything. And then I looked up to the pitcher, and I was – I saw that view right there, and I was like, damn. Like, we made it. Like, this is sick. Like, I will never forget that moment.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KLENA: (Singing) You make this the greatest show, better than all the rest.
LUNDEN: After about a half hour of pre-game festivities with songs, a marching band, contests, cheerleaders, dances, the family-friendly game went by in a blur, with pop music accompanying every minute.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “CELEBRATE”)
PITBULL: (Singing) I just want to celebrate.
LUNDEN: And the game itself stopped a couple of times for big, elaborately choreographed musical numbers. In one routine, the Bananas and the Party Animals came from opposite sides of the outfield to music from “West Side Story,” like the Jets and Sharks.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing) The Party Animals grumble, fair fight, but if they start a rumble, we’ll rumble them right.
LUNDEN: But Tony winner Ben Platt stopped the rumble by singing ABBA’s “The winner Takes It All” to both teams.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BEN PLATT: (Singing) The winner takes it all.
LUNDEN: The Party Animals beat the Bananas, but honestly, nobody really cared. At the end of the game, catcher Bill LeRoy asked the fans to rise as one.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BILL LEROY: We’re going to say, fans first, on three, loud and proud. One, two, three.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Fans first.
LEROY: We love you, New York. Till next time.
LUNDEN: For NPR News, I’m Jeff Lunden from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
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