In the process, they’ve created an unexpected empire. The Bananas, a moniker picked by fans in a name-the-team contest, have become a national sensation.
When the Coles bought the team, franchise survival seemed to be a long shot. They reached out to the Savannah community of about 400,000 people for potential customers and found just one person willing to commit to season tickets. A professor at Georgia Southern performed a research study that suggested players’ performances improved while playing for the Bananas largely because they were having more fun.
And here’s the rule that ought to keep fans from ever looking at their phones: If a fan catches a foul ball, the batter is out.The Bananas played 30 games of Banana Ball in 2022 and sold out every game, convincing the Coles to fold the collegiate team after the season and turn the franchise’s full-time attention to altering the sports landscape. They hired two teams of players to field the Bananas and their counterpart, the Party Animals.
A Savannah Bananas players warms up pitching while on stilts during rehearsal for the game against the Kansas City Monarchs Legends Field in May of 2022 in Kansas City, Kansas.