Going Bananas for a New Brand of Baseball

Reporter Will Dawson: Here in Savannah, Georgia, charm and tradition are as abundant as Spanish moss. I’m standing outside Historic Grayson stadium, where a new kind of charm and tradition is taking over baseball and has the entire country, “going bananas.”

“Banana Ball to us and hopefully to everyone is the fastest and most entertaining version of baseball,” says Jared Orton, President of the Savannah Bananas.

Founded in 2016, the Bananas decided to take America’s past time and make it fan focused and interactive. Starting with a few rule changes.

“There’s a two-hour time limit, if a fan catches a foul ball it’s an out. There’s no bunting, no walks. There are no mound visits. Every inning counts and there’s all these crazy things that we were hoping to do to just jam the most exciting parts of baseball into an action-packed event,” says Orton.

The Bananas have over five million followers on social media. Every game they have ever played has sold out and now they are taking the show on the road. In 2023, the Bananas will play in twenty-three states and thirty-three cities all over the U.S.

Bananas coach Tyler Gillum says, “This is completely out of the box and that’s why I love it. From a baseball perspective it’s, ‘Can we create a never-forget-moment for every fan in the stadium?’ And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Fan 1: “The minute you come in you’re kind of hooked. You’re greeted out there. You come in, you’re meeting players, you’re watching the sort of behind the scenes action of what they’re going to  do on the field tonight. This is an exciting place to be.”

Fan 2: “The atmosphere is just crazy and everybody is super into it and it’s just very different from normal baseball.”

Fan 3: “It’s the most interesting baseball game I’ve ever seen.”

A recent study showed that the average cost of a Major League Baseball game for a family of four is over $200. Bananas president, Jared Orton, says Banana Ball is all about putting fans first.

“Traditionally you get nickle-and-dimed every single time and it’s $25 to park and it’s $6 for a hot dog. We just thought, ‘If we’re going to create the best possible experience, let’s just give people incredible value.’”

There are Banana Ball critics who say this new brand of baseball compromises the integrity of the game.

“We exist to make baseball fun. We don’t exist to make fun of anyone who doesn’t like it,” says Orton. “But we feel there’s a lot of cool things that might be happening here and if you’re a fan of baseball, great! If you’re not a fan of baseball, that might be even better for you.”

From players on stilts to the Dancing Nanas, the “Greatest Show in Sports” is garnering worldwide interest.

Orton says, “The next thing for us is just literally figuring out every day where is the next fan. Is that internationally? Is that in a major league stadium? Is that in Canada? Is that in Japan? So, we have to wake up every single morning and think, ‘What are we going to do today that’s going to delight our fans in a way that brings them joy and happiness and makes baseball fun?’”