“Ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve waited for.”
As the famous line from the film, “The Greatest Showman,” played over the enhanced speaker systems outside historic Rickwood Field on Saturday afternoon in Birmingham, Alabama, thousands gathered outside the world’s oldest professional baseball stadium for the next stop on the 2023 Banana Ball World Tour for the Savannah Bananas.
What started out as a collegiate summer baseball team has since evolved into a worldwide phenomenon with a new style of baseball called, “Banana Ball,” that is part show, part baseball, and all fun.
For one night only, I joined in on that, playing with the Bananas Band in a spectacle that must be seen to be believed.
“I think the live performance element, people really appreciate,” Bananas Band director Sean McBride said. “We’ve gotten a lot of response from the folks. There’s that sense of being at a live event. We have music playing nonstop, but it’s seeing people actually perform that the crowd digs.”
Sean and I first began talking in the middle of last year as I wanted to get him on a college marching band podcast I had been part of since the pandemic.
Very few places in the country had a pep band for baseball, and knowing the meteoric rise to success for the Bananas, he was the person to talk to.
“I think there’s something, too, about the comradery of the group,” McBride said. “We’ve known all of these guys forever.”
McBride’s episode of the podcast was released in November, just after Savannah announced the 2023 Banana Ball World Tour and a stop in Birmingham. When I saw the schedule, the gears started turning.
I wanted to experience Banana Ball myself, and what better way to do it than through the band, a passion of mine that began in grade school when I picked up a saxophone for the first time and ended more than a decade later after stints in the University of Maryland marching band and pep band. Or, so I thought.
McBride and I kept in touch, and last week he reached out to see if I still had any interest in performing with the band. I did, but my saxophone was more than 1,000 miles away in New Jersey. Fortunately, one of the members brought an extra, and I arrived at the stadium around four hours prior to gametime as a full-fledged, temporary member of the Bananas Band.
Just like that, I became part of the show, ending my multi-year hiatus by performing in front of more than 10,000 fans in the middle of Alabama. I was excited, but nothing could have prepared me for the next seven hours of my life with the Bananas, a massive touring operation dedicated to putting fans first.
‘Everything we do is an experiment’
“Everything that we do is an experiment,” Bananas owner Jesse Cole said. “We wanted to distinguish ourselves dramatically different(ly) than any other baseball team.”
Cole took over operations of the team with his wife, Emily, in 2016, going bankrupt in doing so. The team played at historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Georgia, which has a capacity of around 4,000 and remains one of the oldest active stadiums in the country.
Their goal in taking control of the franchise was to create a name, a brand that became instantly recognizable, and with the help of a crowd-sourcing campaign, the couple chose “Bananas” as the team’s new name.
Low on funds but rich in enthusiasm, the Coles stuck with the Bananas and their fans-first plan. Beginning play in 2016, the team found immediate success in the Coastal Plains League. College baseball players wanted to go to Savannah to play, and fans wanted to come to watch them play.
However, the plan was always more than just baseball, and the pep band was one of the first now-permanent additions to the mix.
“My dad was in a live band that traveled around the country,” Cole said. “I had this root of live music. I saw a lot of shows and he took me to live shows and I realized how big a part of it, just as an entertainment value it is to so many people, but in baseball, there’s no such thing as a pep band. I thought, ‘Could we bring it in?’”
McBride, then a local school band director in the area, agreed with Cole that a pep band would be the perfect addition to the growing Bananas brand. Initially, under Coastal Plain League rules, the band could only play at certain times, like between innings or during other breaks in play.
The Bananas now operate as an exhibition team, free from league rules, and the band, comprised of old and new friends primarily from the Savannah area, is a key part of the show – before, during and after games.
“Really, joining the pep band was just an excuse to hang out with friends and play music,” Dylan DePremio said. “You don’t have a lot of options outside of school, like in ensembles. I was like, ‘Oh, this is a steady thing and I get to bring a backpack of food and drinks? I’m down.’”
DePremio and a number of other band members greeted me once I went into the visitors locker room to get ready.
Holding an instrument for the first time in a while was a strange but all-too-familiar feeling, but my look felt incomplete. If I wasn’t wearing the uniform, was I really in the band? There weren’t any Bananas Band shirts left, so I was given a Bananas jersey to wear during the game. The bright yellow jersey, which I had wanted for some time, let me (and others) know that I belonged.
From the clubhouse, I walked over to the front of Rickwood where a stage had been set up for the band’s pregame set. The show soon began as we serenaded VIP ticketholders with a few songs as they walked in.
The biggest pregame activity came roughly an hour later as the crowd swelled, waiting to pass through the gates. Led by the band, Cole, the Bananas and their Banana Ball rivals, the Party Animals paraded through the crowd, dancing, clapping, high-fiving and taking pictures with the assembled fans.
Back on stage, we played tunes for onlooking fans while the gates opened and players danced in front of us, greeting those who had come from all over the region to see the Bananas play.
Banana Ball
For those not familiar with Banana Ball, it’s a two-hour timed game with rules designed for maximum excitement. Batters aren’t allowed to step out of the box but can steal first base on a passed ball or wild pitch. Additionally, if a fan catches a foul ball, the batter is out.
Teams earn one point for every inning they win, except for the ninth, when each run scored counts as a point. The scoring is structured so that any team can win, and truly, any team can win. This is no Harlem Globetrotters: the Bananas do lose.
The pregame parade was simply the appetizer as we finished up our set and went back to the locker room to prepare for the main show. We first paraded outside the field, then through the stands, before ending up on the field, stretched down the first-base line.
Player introductions were chaotic, with players entering the field through the stands and the Party Animals coming in from beyond the outfield wall, ready with fireworks and sleeveless jerseys.
Between innings, and even during innings, we ventured back into the stands to perform.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, band members and players participated in, “Hey Baby”, a Bananas staple complete with a choreographed routine. And yes, I learned the routine, quite well, I believe.
This was unlike pep bands you’ve seen at college sporting events. We went to the beat of our own drum, and those in attendance loved it.
“Some of us, we could be doing more productive things, but it’s just a lot of fun, playing with your friends and playing in front of huge crowds of people.” DePremio said. “We’re used to playing in front of crowds of 4,000, but this season, we’ve played at 10,000, 12,000-seat stadiums. That’s a lot of folks who like us. I wasn’t expecting that.”
The players themselves were showmen as much as we were, with backflip catches and behind-the-back throws. As I saw before the game and millions have seen on TikTok, the Bananas and Party Animals dance and perform comedic skits in the middle of games.
On this night, a batter “surfed” down the first base line and another pair dusted off their best Dirty Dancing impression to the tune of, “Breaking Free,” from High School Musical.
After going up into the stands following the fifth inning, we hightailed it back to the main stage just outside the stadium for the postgame set.
‘Stand By Me’
By now my lips were sore from having played so much during the day, but I did what I could, marching back through the crowd and interacting with fans.
The festivities ended with a tradition started by DePremio, where players, band members, fans and Cole all gather in a circle to sing, “Stand By Me,” by Ben E. King.
“He started playing it one night and after a game or so, we joined in and started singing it,” McBride said. “The early postgame plaza, we would just all stand in a line and Dylan would play, we would sing, and there would hardly be anyone there just because it didn’t explode to where it is now. That’s just one idea from us that has caught on and evolved.”
Those left gathered in a final huddle under the twilight, chanting, “Fans First,” on the count of three, and an exciting night of Banana Ball had come to a successful close. My night, however, was far from over as I was invited back to the team hotel for a postgame meal and conversation.
I can think of a few reasons why this is so special to so many. For many, there’s a certain pride about representing their hometown of Savannah. For others, it’s a time to spend with friends, to let loose and entertain. But for everyone, it’s a time to have fun. That’s why this operation is so successful.
“We really work our way around the stadium,” McBride said. “Throughout the game, there’s big entertainment on the field, but we’re filling the gaps where people aren’t expecting to have a good time…We’re making a point to bring entertainment to them.”
The Bananas care about their product and making sure every fan who steps in the ballpark on a given night has the time of their life.
Banana Ball had a short two-night stint in Birmingham before leaving for Savannah on Sunday morning, but in less than 24 hours, I, a complete stranger only knowing one person through Zoom, became an integral part of something greater than myself.
No sporting event I’ve seen can ever compare to what I witnessed Saturday night, but it was the smiles – everyone was smiling – that I reflected on most on my way back to Starkville.
The Savannah Bananas are a one-of-one, and Banana Ball is here to stay.
“I really like to see people having a good time,” McBride said. “The fans, when we play, they have a good time. … There’s a lot of satisfaction in finding that entertainment and fun for people in making music with these folks I’ve known forever.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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Related Photos
Members of the Savannah Bananas pep band play before Saturday’s game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama as part of the 2023 Banana Ball World Tour. The pep band was formed following their inaugural season in the Coastal Plain League and has been integral since that point. (Photo by Alex Murphy/Dispatch Staff)
Players from the Savannah Bananas greet guests and dance on the main stage set up outside Rickwood Field before Saturday evening’s game. This is part of a now gameday tradition, a parade through the fans to count down the opening of the stadium pregame. (Photo by Alex Murphy/Dispatch Staff)
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