Cooperstown Goes Bananas

Barnstorming Team Sells Out Doubleday

By WRILEY NELSON
COOPERSTOWN

Doubleday Field witnessed one of Cooperstown’s biggest spectacles in recent memory on Saturday, September 16. The Savannah Bananas, a barnstorming team that plays by its own rules and has been called baseball’s answer to the Harlem Globetrotters, descended on the village for the final stop of their 2023 world tour. The Bananas and their traveling rivals, the Party Animals, arrived in Cooperstown on Friday, September 15 with tied 38-38 season records after selling out the 10,000-seat NBT Bank Stadium in Syracuse Thursday night. The teams spent Friday night at the Hall of Fame, unveiling a new exhibit on the meteoric rise of Banana Ball and meeting fans. Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark, members Ted Simmons and Lee Smith, and outspoken Bananas owner and showman Jesse Cole were in attendance.

“We have a lot of emotions going on at the end of the tour,” said breakdancing first-base coach Maceo Harrison. “I can’t believe that it’s over. I’m loving Cooperstown. It’s a tiny place, but sometimes smaller is better. Everything is in walking distance, and I almost cried my eyes out in the Hall of Fame. It was so special. I’ve been on the team since 2018 and it’s been great to see so many of Jesse’s dreams and plans come true.”

By any measure, the Bananas are an industry-changing phenomenon. The team boasts over 7.6 million followers on TikTok, more than any Major League team—to say nothing of every NFL, NBA and NHL team. The 2023 World Tour drew over half a million fans to 33 cities nationwide and sold out every game. At a time when many MLB organizations are severing ties with minor league teams, the Bananas are demonstrating the continued viability of independent baseball. For generations, owners have turned to spectacle to boost ticket sales, and the league is in the midst of a years-long campaign to shorten games and increase action on the field. The Bananas take these trends to absurd lengths, and fans can’t get enough.

Banana Ball, as announcers, players and performers reminded the Cooperstown crowd, is not baseball: Games are won by points, with the team scoring the most runs in an inning receiving a point; batters can attempt to steal first base at any point during an at-bat; instead of a walk, four balls become a “sprint,” in which the batter advances as far as they can while the defense passes the ball around to every player; and bunts are grounds for immediate ejection. Many of the special rules are intended to cut down game time, such as the two-hour time limit, the bans on mound visits and stepping out of the batter’s box, and the “showdown tiebreaker” abbreviated extra-innings format. Others bring fans into the game, like the rule that a foul ball caught in the stands is an out. Hardened baseball fans might scoff at one or two of these innovations, much like they have at recent MLB rule changes, but Banana Ball is different enough on the whole that it’s hard to see as a challenge to the hallowed rules of baseball. The combination of speed and showmanship is calculated to attract baseball outsiders as well as long-term fans, and is summarized in the team’s motto: “Fans first. Entertain always.”

The sold-out crowd of 6,339 was full of bright yellow clothing to match the team’s uniforms and Cole’s ubiquitous tuxedo and matching hat. Fans began lining up outside the field before 9 a.m. for a 1 p.m. game, with the line reaching from the Doubleday lot to the intersection of Main and Pioneer streets for much of the late morning. The full-day event was a welcome extension to the regular baseball tourism season for many local businesses. Doubleday’s gates opened more than an hour and a half before the first pitch, with every spare minute devoted to spectacle. Among many other moments, fans witnessed an inside-the-park home run by an 8-year-old, the 10-foot tall player/performer Dakota “Stilts” Albritton striding around the field, a twerking umpire, and a ritual inspired by “The Lion King” that elevated a “Banana Baby” for good luck. In yet another pre-game ritual with a small child, the Bananas’ mascot, flanked by a security team, carried a banana to the mound for a taste-test to determine if the game would be good or rotten. The game itself featured pie races, a kissing contest, cartwheels and backflips, and plenty of dancing, fan interaction, and muscle flexing. Hall of Famer Smith faced one batter as a relief pitcher for the Bananas in the ninth inning.

The Party Animals scored four times each in the second and third innings, taking a 2-0 lead in the game. The Bananas scored once to win the seventh inning but were unable to continue the rally, leaving the Animals to win the game 2-1 and the World Tour 39-38.

“It’s been overwhelming and emotional to see the amazing exhibit in the Hall and to think on how far we’ve come,” said Cole, who walks and speaks with the energy of a startup owner or promoter. “We started with a handful of tickets and a small college summer team, and now we’ve had a professional tour of the country ending in Cooperstown. It means a lot to the group. We’re proud and we know it’s just the start.”