How do you will a baseball team into existence? Jesse & Emily Cole had a vision (but no money) and brought it to a skeptical Savannah community. This must be a joke, a resident said of the new team's nickname. It isn't. And TheSavBananas are thriving.
“We looked at every boring play. And we got rid of it.”“I mean, a couple hundred people,” Emily recalls. “And the stadium was so majestic.”Minor-league baseball teams tend to come and go, some affiliated with major-league franchises, others independent. Cole told the Coastal Plain League that if Savannah ever became available, he wanted a team there. A year later, the existing franchise threatened to move unless Savannah built a new stadium.
No one could see what Cole saw. The logo — a cartoon Banana with bat cocked, lips twisted in a grimace. Bright yellow uniforms and a costumed mascot named “Split.” An elderly cheer squad called the “Banana Nanas.”One more thing: If fans were angry, they were paying attention. It was like the Barnum adage.With the Kansas City crowd still milling outside, a yellow-clad pep band marches into the parking lot, trumpets and saxophones blaring, players in uniform following close behind.
Savannah Bananas team owner Jesse Cole, right, oversees the presentation of the “Banana baby” during a game against the Kansas City Monarchs., always upbeat and quick to laugh, pulls a few players aside to rehearse a routine they will perform that night. They revamped walks and foul balls and decided not to start a new inning after 1 hour and 50 minutes. Batters are given a strike if they step out of the box but have the option of stealing first on any pitch that skips past the catcher.
Savannah Bananas player Alex Ziegler balances his baseball bat on his forehead while walking to the plate for an at-bat against the Kansas City Monarchs. This spring, an expanded tour began at home in early March, continuing through Florida and Alabama, with play growing crisper each game. Pitchers worked fast, batters stayed alert to run on wild pitches and the defense improved on walks, whipping the ball around, tagging out runners at second.Savannah Bananas first base coach Maceo Harrison dances while the team sprints back toward home plate during pregame festivities against the Kansas City Monarchs on May 6.
“Most people are usually pressing to play well, thinking about their performance a lot,” Luigs says. “But if you can get out of your comfort zone and do something to get your mind completely off baseball … you’ll play better.” In “BananaLand,” the field is known as the “stage” and auxiliary performers — the mascot, the magician — are “cast members.” There are recurring skits such as the “3-2-2,” the third-inning moment when players dance between pitches, and the “4-1-1,” a fourth-inning bit that has umpire Vincent Chapman — a cast member flown in from Texas — emerge to dance the robot or maybe do the splits.
The response is even cooler when Frongillo asks the Monarchs to learn a TikTok dance. Kansas City first baseman Fernando Esquivel says later: “It’s different. We’ve literally never played that type of baseball.” During the seventh inning, Savannah Bananas fans wave their cellphones during the playing of Coldplay’s “Yellow” during a game against the Kansas City Monarchs on May 6.
The Savannah Bananas dance together at the start of a game against the Kansas City Monarchs on May 6.
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