Columbus embraces the wacky beauty of Banana Ball
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Dakota Albritton of the Savannah Bananas plays baseball on stilts. He is seen during batting practice and an autograph session. Photos: Tyler Buchanan/Axios
The Savannah Bananas rehearsal begins six hours before first pitch with a tuba, stilts and a plethora of silly hats.
Why it matters: The Bananas World Tour, which just swept through Columbus for three days of sold-out, high-octane baseball comedy performances, reminds us all to let loose sometimes and enjoy the show.
The intrigue: The team is deliberate with its word choices — the Bananas rehearse (not practice) for their nightly shows (not games).
- Umpires dance, players toss bananas around the field and the two teams even broke into a spontaneous dodgeball match near home plate.
- Bananas we spoke with did not begrudge being called baseball's answer to the Harlem Globetrotters.
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Yes, but: They are quick to emphasize one main distinction: The games aren't rigged.
- The Bananas and rival Party Animals insist the action is legitimately contested. You can't script a 95-mile-an-hour fastball or a titanic home run.
- You can, however, pepper the game with trick plays and nonsense, like doing a flip while catching a fly ball and setting up a Connect Four game on third base.
The big picture: The Bananas were once an ordinary collegiate summer team, but ownership pivoted in 2022 to a unique brand of "Banana Ball" to spur greater fan interest.
- The games feature a time limit, a different scoring system and several novelty rules, such as a batter being out if a fan catches a foul ball.
- Banana Ball has become a social media sensation, with the team boasting 8.5 million TikTok followers.
Zoom in: The team's widespread popularity was evident among the thousands of fans who raced into Huntington Park wearing banana-themed gear from head to toe.
- These "Potassium Enthusiasts" came to see former collegiate and minor league stars whose traditional playing careers are over, but who still hold the right combination of athletic skill and performance talent.
- For many, Banana Ball is a way to keep their dreams of playing pro ball alive — even if it means wearing cowboy hats and stilts.
A lesson, in all those wacky antics
The Bananas are so brilliant, you wonder why nobody came up with this concept before.
Reality check: Similar "barnstorming" teams did travel the U.S. a century ago.
Flashback: Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig had their own tour and visited Dayton back in 1928.
- In the years before integration, some exhibition teams with Black players were especially popular for their comedic antics, as famously depicted in the novel and movie, "Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings."
Over time, players no longer needed to supplement their salaries with off-season tours.
- And post-war America seemed to grow tired of such pastoral shenanigans. Out went grass fields and sunny day games, replaced by artificial turf, cookie-cutter ballparks and the sobering aura of night contests.
Between the lines: Baseball developed a stuffy reputation maintained by hardline traditionalists.
- A Bananas equipment manager who doubles as an umpire told us his father hates what the team is doing to the sport.
Yes, but: Casual fans can't get enough of it, as evidenced by the ticket lotteries in Columbus and other tour cities.
- To them, Banana Ball feels like a breath of fresh air, with its yellow bases and balls, flash mob dance moves and constant hijinks.
- Huntington Park's concession lines were unusually empty, as nobody wanted to leave their seats and miss the next gag.
💠Tyler's thought bubble: It's heartening to know there is still something in this tribalist, chaotic world that can lead a crowd of all ages to laugh and cheer in shared jubilation.
- A few hours of silliness was all it took to remind us all of such a gift.