Savannah Bananas bring baseball and lots of appeal to Canal Park; fans love every minute
“People don’t remember the failures. They remember the hits.”
Savannah Bananas owner Jesse Cole said that in an interview with MLB.com, but he probably should have added they also remember the fun.
That’s the point of the Bananas, who are on a 33-city, 70-game tour this summer. They were in Canal Park on Monday for their second straight game with the Party Animals, who also hail from Savannah.
It’s baseball with everything but a ballet.
“It’s a dream come true,” Cole said. “We get to travel all over the country and play in front of sold-out crowds while playing a new game we invented. We keep track of where all our fans come from, and Ohio is the most popular. We’ve heard so many people say thank for coming to Akron.
“… Everything we do, we try to be fans first. We picture ourselves as the kid that came to a Major League game and all we wanted to do was meet the players. Now, we have an opportunity to try and turn it around, meet the fans and try to give them the experience they wish they had as kids.”
That means baseball complete with pregame parades, team dance parties after they score a run, the world’s slowest baby races, a home run derby before the game, dad-bod tryouts for the man-nanas and center fielders with fishing nets as an extra glove.
That the Party Animals won 3-2 was immaterial.
“It’s just so entertaining what these guys do day in and day out,” said Pittsburgh native Jason Kauffman, who came with his wife Stacy and eight others. “It makes you laugh. This is a pretty good opportunity for us to come out even if it’s a little drive. It's so much fun. It's like you're at a concert. It’s what I think baseball should be about.”
Savannah Bananas baseball has gone global
Kauffman wasn’t alone. Cole said tickets for last night’s game were sold to fans from 34 states and six countries.
Need more?
Dakota “Stilts” Albitton, the world’s tallest player, came on in relief in the bottom of the seventh for the Bananas. He’s a 10-foot-9 right-hander.
Yes, he’s standing on pegs, but not for long as the game has a two-hour time limit.
“The thing I take the most joy in is putting smiles on people’s faces,” Albitton said. “I love to travel the country and create smiles. I always look at these kids and put myself in their shoes. I try to give it to them, plus 100. I’m always thinking, ‘What kind of experience would I want to have if I was in their shoes?’”
Albitton knows what small town is. He comes from Ellaville, Ga., which has a population of 1,595 in a county (Schley) of 4,481.
Akron shows up for Savannah Bananas baseball at Canal Park
The two-day stop in Akron was a success as the 15,000 combined attendance proved.
Pam Fisher of Richfield is a ticket taker for the RubberDucks. She was on hand Monday as an employee. On Sunday, she and her husband, Dave, came with 23 friends to Canal Park.
She planned her entire vacation last year around a trip to a home game in Savannah.
Oh, yeah, the baseball is pretty good, too.
They’re all former college players who used to play in the Coastal Plain League, which is just one rung lower than the Cape Cod League.
Savannah Bananas baseball: A circus with a strike zone and a player on stilts
“It’s a circus,” Fisher said. “It’s entertainment, but there’s a baseball aspect to it, so it appeals to so many people. The activity is non-stop. Everybody that has seen it has told all of their friends.”
It never gets old as Cole and Co. tweak each show to get the most out of every plate appearance.
“You come for the experience,” said Casey O’Neil, who came with his wife, Meg, son, Declan, and daughter, Delaney. “We saw it on YouTube the last couple of years and wanted to see it in person. This was the closest we could get. It keeps everyone occupied. There’s no downtime. We love baseball, but this is something different. It’s awesome.”
Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Savannah Bananas bring World Tour to Canal Park for night of fun
