If you’ve been fortunate enough to score tickets to see the Savannah Bananas, then you know what all the chatter is about. But for those who haven’t had the opportunity to see firsthand, you may be wondering… Is it a baseball game? Is it a musical? Is it a show? Perhaps it’s a little bit of all three and then some. But the short answer is – it’s Banana Ball!
This season the Savannah Bananas literally took the show on the road in the way of a world tour, even making a stop in the Atlanta area at the Gwinnett Stripers’ Coolray Field in March.
Jared Orton, president of the Savannah Bananas, helped us get to know a little more about the world tour and the Savannah Bananas, and what the team from Savannah is really all about.
“At the end of the day, it’s still a baseball stadium,” Jared says, talking about the team taking on the world tour in stadiums around the globe. “It’s still bases and a pitcher’s mound and a home plate.” But he also adds, there’s a guy walking on stilts, and there’s a rodeo clown, and there’s maybe some fire. “But hey, we’re just a bunch of normal people who are putting on a fun baseball game for everybody,” he says. “We’ve built some great relationships and we’ve been fortunate to play in some really beautiful stadiums across the country…It’s just crazy to think that here we are from Savannah, and we’re playing in Des Moines, Iowa.” The 2024 world tour has also taken the team to places like Boston, Cleveland, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, just to name a few.
According to the website, the Savannah Bananas team was founded by Jesse and Emily Cole in October 2015 as a summer college baseball league with a goal to make baseball fun and to bring fans back to historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah. It was a rough start until January 2016, when the team officially took the name Savannah Bananas and made national headlines. Since then, the team plays Banana Ball with a set of rules that’s all their own to packed stadiums. Banana Ball is played against other teams, such as the Party Animals and The Firefighters.
Tickets to see a show, I mean game, are a hot commodity. Jared explains there’s a ticket lottery each year that starts in the fall. For 2024, Jared says they held a live announcement on YouTube. “We announced our entire tour,” he says. “Every stadium we’re going to, all the dates, and all the surprises.” It’s this event that starts the ticket lottery. People have about six weeks to join the list. Jared says the 2024 list closed with a little more than two million names. The lists are scrubbed to ensure names are legit and no one is on the list more than once. Lucky names are selected at random for the chance to purchase tickets.
Jared stresses that if you purchase tickets by any means other than Savannah Bananas and the lottery, know who you’re buying from. “The only verified way to buy tickets is through us,” he says. Protect yourself. Unfortunately, there are a lot of scammers out there.
As for the 2025 kickoff, Jared says they’re already working on a lot of big surprises in store for fans. After all, he says that’s why they do this – for the fans. It’s what they call a fans first mentality. “We have a duty, and really, it’s a privilege to be able to welcome these people into our stadium,” Jared says. “I tell our staff we have to take our job seriously…But we also have to give ourselves permission to have fun with the people who are coming out here.”
And while the Savannah Bananas are about entertaining and giving fans a great time, there’s another side to the organization as well – Bananas Foster.
Bananas Foster is a nonprofit committed to the foster care community and dedicated to bringing families together. Also started by the Coles, Jared says the couple realized there are many great people who have been involved in foster care for a long time, and those people generally aren't recognized. “They don’t get celebrated, and their stories don’t get told,” he says. Through Bananas Foster, the Coles help by telling these stories and celebrating the impact these families have made, not only in the life of the child, but in the lives of many children and the communities they’re in. The organization not only celebrates the stories, but it also shines awareness on foster care and what it means to all those involved.
For more information about the Savannah Bananas, visit the website at thesavannahbananas.com.
"The only verified way to buy tickets is through us." Jared Orton, president, Savannah Bananas