Last year, the Savannah Bananas, the most entertaining team in baseball (we’re including their traveling opponents, the Party Animals, in that classification) hosted a total of 13 Savannah Bananas Baseball Camps, teaching not only the finer points of baseball but the finer points of fun.
Haven’t heard of the Savannah Bananas yet? Give yourself a minute and you will. Better yet, spend that minute looking at their TikTok videos and you’ll see why this baseball team has been compared to the Harlem Globetrotters. Their sheer showmanship and fan-friendly attitude has resulted in wall-to-wall sellouts on their nationwide tours, with families coming from hundreds of miles around to attend games.
(Noteworthy: Starting this season the Bananas will add another team, the Firefighters, made up of select pro ball players, to their world tour.)
New this season, the Bananas are also partnering with Athletx Sports Group for the inaugural three-day Youth Banana Ball event, to be held August 7-10 in Cleveland, Ohio at Victory Park.
Event information notes that the event will include a Banana Ball clinic, instruction in Banana Ball Rules (yes, they are different from traditional MLB), trick plays and dance moves. Oh, and participants will be eligible to earn a "Most Valuable Entertainer" award.
Rich Janor of Athletx Sports Group sat down with SDM to discuss the latest on the event.
Sports Destination Management: This is your first event with the Bananas.
Rich Janor: It is, and it should be good. The Bananas are all about fans-first and about the experience, so we’re looking forward to this.
SDM: What age groups will be hosted?
Janor: Ages 9U to 14U.
SDM: Is it just for boys or can girls register as well?
Janor: Well, it’ll be baseball but certainly, girls who want to play would be welcome too.
SDM: Any idea about the numbers?
Janor: Since it’s our first event, it’s hard to say; however, we’re estimating we’ll have 50 teams. Multiply that by 12 players per team and you have an approximate number.
SDM: Back when SDM did an interview about the Savannah Banana Baseball Camps last year, Kyle Luigs noted that rather than just dropping their kids off, the way they did at other camps, the parents would stay to watch the Bananas camps. Do you feel like that will be the case with this?
Janor: Absolutely. The Bananas are all about the fans and the spectators. I think we can expect the parents to stick around and maybe even participate.
SDM: Any idea how many of the players will be present for the weekend?
Janor: Not yet; however, with the Bananas and the Party Animals playing that same weekend, it’s likely they’ll be well represented.
Editor’s note: Game Day USA normally has a ratio of one coach and two assistant coaches per team in a typical tournament.
SDM: Cleveland will be the host city but it’s likely you will get teams coming in from other states because this sounds like a great experience for them.
Janor: Yes – the Bananas and the Party Animals will be playing at Progressive Field, and every player who participates will receive a ticket to the game. The champions of the Youth Banana Ball tournament will be honored on the field on Saturday of the tournament weekend, on August 10. Cleveland is a great host city because it is very drivable and accessible by air as well. The timing is good, too; for many travel ball teams, especially in the Midwest, this will be a really good post-season event.
SDM: This event is likely to get a lot of publicity.
Janor: What’s interesting is that as a brand, the Bananas have more social media followers than any other team, including in Major League.
SDM: How long has the event been in the works?
Janor: We’ve been working on it for well over a year. Obviously, like any partnership, there’s a lot of moving parts. We are looking forward to this summer’s event. We’d love to make it an annual tradition; it has the potential to be something that will grow in popularity.
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