The Savannah Bananas- Who Are They?
By: Anthony Reitano
The Savannah Bananas- Who Are They?
By: Anthony Reitano
The Savannah Bananas are a male cheerleading/baseball team based in Savannah, Georgia who have sold out every game since 2016. Deemed "the greatest show in sports" by ESPN, this is the most FUN you'll ever have at a baseball game. The team has been featured on ESPN, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Sports Illustrated and is made popular by their on-field hijinks and videos.
Jesse Cole is the proud inventor of the fastest and most entertaining game of baseball, Banana Ball. Banana Ball puts a fun twist on traditional baseball with new rules featuring a two-hour time limit, no walks, no bunting, no stepping out of the box, no mound visits, and the most surprising rule of all, fans can catch a foul ball for an out! To make things even crazier, the Bananas play the same team (which happens to be another team that Jesse founded) called The Party Animals all year!
"We are not your typical baseball team. We are different. We take chances. We toe the line. We test the rules. We challenge the way things are supposed to be. We think there’s a better way to do almost everything. So, we will try it all. Some people may think we’re crazy. But we are okay with that. No matter what, we just want to have fun. They are driven by this goal to make baseball fun. We ultimately want to give fans the best possible experience at our ballpark. And we would love to make memories that would last a lifetime for our loyal fans worldwide!" said game creator Jesse Cole in the ESPN+ documentary Bananaland.
The players perform choreographed dances every game — Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen, Luke Bryan — You name it, they’ve danced to it. Every game they have a rule called 3-2-2, which stands for 3rd inning, second batter, second pitch. These are unique in-game pre-pitch dances that have combined for over 300 million views on TikTok.
The Savannah Bananas are the only baseball team in the world to play in kilts. This special group of players perform in over-the-top music videos like Old Town Road, Can’t Stop the Peeling, and I Don’t Dance. The Bananas may be escorted to the plate by the Banana Pep Band, walk down the yellow carpet wearing the finest uniform, or they may even introduce themselves. The Bananas are surely known for their epic scoring celebrations. From running through the crowd to performing fully choreographed line dances. When they score, you never know what will happen next. They even have the World’s Tallest Hitter and Pitcher Dakota “Stilts” Albritton who stands 10 feet tall!