The Savannah Bananas are on the schedule in 2025, including Clemson’s Death Valley

The Savannah Bananas are bringing their baseball games to the stage in 2025.

Team owner Jesse Cole said his barnstorming squad, which has filled stadiums across the country with its boisterous, freewheeling version of the national pastime called Banana Ball, will play April 26 at the 81,000-seat Clemson Memorial Stadium.

The Bananas will also host two games at NFL facilities, Cole said. They will play at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, the 69,000-seat home of the Tennessee Titans, on May 10, followed by the 75,000-seat Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, home of the Carolina Panthers, on June 7.

“These will be some of the largest crowds in baseball history to see Banana Ball,” Cole told The Associated Press.

Because a full-size baseball field won’t fit in the tighter confines of a football stadium, especially the Clemson Tigers’ home stadium, the Bananas plan to install a net at least 50 feet high to make it a little more difficult to hit a ball inside the shortest part of the outfield.

Cole – ever the organizer – noted that the barrier at all three football stadiums will be significantly taller than the 37-foot-tall Green Monster at Fenway Park. And of course the Bananas plan to make full comedic use of the unusual dimensions.

“At Banana Ball, we like to do things a little differently,” said Cole, who is known for the yellow tuxedos he wears to games. “We’re going to have fun with it.”

The Bananas, which started as a summer league team for college players, have hit the road with their carnival-like version of the game, which includes choreographed dance routines, players on stilts and unusual rules like counting outs when a fan catches a foul -Ball became a sensation in the stands.

They even got their own exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Cole said the Bananas and their affiliated teams, the Party Animals and Firefighters, attracted more than a million fans this year. The goal for next year is 2 million.

“We’re not just building a team, we’re building a sport,” Cole said. “It’s about creating the fastest, most entertaining sport for fans.”

He bristles at those who call the Bananas nothing more than the Harlem Globetrotters with bats and gloves, and points out that the winner is never predetermined.

“We have guys saying, ‘Hey, these guys can really play,'” he said. “The Bananas have actually lost their tour in 2023. They lost more games than they won against the Party Animals. That won’t happen to the Globetrotters.” .”

Cole said Clemson plans to install a baseball diamond with a sand infield on the Death Valley turf field. Stadiums in Nashville and Charlotte that have artificial turf will paint the base paths and other features to make them look more like baseball stadiums.

The Bananas will also headline major league stadiums for 18 weekends in 2025, including a first-ever trip to Yankee Stadium in New York, Camden Yards in Baltimore and Truist Park in Atlanta.

During their 2024 season, the Bananas played to sellout crowds at major league stadiums in Houston, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland. Another full house is expected next week with another game at Miami Marlins Stadium.

The Bananas will also play 30 games in their hometown of Savannah, the quirky coastal Georgia town where they were founded in 2016. They play at the 5,000-seat Grayson Stadium, which opened in 1926.

“It’s our home,” Cole said. “We have more than 200 people traveling with us around the country, but we always come back to Savannah. It is by far the smallest stadium we play in, but it is the place where it all began for us.”

The Bananas will have a new opponent next season as a team called the Texas Tailgaters will join the Party Animals and Firefighters. Cole now plans to start his own circuit, the Banana Ball Championship League, with two more teams joining in 2026.

One can only imagine what the price will be for the title-winning team.

Maybe a trophy shaped like a banana?

“Between football stadiums and MLB stadiums and 2 million fans, we dream as big as we can,” Cole said. “We might as well start a league while we’re at it.”

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