The Savannah Bananas brought its unique brand of baseball entertainment to Chicago’s Wrigley Field for three games. The series sold out quickly, and thousands of fans hung out around the stadium just to be part of it.
Founded in 2016 as a collegiate summer baseball team in the Coastal Plain League, the Bananas gained major attention in 2018 when they started playing Banana Ball, a mix of legitimate baseball and trickery. Gradually the Bananas started playing more like the Harlem Globetrotters than the New York Yankees.
The Bananas play in the Banana Ball Championship League, which consists of six teams, but they also play games against minor league teams and others. The BBCL teams have set rosters, but there often are special guest players.
For the series in Chicago, the Bananas played the Fire Fighters. Early on Friday, I met brothers Noah (outfielder) and Zachary (catcher) Bridges. The brothers emphasized how much fun they are having. I also met Dunkin’ mascot ,Cuppy.
Zachary and Noah Bridges.
As for the games, the Fire Fighters won two of the three, both on foul-out catches by fans, one of many quirky Banana Ball rules. The Bananas losing was a bit of a surprise, but I don’t think many care or even knew the final score. In Banana Ball, it is more about the fun.
There was quite a bit of fun at Wrigley, including several Chicago Cubs legends. World Series hero Ben Zobrist rode a funny bike in from the outfield to pinch hit. Kerry Wood threw a pitch behind his back for a strike. Former catcher and manager David Ross got a hit in his only at bat.
Ben Zobrist
There were other special guests, including Chicago Bears chair George McCaskey who umpired. Actor and musician Thomas Ian Nicholas recreated his role as Henry Rowengartner from Rookie of the Year.
More than 120,000 fans packed Wrigley Field. That is even more impressive considering the first-place White Sox were playing on the south side and the WNBA All-Star game was played at United Center. Despite all of the other attractions, banana yellow was the color of the weekend.
— John Wroblewski, online writer
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