CHARLOTTE, N.C. β Well, it isn’t baseball.
The Savannah Bananas make no bones about it, don’t look for another night at the ballpark.
And for a sold out crowd of 74,000 at Bank of America Stadium, the largest in Bananas history, they didn’t get one.
They got Banana Ball, in all of its weird, hilarious, absurd and jaw-dropping glory.
The team says its “of the fans, by the fans and for the fans.”
A brand of baseball bolstered by dancing, trick plays, players on stilts, and umpires doing flips.
Friday night’s game played at the home of the Panthers saw NFL legend Luke Kuechly throw out the first pitch.
His former Panthers teammates Greg Olsen and Jonathan Stewart suited up, too.
Banana Ball was really born just miles away in Gastonia, where former Grizzlies owner Jesse Cole wanted to do baseball any way but normal.
“I hoped in Gastonia to get a few fans to come out to the ballpark, maybe get a thousand one night,” Cole, resplendent in his patented yellow tux and hat said. “Now to be here to play two sold out nights, 74,000 each night, yeah it’s not anything you can imagine.”
Impossible to imagine for some, but nothing is too bananas for The Bananas.
“When I was a kid my dad told me when I came up to bat for the first time, Jess, swing hard incase you hit it,” Cole said. “Anybody not be afraid of failure, dream big, and keep swinging hard in case you hit it.”
The Bananas won on a walk-off homer, beating the Party Animals, 4-3.
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