While the Cleveland Guardians were in Kansas City chasing down the American League Central Division crown in late September, a very different kind of baseball game took over the team’s home field for a weekend.
The simplest way to describe Banana Ball is to compare it to the comedic basketball of the Harlem Globetrotters, with its behind-the-back catches, between-the-leg throws and impromptu dancing.
However, instead of the Globetrotters only playing the downtrodden Washington Generals every game, Banana Ball is a competitive six-team league.
‘Think of it like SNL’
Since the original Savannah Bananas first took the field in 2016, Banana Ball has welcomed the Party Animals, the Firefighters, the Tailgaters, Loco Beach Coconuts and the Indianapolis Clowns.
Springfield native Gage Voorhees is a pitcher for the Clowns, one of the teams that played at the sold-out Progressive Field against the Party Animals.
“Think of it like ('Saturday Night Live'). There's a new entertainment skit going on every single game,” Voorhees said. “We're still playing competitive baseball, we're still trying to win the game, but anywhere on the field that you want to look, there's something going on.”
Fan favorites
It’s Banana Ball’s interaction with fans that packs ballparks across the country — with people like Carla Jagger of Mount Gilead, a Banana Ball fanatic who’s traveled to 12 games this season.
“I honestly love every bit of Banana Ball,” Jagger said. “It's nonstop entertainment the entire time. I mean, catch a foul ball and it's an out, so who can't love all the rules of Banana Ball?”
Rules like foul ball outs caught by fans turn our national pastime on its ear — in addition to the nonstop music and choreographed dance routines that get people of all ages dancing in the aisles.
And the Banana Ball brand of baseball ain’t too bad either.
Voorhees estimated that about 80% of the Banana Ball rosters are former minor league players.
“I'm never ever going to sit here and say that we are better than the (Major League Baseball),” Voorhees said. “We are still going out there with talent. We have pitchers throwing in the 90s. We have hitters that are hitting 30-plus home runs a year.”
In fact, current Chicago White Sox player Tristan Peters is a former Savannah Banana.
A nod to the past
This season Banana Ball welcomed two new teams, the Loco Beach Coconuts and the Indianapolis Clowns to the league. The Indianapolis Clowns were originally a Negro League team that barnstormed the country with future MLB players Hank Aaron and Satchel Paige.
Just as the Negro Leagues gave Black ballplayers an opportunity to play professional baseball, Banana Ball welcomes female players into the league with each team including a woman on the roster.
Indianapolis Clown pitcher Mo’ne Davis is best known for her star turn in the 2014 Little League World Series. Davis was the first Black girl to play in the Little League World Series and the first girl to win and pitch a shutout in the series' history.
Current Clowns like Davis respect the team’s rich history in sports, comedy and Civil Rights.
“We're just here to fill in their shoes,” Davis said.
An honorary member of the Clowns is Bill Heward, author of “Some Are Called Clowns: A Season with the Last of the Great Barnstorming Baseball Teams.”
Once the MLB welcomed Black ballplayers, the Negro Leagues struggled to recruit players — so the Indianapolis Clowns welcomed white players like Heward to join the team in the 1970s.
Heward said the resurrection of the Indianapolis Clowns as a Banana Ball team gives him chills.
“This is a dream I never knew because I wouldn't possibly (have) dreamed it,” Heward said. “The Indianapolis Clowns are back, and they're doing such a wonderful job of honoring the past and educating people about the past in a wonderful, thrilling way.”
