This was silly, boundaryless, highly unusual and deeply intoxicating fun that was had by everyone from the twerking umpires to the do-si-doing concession stand workers, from the youngest kid in the stands to the oldest player on the field.
SAN JOSE — It was about the third inning — or maybe the fourth, it really doesn’t matter — that a little girl standing near third base threw a pie at her dad’s face and revealed the point of the whole thing.
The most riveting competition taking place at Excite Ballpark on Tuesday night, when the trailblazing Savannah Bananas baseball team brought their sold-out, Harlem Globetrotter-like show to the 81-year-old ballpark in San Jose, actually has nothing to do with baseball.
It’s all about the three-letter word: fun.
Not just enjoy-a-ballgame-on-a-Tuesday-night fun. This is silly, boundaryless, highly unusual and deeply intoxicating fun that is being had by everyone from the twerking umpires to the do-si-doing concession stand workers, from the youngest kid in the stands to the oldest player on the field.
“It’s the P.T. Barnum & Bailey circus and it’s an authentic baseball game at the same time,” said 76-year-old Bill Lee, a former MLB All-Star who is now part of the Bananas traveling roster whenever his body allows.
Now approaching the home stretch of their summer-long, nationwide tour, the Bananas took over the San Jose Giants’ ballpark so seamlessly a casual onlooker might’ve guessed it was their home stadium.
Everywhere you looked there was a banana-themed something or another; yellow tents stationed throughout the park selling merchandise, giant banana balloons, ticket-takers dressed in banana suits and a marching band wearing all yellow.
Jesse Cole, the owner and founder of the team, parades around the park in his signature yellow suit and top hat that he wears to every game, on the team bus, on the plane and just about anywhere he goes.
“It’s my uniform,” he said.
This year’s tour is already “100 times bigger than it was last year,” said Cole, whose team was featured on an ESPN documentary and will play in big league parks next summer. “The amount of people who follow us everywhere — wherever we go, we’re mobbed. I never knew this could make such an impact on so many people. It means a lot.”
Cole is getting every penny’s worth out of his banana-colored New Balance sneakers. He’s a popular guy, taking selfies with fans and serving as a part-time stadium announcer while leading between-innings entertainment and climbing on the bleachers to dance with the crowd.
Tuesday’s party started early, with music playing at 3 p.m. for the 7 o’clock game. A little after 4 p.m., the VIBs (Very Important Bananas) entered the stadium and strolled onto the field to mingle with the players, who were already in full uniform and practicing dance moves. Most of them are in their 20s or early 30s, former big league prospects and college standouts who have chiseled abs and bulging biceps.
Then there’s the 76-year-old Lee, who has been on the DL — “not the disabled list, the dead list,” he said — since a particularly hot night last August, when he tried warming up in the bullpen but his body couldn’t handle it. He passed out on the field after what first responders considered a “cardiac episode.”
Since then, he said he’s been doing yoga regularly, swimming every day, throwing every other day and hoping that the Bananas team doctor will clear him so he can return to the mound.
“I get light-headed a little bit,” Lee said. “The doctor said, ‘Bill, your heart is wearing down.’ I said, ‘I’ve never heard of them wearing up.’”
Said Cole, “The game we started playing as a kid, at some point almost everybody is told we can’t play that game anymore. Bill Lee won’t let that happen.”
As Lee sat in the shaded dugout to avoid the 90-degree heat on Tuesday afternoon, the hustle and bustle sped up around him. Players and cast members were running from place to place, the music was blaring, the marching band was playing and then the gates finally swung open.
Watching from the concourse were San Jose Giants general manager Ben Taylor and vice president Matt Alongi, who shook their heads in awe.
“The energy is terrific,” Alongi said. “Chaotic, in a good way.”
Around 5:30 p.m., the pregame show kicked off with a game of Banana Pants, where cast members threw bananas from the bleachers to fans on the field who were trying to catch them in a pair of oversized fireman pants. A few bananas flew through their pants while another cast member collected the misfires. The field was covered in fruit. The fans cheered for more.
Next up was the “Dad Bod” cheerleading squad, which is exactly what it sounds like.
Nearby, players were warming up by playing catch with young fans in the stands.
Soon the Bananas second baseman, Dalton Mauldin, warmed the crowd up by singing some of Phil Collins, “In the Air Tonight.”
The show moves from thing to thing with relentless speed.
The sweetest and most wholesome part happened just before the national anthem, when the Banana mascot, Split, carried a metal briefcase onto the field. A toddler in a pink tutu waited for the delivery.
Inside the case: a single banana. As she began to peel it, a public address announcer wearing a shiny gold suit explained that this is Banana Ball’s version of Groundhog Day. Whether or not the girl enjoys the banana will decide what kind of night everybody is about to have.
The crowd cheered her on as she took a bite and announced her decision.
The banana is… good!
Before you can blink the game is in the second or third or fourth inning. Between breaks, Cole instructed two children to pie their parents in the face near third base, and a few more to put lipstick on their dads along the first-base line. Banana players carried yellow roses into the stands and delivered them to a few lucky ladies.
Somewhere, a baseball-like game was being played.
Taylor, the San Jose Giants GM, had hoped to steal a few ideas from the Bananas, but it’s hard to imagine many of them being applicable to a minor league game between players who are supposed to be singularly focused on professional development.
“MLB is about making money and selling beer,” said Lee, who won 119 games in 14 big league seasons before retiring in 1982. “The Bananas are about putting the fans first and making them have an experience they really treasure.”
If there’s one critique, it’s that Bananas are so experimental and creative that, at times, the show can be chaotic and difficult to follow along.
But here’s one thing Banana Ball will never be: boring.
Savannah Bananas’ Dakota "Stilts" Albritton chats with fans in center field before the Savannah Bananas game at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
From left to right, Fran Batarao, from Burlingame, 13, Jacob Cai, from Pacifica, 13, Jalen Mingao, from Daly City, 13, and Lucas Chan, from Redwood City, 13, pose for a selfie with Savannah Bananas’ Maceo (00) before the start of their game at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Logan Connell, 12, from San Jose, gets an autograph from Savannah Bananas’ Dakota "Stilts" Albritton before the Savannah Bananas game at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Savannah Bananas’ Vincent DeRubeis dances with fans before the start of their game at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Savannah Bananas Dakota "Stilts" Albritton hands out beads before the start of their game at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Savannah Bananas’ Kyle Luigs (12) high-fives fans as they parade through the crowd before the start of their game at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
A baby is introduced to the crowd by the Savannah Bananas and owner Jesse Cole, in hat, before their game against the Party Animals at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Olympic Softball player Leah O’Brien Amico waves to the crowd during the Savannah Bananas game against the Party Animals in the sixth inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Logan Connell, 12, from San Jose, shows off hits banana costume before the Savannah Bananas game at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Savannah Bananas and Party Animals dance with fans before the start of their game at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
A young fan scores an in-the-park home run before the Savannah Bananas game against the Party Animals at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Party Animals’ Tanner Thomas (4) throws a banana towards the field in front of Savannah Bananas' Bill Leroy (1) and fans before their game at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Chloe Andrew takes a selfie with Savannah Bananas' Dakota McFadden (24) following the Bananas 3-2 win over the Party Animals at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Savannah Bananas' Bill Leroy (1) celebrates his two-run home run against the Party Animals in the third inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
The Savannah Bananas and the Party Animals dance in between innings with the help of Maceo, the first base coach in the second inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
against xx in the third inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Savannah Bananas' Dr Meadows (5) makes a catch for an out in centerfield in front of Savannah Bananas' Ryan Cox (6) on a hit by Party Animals’ Joe Lytle (22) in the fourth inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Party Animals starting pitcher Dylan Porter (15) throws against the Savannah Bananas in the first inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Baseball fans try and catch a foul ball during the Savannah Bananas game against the Party Animals in the sixth inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. If a fan had caught the ball the batter would have been out, no fan caught this foul ball. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Baseball fans react to a bat entering the stands from Party Animals’ Drew Gillespie (16) during their game against the Savannah Bananas in the sixth inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Former Major League Baseball player Eric Byrnes, right, conducts an on-field interview with Party Animals’ Drew Gillespie (16) after his bat went into the stands against the Savannah Bananas in the sixth inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Baseball fans dance with the help of the Savannah Bananas during the Bananas game against the Party Animals at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Former Major League Baseball player Eric Byrnes, right, conducts an on-field interview with Savannah Bananas' Noah Bridges (9) against the Party Animals in the sixth inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
The Party Animals bats against the Savannah Bananas in the seventh inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Baseball fans turn on their phone lights in-between innings during the Savannah Bananas game against the Party Animals in the first inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Savannah Bananas' Jared Donalson (21) carries Savannah Bananas' Dalton Mauldin (13) to second base during their game against the Party Animals in the eighth inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Savannah Bananas' DJ "The Invader" (91) throws against the Party Animals in the eighth inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
The Savannah Bananas dance following their 3-2 win over the Party Animals at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Savannah Bananas' Dr Meadows (5) can’t make a catch as he does a back flip on a double hit by Party Animals’ Dalton Cornett (3) in the first inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Home plate umpire Vincent Chapman celebrates after calling an out after a review during the Savannah Bananas game against the Party Animals in the fifth inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Savannah Bananas owner Jesse Cole gestures in between innings during the Savannah Bananas game against the Party Animals in the second inning at Excite Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
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