This story was originally published in the Texas A&M University student publication The Battalion. Ian Curtis is the winner of the Rolling Stone College Journalism Award in the Entertainment Reporting Category.
When former Texas A&M baseball player and
12th Man Hayden Schott walked out onto the grass at Kyle Field, he had to suspend his reality for a moment, for one of the world’s most iconic football stadiums was suddenly covered by a baseball diamond.
“It’s a weird feeling,” Schott said. “This doesn’t feel like a baseball field, but you know what, man, it’s going to be tonight, and they’re gonna find a way to make it really fun. And so I think this is a classic example of you got to put all your pre-decisions you’ve made in your mind away and just enjoy the show.”
With the stadium sound system already blasting a variety of nostalgic pop hits before the gates had even opened, Schott told The Battalion that he was looking forward to seeing the Banana Ball Championship League — the sports entertainment empire that combines music and dancing with baseball and almost anything else imaginable — take center stage in the largest stadium it’s ever been played in.
“I think it’s just an unbelievable show,” Schott said. “I don’t think people understand what really goes into something like this, the amount of effort that comes in. You don’t wing something like this. I hope people understand how much time it took, how much effort, I’m sure the Bananas and all of them did put into this, and how great of a show it’s gonna be, man.”
What followed over the course of the next several hours was an all-out assault on the senses. As the Savannah Bananas faced off against the Texas Tailgaters in front of a sold-out crowd of 102,000, the baseball game between the two was only half of the excitement.
A nonstop parade of celebrity cameos, musical performances, dance choreography, sideshows — welcome back, baby races — and other antics combined in a fashion that only Banana Ball could provide, all with one goal in mind: Make things fun for the fans.
“There’s a passion in this fanbase right here, and it’s unbelievable,” Savannah Bananas owner and Fans First Entertainment founder Jesse Cole said. “I mean, we felt it seeing 40,000 people out there three hours before the show, and then [102,000] tonight. There’s nothing like it: The energy, the enthusiasm, the crowd, it was, it was truly special. This is definitely going to leave a lasting impression for all of us, not just myself, but our players, our cast and the hundreds of teammates we brought here.”
Banana Ball itself is the brainchild of Cole, who took a summer collegiate league baseball team and combined it with musical theater-inspired entertainment and a long history of baseball barnstorming tours to create Banana Ball, a fan-first fusion of all three.
The Kyle Field showing of 102,000 was the largest crowd that the Bananas had ever played in front of, Cole said. It comes a decade after Cole got his start by selling single-digit amounts of tickets.
“When we got people telling us, ‘No,’ that was tough,” Cole said. “We were getting doors slammed in our face. We were getting hung up on. People thought we were just the next team to fail, but we kept showing up. But we had a commitment to fans. And when you commit to the fans, they commit back to you. And we’ve been obsessed with that.”
Savannah Bananas designated hitter Dan Oberst has been a part of the team since 2019, which means he’s seen Banana Ball in nearly all of its forms.
Even as he was disappointed in his team’s 4-3 loss to their rival Texas Tailgaters — unlike basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters, which are often a comparison point to the Bananas, all Banana Ball games are unscripted and competitive — he pointed out why he thought the Bananas have been able to grow into the giants they’ve become.
“We made it close at the end, but you still look around and nobody’s really thinking about that,” Oberst said. “Like I said, it’s just a two-hour escape from all the craziness going on in the world, and people can just be present, not be on their phones for two hours and just have fun together.”
One of the unique parts of the show was the playing surface itself. The nature of putting a baseball diamond in Kyle Field created a unique field. With a left field that measured just 185 feet and a deepest point of 429 feet in right-center field, it was an awkward mashup of a Little League field and the Polo Grounds that somehow fit the wild nature of the game perfectly.
“It’s a lot of work to turn a football field into a baseball field,” Cole said. “Obviously you got to do the whole ground that you set up, all the netting, the padding, everything, and you have 185 feet down the left field line. That’s crazy as well … But it’s a different game, and it’s hard. It’s really hard for pitchers. It’s hard, and it’s hard for the guys, and so that’s why I think it was a challenge for us. We did not play our best Banana Ball.”
Fitting for a game held at Kyle Field and headlined by Banana Ball’s designated Texas team, the performance featured plenty of local flair. Reveille herself made an appearance before the game, while Dude Perfect’s Tyler Toney took a live at-bat for the Bananas and Houston Texans’ mascot Toro took part in a mini-game between innings.
For Schott, an Aggie who briefly played Banana Ball during a try-out for the league, the game bridged a gap between two worlds.
“If this is a way for Banana fans to get to Kyle Field for the first time, then I’m all for it, right?” Schott said. “I’m glad they chose A&M. I mean, it’s the greatest sports stadium there is in the entire world, and I stand by it. And I think the fact that probably more people are coming for the very first time, I think it’s beautiful.”
For players with Texas ties — like La Vernia native and Bananas catcher Easton Parrish, who grew up attending games at Kyle Field with friends and was even at Texas A&M football’s playoff game against Miami as a fan, and Texas Tailgaters shortstop and captain Jorden Hussein, who grew up in Houston — the opportunity to play at Kyle Field was one they’ll never forget.
“I never thought I’d play in front of 100,000 playing baseball,” Hussein said. “That’s just not something that you hear of. So doing this, like I said, in front of a bunch of Texans means the world to me.”
As for what’s next for Banana Ball, Cole hopes this can kick-start the growth of the Tailgaters, one of the six-team league’s newer squads.
“The Texas Tailgaters in one year have built over a million-plus fans,” Cole said. “And so I’m just proud of where this is going. We have six teams. They’re playing all over the country, and it’s more than just one team now. It’s a whole organization, a whole league, Banana Ball.”
But those are goals and conversations for the future. As the crowd of 102,000 slowly filed out of Kyle Field and headed toward Aggie Park for more festivities, Cole took a moment to acknowledge what he’d remember most from the record-setting night.
“It’s the moments you go up in the upper deck and you see the whole section start screaming and get excited just to see you,” Cole said. “It’s out there in the plaza, and you’re seeing the fans don’t want to leave, and they’re still just celebrating. It’s out on the field with all the little girls and little boys for ‘Friends in Low Places.’”
As always, it’s about the fans.
“It’s the moments,” Cole said. “How many people get moments these days? They’re always going so fast from thing to thing to thing, and they’re disconnected and they’re on their phones in a moment like this. There’s nowhere else in the world this happened, and you get to feel connected and part of something. So you build up those moments, and that’s what I’ll take with me forever.”
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