Disclaimer: I am a devout Savannah Bananas fan. We attended our first Banana ball game two years ago in Savannah, Georgia, and last year in Houston. And yes, my fiancée Rebecca and I were in the stands for the Friday night game at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
The Bananas have been highlighted on TV since the team’s regular second baseman, Jackson Olson, is competing in this fall’s edition of ABC-TV’s Dancing with the Stars. Thus far, he has survived the first two rounds with his professional dancing partner, Emma Slater.
And earlier this year, the Savannah Bananas appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. They’re everywhere!
Savannah Bananas Take Over Globe Life Field Last Weekend My fun with the Savannah Bananas this time around actually began on Thursday, when Sterling Hunter, aka “Mr. K,” spoke at the Southlake Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon. I was honored to interview Sterling there in a Q&A format.
Now, about the “Mr. K” moniker: The letter K is the chemical symbol for potassium, which is a major ingredient in… you guessed it – BANANAS! While Sterling has been recognized as a “Mr. T” impersonator for the past six years with the Savannah Bananas, he is known as “Mr. K” with the Bananas!
In our back-and-forth conversation, he emphasized that the Savannah Bananas’ primary focus is simple: To deliver family-friendly entertainment in a spirit of joy.
The Tailgate Party Rebecca and I arrived at 3:30 pm for the Tailgate Party – the pre-game show in the Texas Rangers Parking Lot on the north side of the stadium. There, we saw an outdoor concert stage, with more than a dozen tents holding sellers of Savannah Bananas merchandise, and long lines for refreshments.
During this pre-game time, team owner Jesse Cole stopped to autograph my Savannah Bananas jersey (but on the left side this time, since he signed the right side last year!), then led the teams onto the stage.
From the stage, Jesse, the players, and the cheer squads danced to the team’s theme song, “Hey, Baby,” recorded in Fort Worth in 1961 by young Grapevine musician Bruce Channel, with a distinctive harmonica riff by Fort Worth’s Delbert McClinton.
After the live pre-game concert, the Savannah Bananas and Texas Tailgater players followed the Bananas Marching Band as they wove through the crowd and onto the stage for the pep rally.
The Show (not “The Game”) ESPN has called the Savannah Bananas “The Greatest Show in Sports” for several years, and the team raises the bar on itself each year.
I heard an interesting comment from owner Jesse Cole in an interview: “We ask our fans how they enjoyed the SHOW, not how they enjoyed the GAME, because the overall experience is so much larger and grander than a baseball game.”
That’s the reason why the Savannah Bananas always sell out their own Historic Grayson Stadium’s 4,000 seats at every home game, along with Major League Baseball stadiums with 40,000 seats at Globe Life Field, and comparable sell-outs throughout America’s MLB and NFL venues.
That includes the massive football fields, such as 102,733 fans who filled Texas A&M’s Kyle Field this spring.
The Pre-Show One of the sincerest, most defining moments came about 30 minutes before the first pitch, when 30-40 players from both teams joined the umpires and many staff members to kneel and host a pre-game prayer circle on the field.
In addition, several players from both teams wore eye black in the shape of a cross to demonstrate their Christian faith.
On-field antics featured:
Princess Potassia (yes, there’s the potassium pun again!) waving and talking to fans (she also sang during the tailgate party earlier) in her yellow chiffon gown
The Tailgaters’ Baby of the Night – showcasing a baby in a Tailgaters outfit, delivered to home plate à la The Lion King by the Tailgaters team
Not to be outdone, the Savannah Bananas’ own “Baby of the Night” – in a yellow banana outfit, delivered to home plate by the Bananas team.
Team owner Jesse Cole donning a yellow cowboy hat in honor of being in the great state of Texas instead of his usual yellow top hat
The Show The show featured trick plays with behind-the-back catches and balls thrown between the legs. Even when the players made errors, the fans enjoyed every moment.
Fans love and appreciate the high energy and the fact that the games end in two hours or less.
My favorite part of the evening, Bananas Foster, took place after the second inning. This moment celebrated a local family that has fostered many children over the years. The family was introduced and walked onto the field, where they were surrounded in a group hug by the two teams.
The crowd was so touched by this moment that there was not a dry eye in the ballpark, and the audience cheered loudly throughout the presentation.
Some of the in-show highlights included:
· Choose-a-Parent: A little girl came onto the field with her parents. She had to run 60 feet to one of her parents, and then she turned and gave a whipped cream pie in the face to the parent she didn’t choose. Sorry, Mom!
· Maceo Hernandez, the Bananas’ choreographer, coached an inning at first base, where he performed his legendary “The Worm” dance maneuver. The Bananas hired him from Dancing With the Stars in 2018 to create the entertainment concept.
· Members of each team ran into the stands to create pandemonium, rewarding the loudest fans with a free T-shirt.
· Players were continually tossing foul balls into the stands for the fans to take home souvenirs
· The dance teams – the “Man-Anas” (Savannah Bananas) and the “Beefy Boys” (Tailgaters) danced on top of each dugout and tossed freebie items to the fans
· Dance Routines: From their signature “Hey, Baby” to The Monkees’ hit single, “I’m a Believer,” players from each team performed on-field dance routines
· A hilarious highlight was the Pregnant Woman Dance-Off, where three women who were more than 30 weeks pregnant showed off their dance moves. The crowd went wild!
And the crowd roared when celebrity Texas Rangers legends joined the games. On Friday night, slugger Josh Hamilton took to the plate twice. He hit one ball so hard that the first baseman who caught it may have hurt his glove hand.
The Saturday night celebrity was Rafael Palmeiro, who played for the Rangers for 10 seasons.
After the game The post-game concert at the outdoor stage featured live music and dancing for over an hour as fans lingered to interact with the team members.
The Savannah Bananas clearly care about the communities they visit. On Saturday morning, several players volunteered to help pack 5,000 meals for local foster families.
What are YOU doing now to create joy in YOUR world?
