A quick history of the Savannah Bananas before their Montgomery stop

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The Yellowhammer State's set for another taste of baseball's latest phenomena this weekend, as the Savannah Bananas "World Tour" will stop in Montgomery for a two-game event between the Firefighters and Indianapolis Clowns on Saturday and Sunday at Riverwalk Stadium.

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The Clowns and Firefighters are an example of the growth Banana Ball has seen in the past decade, as they're one of six teams under the Savannah Bananas umbrella, playing Banana Ball as part of the organization's annual barnstorming exhibitions.

Here's a look a the history of the Savannah Bananas and Banana Ball.

A timeline of the Savannah Bananas history: How Banana Ball got started

  • November 2015: Fans First Entertainment holds an event announce it's fielding an Coastal Plain League — a summer college league — expansion team at Grayson Stadium in Savannah.
  • February 2016: The moniker of "Savannah Bananas" is unveiled. The other finalists were the Ports, Seagulls, Anchors and Party Animals, a choice that would come into play later.
  • June 2016: The Bananas host their first game at Grayson Stadium, in front of a sellout crowd of 4,000, where the Bananas lost to the Lexington Blowfish.
  • August 2016: The Bananas beat Peninsula in a best-of-three series to win the Coastal Plain League championship, breaking the CPL season attendance record along the way, with more than 90,000 fans attending games at Grayson Stadium. The team sold out 17 of 25 games in that first season and has sold out every game since.
  • 2018: Tyler Gillum takes over as manager of the Savannah Bananas.
  • June 2020: The first official game played under Banana Ball rules is played at Grayson Stadium, though the concept was previously developed and used in unofficial games dating back to 2018.
  • March 2021: The Bananas Premier Team, a professional squad playing by Banana Ball rules, faces off against a new team — the Party Animals — at Grayson Stadium.
  • August 2021: Savannah claims another CPL championship with a series win over Morehead City.
  • Spring 2022 — The Bananas Premier Team, coached by former major-leaguer Eric Byrnes, tours seven cities, playing 14 Banana Ball games from March to May.
  • August 2022: The Bananas win their third Coastal Plain League title over the Wilson Tobs, and later that month, announced they're leaving the CPL to focus on expanding Banana Ball, with plans to hold games throughout the country. ESPN+ airs a 5-part documentary, "Bananaland," and Banana Ball later made its television debut with six games aired on ESPN networks.
  • 2023: The Bananas hold 80 games across the country, including a stop in Cooperstown, New York, the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
  • 2024: The Bananas "World Tour" sells out MLB venues like Fenway Park, where the Bananas played the Party Animals in front of a crowd of 37,000 in June. Other sold-out ballparks included Nationals Park in Washington D.C., Houston's Minute Maid Park, Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park and Cleveland's Progressive Field.
    • March 2024: Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, pitches for the Bananas in a game at Minute Maid Park.
    • May 2024: A third team joins the Banana Ball fray, with the Firefighters added to the league alongside the Bananas and Party Animals.
  • 2025: The Bananas World Tour expands to NFL and college stadiums, as the Bananas traveled to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa and Clemson, where a crowd of 81,000 was in attendance for an April game with the Party Animals. The Texas Tailgaters team also joined the Banana Ball League.
  • November 2025: Jackie Bradley Jr., a former major-leaguer, is taken with the first pick of the Banana Ball Player Draft by the Indianapolis Clowns, a new team in the Banana Ball League. Bradley Jr. is the first former MLB player to take on a full-time role in Banana Ball.
  • 2026: The Indianapolis Clowns and the Loco Beach Coconuts join the Banana Ball League with the Bananas, Party Animals, Texas Tailgaters and the Firefighters. The will play 190 games this season, in a tour that will visit 45 states and 75 stadiums.

Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam's work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Savannah Banana history: A look back at how things got started

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