The Savannah Bananas are bringing “The Greatest Show in Sports” (ESPN) to 33 cities and 20 states in 2023.
With an atmosphere that would make most MLB teams jealous (Sports Illustrated), the Bananas have reimagined the baseball experience and pushing the limit with this tour after selling out every night of the seven-city 2022 Banana Ball World Tour.
Over 700 cities and 28 countries were nominated by thousands of fans for the 2023 tour. The team has now narrowed it down to the final 32 cities for the tour in addition to their games in Savannah.
“The response has been absolutely Bananas for this world tour,” said Owner Jesse Cole. Everywhere we go we hear from fans begging us to come to their city. We are so grateful for their support and because of their passion for the Bananas and Banana Ball we knew we had to extend the tour dramatically in 2023. Now we are bringing the show to almost four times the amount of cities as we did in 2022 to make sure we able to connect with as many Bananas fans as possible.”
The tour will start with a return to West Palm Beach on February 17th. After a stop in Daytona on the way back north, the Bananas will celebrate the seventh anniversary of the announcement of the team name back in 2016 with the Savannah home opener on February 25th. On top of returning to West Palm Beach and Daytona, the Bananas will once again visit Montgomery, Kansas City, and Birmingham during the 2023 World Tour.
The Bananas will play at 10 Triple-A, 6 Double-A, and 6 Single-A stadiums throughout the tour. There will be 4 Spring Training ballparks as well: The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches (Nationals and Astros), George M. Steinbrenner Field (Yankees), Scottsdale Stadium (Giants) and the Peoria Sports Complex (Padres and Mariners). The largest ballpark will be Sutter Health Stadium in Sacramento, which can hold over 14,000 Bananiacs.
It all wraps up with what will be a magical game at Abner Doubleday Field next to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York on September 16th.
In addition to the cast of characters, dancers, performers, mascots, and musicians, the Bananas are bringing their own twist of baseball all around the country. Banana Ball is a fast-paced, action-packed style of baseball with rules that include no bunting, a two-hour time limit, fans catching foul balls for outs, batters stealing first base, and a one-on-one tiebreaker showdown at the end of the game if it’s tied. You can watch previous Banana Ball games on ESPN+ and the Bananas YouTube page.
The 2022 World Tour was turned into a 5-part documentary, Bananaland, that can be seen on ESPN+. The Tour was also covered by HBO Real Sports, the Today Show, FOX Sports, The New York Times, LA Times, CBS Sunday Morning and more.
“The 2023 world tour will be the most mind-boggling, exhilarating, craziest, and fun thing that has ever happened in sports,” said Bananas head coach Tyler Gillum. “The Show will be undeniable. We will have 40 of the most highly-talented and wildly entertaining players in the world traveling around the United States creating ‘Never Forget Moments’ for every family that comes to a game. I’m most excited to bring BananaLand to Oklahoma, my home state. I’m expecting Ada, Oklahoma to close down for that weekend to be in OKC and
Tulsa. It’ll be awesome seeing so many friends and family. Banana Nation we can’t wait to high five you all. See you on the tour!”
The Bananas will face off against their rival, the Party Animals, as well as other professional baseball teams. The Bananas and Party Animals rosters will be filled by independent professional players who have been scouted, tried out, and signed contracts for the 2023 Banana Ball World Tour. Led by Bananas captains Bill LeRoy and Kyle Luigs, there will be plenty of familiar faces on both teams’ rosters. In addition to the everyday guys, the Bananas will have surprise player guests at many stops of the tour. In 2022, former Major League stars Jake Peavy, Jonathan Papelbon, Jonny Gomes, Josh Reddick, Bill Lee and Johnny Bench all joined the team during the tour.
“I am very excited for this world tour starting in February, but more specifically excited to continue the long list of ‘firsts’ for us as a whole,” Kyle Luigs said. “This is by far more ambitious than anything I ever could have imagined, but that’s the great thing about this organization. Playing in so many new places I’ve never been, in front of more fans than I could’ve ever imagined, and in some of the greatest ballparks in the country! The show is only going to keep getting better, for thousands of people that have never seen it before!”
When the Savannah Bananas are not on the road, they play their home games in front of a sold out, 4,000 person crowd at Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Georgia. Bananas games at Grayson Stadium have been sold out for six straight years. The priority list for tickets has reached 80,000 in Savannah alone.
The team has been known as TikTok’s favorite team with over 3.5 million followers, millions more than every MLB team. The Bananas have been featured across the globe for everything from playing a game in kilts, using a Dancing First Base Coach, the Banana Nanas Dance Team, the first ever baseball player to wear stilts, a Banana Pep Band, breakdancing players, and a whole lot more.
For the complete schedule and opportunity for tickets, visit www.thesavannahbananas.com/tickets and join the Ticket Pre-sale List or to get information on outings for a group, organization, or business.