Next week, baseball gets a makeover – for two days, at least.
The Savannah Bananas exhibition baseball team is bringing its way-off-base tour featuring a circus-like version of America’s pastime to downtown San Diego’s Petco Park for two games on Sept. 5-6.
Team owner, entrepreneur, and all-around ringleader Jesse Cole will attend the game in his trademark yellow tuxedo. In 2016, he tapped into an eager fanbase that grew into a national obsession.
However, purists might need to either look the other way or just go along with the fun, because traditional baseball this is not. Some rule variations include:
- Speed. Games last two hours. Pitchers are not allowed to step off the rubber. Batters can not step out of the batter’s box. No manager’s meetings are allowed on the mound.
- Creativity. Umpires do flips after they call a player out. Don’t be surprised to see a player wearing stilts. In the third inning, the pitcher, catcher and middle infielders do a choreographed dance routine.
- Fan interaction. Each game, one fan is allowed to protest one umpire call. And if a fan catches a foul ball in the stands, it’s an out.
- Banana baby. Every game, players honor the Banana Baby by blasting Lion King opening music and kneeling around the baby while it is lifted in a banana costume. (No word on whether it is the same baby each time.)
The team also offers “the world’s only Dancing Umpire,” Vincent Chapman; “the world’s only Breakdancing Coach,” Maceo Harrison; the “Banana Nanas,” a senior citizens dance team; the “Banana Splitz,” a youth dance team; and the “Man-Nana’s,” also called the Dad Bod Cheerleading Squad.
Tickets for the Petco games have sold out, but are available on re-sale platforms like SeatGeek and StubHub.
