By Steven Luker
Savannah Bananas World Tour Comes to California
This weekend the Savannah Bananas and the Banana Ball World tour made their first stop on the California Tour and their first stop was in Rancho Cucamonga and they were in town Friday through Sunday. I was lucky enough to win a lottery and was able to get tickets on Sunday afternoon to watch them play.
I will be explaining the atmosphere and how it all went down. Once you get to the stadium you are greeted right at the entrance to the stadium with the owner Jesse Cole his wife and you hear the Banana Band upon entering the stadium. Some of the players were outside the stadium before the game such as their tall pitcher on Stills and other pregame.
Once you walk inside the stadium you will have to find a seat you feel comfortable with during the game and they warn you not to go to the bathroom. The weather for the game was hot, cloudy and humid. During the game they played music and there is a two hour time limit for the game.
The game was scoreless during the first four innings of the game. During the game they had a stat for trick plays and there were some trick plays. Also during the game one of the Bananas player’s Ryan Cox had number 100 on his trick plays of the tour this season. The team did a big celebration for it and they made a big deal about it.
There was all kinds of dancing during the game and the umpire was even getting into the fun the game by dancing as well. Then around the bottom of the fifth inning the game got a lot more interesting and the Bananas struck first by winning that inning and they won the sixth and seventh inning of the game.
The Party Animals did come back and tied it up in the 8th inning of the game and had a one inning point lead during the bottom of the 9th inning. The Bananas even had a player during the game use a big bat to hit the ball and it was successful.
The Bananas also had the person with Stills pitch in the game they made a player pitch under him and made the game fun. There were tons of in between innings activities and they made it look like a fun game. Also during the game there were two fan catch balls for outs. They removed the netting that was blocking the view for the game and made it for the fans to have a chance to catch the ball.
Also in the game there was a fan’s challenge in the game to review the play at first base but the call did stand so the runner at second was still safe for the party animals. The Bananas came back in the bottom of the 9th inning with a walk off and won the whole series during the weekend in Rancho Cucamonga and they made the game watching experience fun and it was a really great one.
After the game the players of both teams were able to give autographs to all the fans. I was lucky enough to buy a ball and let the players and whoever I found that was part of the team sign the ball.
Overall now the big question everyone is asking is whether the Banana Ball is worth watching in person. The answer is yes it is if you like to watch a game and a show at the same time it is worth watching. The Banana Ball game is like watching the Harlem Globetrotters so it compares to that for me.
What are your thoughts on Banana Ball and would like to go see them or have you seen them let us know in the comments your thoughts on all of this.
