The Savannah Bananas are bringing joy, baseball and a second chance at a dream

BaseballThe Savannah Bananas are bringing joy, baseball and a second chance at a dreamYes, the league is made up of entertainers. But also great baseball players hoping to grow the game. A pitcher throws on stilts during a Savannah Bananas game against the Party Animals at Yankee Stadium in New York in April. Bryan Anselm / The Washington Post via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 21, 2026, 6:00 AM EDTBy Eric SamulskiYou’ve seen the viral dance videos. You recognize the bright yellow jerseys. Maybe you know someone who’s been to a game. But chances are you still have more questions about the Savannah Bananas than answers. That’s understandable. Just four years ago, the Bananas were one of thousands of summer baseball teams around the country. Now, they’re playing on ESPN, selling out Yankee Stadium and drawing 102,000 fans to college football stadiums.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.If we’re being honest, the question you’re probably asking the most is: “Do they even play baseball?”“We’ve got to have high-level guys to do what we do,” head coach Tyler Gillum said. “We have 150 players in-house between six teams. Thirty-five of those guys played minor-league baseball. The majority of them played [Division I] baseball, or they played independent ball, so we’ve got a highly competitive group.”When Gillum began with the Bananas in 2018, he was coming off a season as an assistant coach in the prestigious Cape Cod League and had been a record-breaking coach in the Texas Collegiate League, where he had 35 players drafted in three summers. At the time, the Bananas were making headlines for their elaborate entertainment strategies, but they were just one of thousands of collegiate summer baseball teams.Over the next five summers, Gillum and Bananas owner Jesse Cole laid the foundation for what the Bananas would one day become. While the heart of that is built on the fan experience, the glue tha...