Charlotte is getting ready to enjoy a weekend of baseball with the popular Savannah Bananas.

At least 75,000 fans are expected to fill the seats at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium on Friday and Saturday as the Bananas once again show off their skills, the Charlotte Observer reported.

What is Banana Ball?

The Savannah Bananas play a unique type of baseball known as Banana Ball, which is limited to two hours. Stepping out of the batter’s box, bunting and mound visits are prohibited in Banana Ball. The games also feature plenty of music, trick plays and hilarious sketches.

Fans also make a significant impact on the games. When a fan catches a ball, that counts as an out. Currently, there are four Banana Ball teams who travel around the country to put on a show for fans of all ages. All the teams are owned by the Coles, who expect to add two more teams next year.

Who founded the Savannah Bananas?

North Carolina couple Jesse and Emily Cole, who first worked in marketing for a minor league team known as the Gastonia Grizzlies, later established the Savannah Bananas. So this is a return of sorts.

“So this weekend in Charlotte will be a homecoming for us,” Emily told the Charlotte Observer. “Jesse and I have lived in this area for close to 20 years. We are foster parents here. Even when we got a team in Savannah, we had a place there, but we never quite left Gaston County.”

Jesse and Emily got engaged with an unforgettable ceremony while working for the Grizzlies. Wearing his famous yellow tuxedo, Jesse proposed in the middle of a game. The couple then celebrated the joyous occasion with fireworks at the stadium.

After the couple bought their own team and named them the Bananas, they played in the same league as the Grizzlies. In the late 2010s, the couple experimented with Banana Ball in the spring. The first Banana Ball game was played in Mobile, Alabama. From there, the new style expanded to many more cities.

“The next spring we did it in seven cities and did seven games,” Emily said. “And the following year, we knew that this was something we needed to go all in on. So at that point, in 2021, we left the Coastal Plain League completely, and started our own full-time barnstorming, traveling Banana Ball.”

Savannah Bananas

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