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KANSAS CITY, KS - MAY 06: Savannah Banana Malachi Mitchell (2) flips in the air as the team cheers before the start of a banana ball game against the Kansas City Monarchs at Legends Field on Friday, May 6, 2022 in Kansas City, KS. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Good morning, baseball fans!
It’s an off day for the San Francisco Giants today, so I wanted to touch on a topic that I’ve been thinking about for a while.
At this point, I can only assume that most people familiar with baseball are also at least somewhat familiar with the Savannah Bananas, and the league that was created around them called Banana Ball. If not, it’s a fast-paced version of baseball with an emphasis on entertainment value and fan engagement.
The rules are a bit different, but not so much that a fan of traditional baseball cannot follow the game. There’s an emphasis on trick plays and entertaining the crowds (both at the parks and those watching online). But that doesn’t take away from the on-field product at all, it just adds to it.
I recently had the chance to have a brief conversation with the founder of Banana Ball, Jesse Cole. You may know Cole as the dude that’s always in the yellow tux and top hat, featured in a lot of promotional materials for the league.
During the conversation, I told Cole that I think MLB should absolutely be taking notes from Banana Ball in terms of growing the game. What they are doing to engage new audiences is some of the best work I’ve seen from any league.
What works about it, in my opinion, is that it’s not intended to be gatekept. And what I mean by that is something that I think a lot of women who are sports fans can relate to. You have to prove you belong there, you don’t just get to be a fan because you like the team. I’ve had many experiences where I tell a male acquaintance that I was a Giants fan and I would get presented with a pop quiz to prove it.
And I feel like MLB in general kind of leans into that gatekeeping, whether they realize/intend it or not. Women are grudgingly allowed in the fandom, but not really catered to as a legitimate part of the audience.
Meanwhile, Banana Ball is not only catering to their female fans, they’re making the league as accessible and inviting as possible. And the game play is electric, there is never a dull moment for fans. If you go to a Banana Ball game, you know with absolute certainty that you’re going to have a great time, regardless of how the game plays out.
The same cannot necessarily be said for MLB games. Before the game I went to last month, the last five games I had attended in person were complete shut out losses by the Giants. And I had to pay about $300-400 and travel several hours for the pleasure of sitting through those games with dull, lifeless eyes watching a dull, lifeless team.
The Giants’ past offensive woes aside, with the cost of everything skyrocketing these days, entertainment value is assuredly going to become much more of a factor in terms of people planning to spend money on sports outings.
And listen, I’m not here to say that MLB should have dancing umpires and outfielders doing backflips. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with traditional baseball existing as it is, and having the more exhibition style league exist as a separate thing.
But MLB would be doing themselves a massive disservice to not take notes from how Banana Ball markets to all audiences, and focuses on appealing to a wide demographic of people by creating a fun environment for everyone. It’s a massively successful league that is only growing in popularity and talent.
Just this week, former MLB player Jackie Bradley, Jr. announced that he would be joining the Indianapolis Clowns, a team in the Banana Ball league. They also have the biggest stars of the upcoming Women’s Professional Baseball League, a former Broadway actor, and are so popular that they will have a player on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars.
The kind of astronomical growth that Banana Ball has seen over the last few years should absolutely be studied by MLB. They’d be silly not to. Given the game’s decline in popularity, sticking to the traditional route of “playing the game the right way” and policing anything that could remotely be considered fun or an individual’s personality is not going to cut it.
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