What I Learned from Banana Ball
Recently, I started getting videos on my social media homepages or feeds. They were of baseball players dancing, having fun and even making trick plays during the game.I was intrigued and decided to look into it more. What I found was Banana Ball.
What is Banana Ball?
Well, as I’m slightly fixated on Banana Ball, I’m glad you asked! Banana ball is, as the Young Professor (and others)
say at the beginning of games, "Ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls, and potassium enthusiasts from around the world. Tonight, you and thousands of your friends here live and millions more watching at home have gathered here to witness something beyond your wildest imagination. From Montana to Savannah...from the Isle of Man to Tokyo, Japan... the Bananamaniacs come from across the globe to witness this. This is not baseball. This is the crucible where the fastest, hungriest, and most entertaining players are forged. This is the game of the fans, by the fans, and for the fans. But this is not your granddad's pastime. This is not just another night at the ballpark. This game is baseball by birth, fruit by name, and an absolute worldwide phenomenon by the grace of God! This is the time for all five thousand people here in historic Grayson Stadium to get on your feet and give me your voices! Because this is the greatest show in sports - ladies and gentlemen, this is Banana Ball!" (speech found here). Sure. On the surface, Banana Ball looks a lot like baseball but the rules are different. They’re unique. They are forged by the mind of Jesse Cole and his amazing team of creative, fun loving people.
So, go with me here. Imagine Baseball but instead of using all of the traditional rules, some of the rules are new, fresh and very much not baseball. Banana Ball rules include, but are not limited to the following since 2023 (as found here):
Games are won by points, instead of runs: the team that scores the most runs in an inning gets one point, except in the final inning when every run counts as one point. The final inning may be earlier than the ninth inning, due to the time limit noted below. When the home team has scored enough runs to "win" any inning other than the final inning, the inning immediately ends.
There is a two-hour time limit; no new inning may start after 1 hour and 50 minutes have elapsed. Once an inning starts, it is played to completion.
Batters cannot step out of the batter's box. Doing so results in an automatic strike.
Batters cannot bunt. Doing so results in an automatic ejection.
Batters can attempt to steal first base at any point during their at bat, including on passed balls or wild pitches.
Walks are replaced by "ball-four sprints". After ball four, the batter is allowed to advance as far around the bases as he can while the ball is sequentially thrown to all of the fielders other than the pitcher, starting with the catcher. The ball remains dead, with the batter-runner not liable to be put out, until the four infielders and three outfielders have each touched the ball. This often results in the batter-runner advancing to second base on the sprint.
No mound visits are allowed.
Foul balls caught by fans on the fly are counted as outs.[15]
Ties are broken by a "showdown tiebreaker", an abbreviated extra innings format. Each team's half-inning during the showdown ends with any out or with any run scored by the batter—if the batter puts the ball in play, he must attempt to score. A batter who draws a walk advances to second base, with the hitting team allowed to send a new batter to the plate. The same happens if the batter is hit by a pitch. At any point during the showdown, a home run hit over the outfield wall immediately ends the game in favor of the batting team. If the game is still tied after a showdown round, another showdown round is played, until there is a winner. Scenarios differ by showdown round: In showdown round 1, each team selects a pitcher and hitter to face off, with the defense fielding only their pitcher, catcher, and a single fielder. In showdown round 2, the fielder is eliminated. In showdown round 3 (and later), the fielder returns, but each half-inning starts with the bases loaded, and each run scored counts as a point.
Each team is allowed to challenge certain calls by the umpires: whether a ball was fair or foul, whether or not a runner was tagged out (at home plate or on the basepaths), and whether a ball was caught or not. A team retains its right to challenge until they lose a challenge, after which they may not challenge any calls for the remainder of the game. The fans can also challenge one play per game, as determined by a fan who is chosen to initiate the challenge. Challenged plays are reviewed by the broadcast team, who relay their ruling to the umpire.
"The Golden Batter Rule" – One time in a game, a team may send any hitter in the lineup to bat in any spot. The goal of this rule is so a team can have their best hitter hit when the game is on the line.
Now, I could easily go on and on about my favorite team in Banana Ball (The Savannah Bananas), my favorite players (Dakota “Stilts” Albritton, Jackson Olson, KJ Jackson, Roy Leroy but there are so many more that I like, too), some of my favorite plays (RAC’s rac flips are always fun and Ziggy’s skills with the bat? C’mon! Oh, and then Dakota’s batting and pitching on stilts?! How is that even possible?!) but, I won’t. I will, however, suggest checking them out on socials and watch entire games for free on their Youtube channel.
The other thing that I think is important to note before I talk about what I learned is that Banana Ball is seperate from the MLB and is owned and ran by Jesse and Emily Cole’s business Fans First Entertainment. Yes. It’s called Fans First entertainment because they go above and beyond to crazy lengths for their fans in every way they can. See, Banana Ball isn’t a game, it’s an experience that starts even before the game and doesn’t end until the very last fan is in their car and on their way. Fans First Entertainment is about the fans first and for most. Money is nice, but when you treat your fans right, it’ll take care of itself. The fans will take care of it.
I love everything I’ve seen about Jesse (and co.)’s business model. His fans first mentality is one trillion percent what I set out to do at the Emporium, put people first above all else because people matter. So, when I learned that Jesse Cole and Don Yeager wrote a book talking about the birth of and the business practices of Banana Ball and Fans First Entertainment, I knew I had to read it in hopes of finding ideas and methods I can put toward the Emporium. And I did. I also found validation, and inspiration! I’m so glad I borrowed a copy from the library. I now dream that one day I’ll own my own physical copy, get tickets to a game and have Mr. Cole sign it and players sign… I don’t know. Maybe the book? Maybe a jersey? Something at least!
But I digress! Here are some of the lessons and inspirations I found while reading the Cole Family’s journey into Bananaland!
“Swing hard in case you hit it” It’s Jesse’s dad’s phrase of encouragement to Jesse throughout most, if not all, of his life. I love the idea of just going for it and not letting fear hold you back. I tend to be terrified of failure and I end up in my own way far more often then I want to admit.
Energy audits! This is a time in which you sit down and evaluate what actions in your job or life give you joy, make you happy and give you energy vs. actions and tasks drain your energy, you hate doing, ect. Then you think about ways to change it so that you’re focusing most on those that make you feel good. What do you have to do? What can you take off of your plate? What can you share with someone else? How can you make the crappy things more enjoyable? I, admittedly, don’t do this enough and when I do, I tend to see it as a failure. “I have to adjust because I failed”. I want to switch my thinking. Turn it into, “I’m adjusting because I learned.” or “I’m adjusting because I want to enjoy my job even more than I already do.”
Energy buckets. Not literal buckets, silly! But the idea is you pick a few categories of tasks that make you feel the most energized, happy and successful and try to do something from each category each day. I mean, it’s so “simple” in theory yet it’s alluded me for so long! How have I missed this?!
Make everything about fun and experiences. Well, to the best of your ability.
Who says you have to do things like everyone else? Ignore the box! We can learn from what others do, it doesn’t mean we have to duplicate it? Why would we do that if we can improve, personalize and have fun with it?
Being professional is not always the answer. Be silly. Be honest. Be authentic. Have fun. And let the world see you do it!
Believe. Believe with everything you’ve got. Believe with your whole heart, even if it seems crazy and impossible. Thay just makes if more fun!
Focus on creating memories, experience, fun and love over money. People will come for those, and with them, the money you need will arrive. But people, there’s nothing without them.
Stay true to what you believe. Just because it looks like bad or crazy business, doesn’t mean it is.
Play. It should be part of every job description.
Jesse has been added to my list of heroes.
But that’s just what I got out from the book, along with a ton inspiration and excitement. What did you get from it? And, have you watched Banana Ball yet? If you haven’t you need to.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
