JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Savannah Bananas are coming to town.
The team announced its 2023 World Tour, with Jacksonville on its list of 70 games next year. The team will play at 121 Financial Ballpark on March 4. The Bananas, who play a wild and theatrics-filled brand of Banana Ball on their tour, will play in 32 cities as well as their home park in Savannah.
Savannah will play its traditional opponent, the Party Animals, during its tour. It will cover 33 cities between Feb. 17 and Sept. 16.
Owner Jesse Cole told News4JAX when it visited Savannah last July that he’d spoken to Jumbo Shrimp owner Ken Babby about playing a game in Jacksonville.
“The response has been absolutely Bananas for this world tour,” Cole said in a statement. Everywhere we go we hear from fans begging us to come to their city. We are so grateful for their support and because of their passion for the Bananas and Banana Ball we knew we had to extend the tour dramatically in 2023. Now we are bringing the show to almost four times the amount of cities as we did in 2022 to make sure we able to connect with as many Bananas fans as possible.
“Taking the Bananas to Jacksonville and the Jumbo Shrimp’s 121 Financial Ballpark, has been something we’ve heard constantly from our fans over the years. Ken Babby and Harold Craw, with the Jumbo Shrimp share a similar passion for the fans and their experience so we are fired up to bring an unforgettable show to them this spring.”
The Bananas national profile has exploded over the past two seasons. They were even featured in a five-part documentary last month on ESPN+. They had a wait list of 80,000 for their traditional games in the Coastal Plain League.
The Bananas played two variations of baseball.
The team played traditional baseball in the Coastal Plain League throughout the summer. That team was stocked with college players. Cole announced that the Bananas would no longer play in that league in 2023 as it looked to barnstorm around the country on its tour. On its tour, the Bananas play something called Banana Ball, which includes zany antics and modified rules to make the game fast, wild and fun.
Information on ticket purchases will be released here.
2023 Banana Ball Schedule
February
17-18, at West Palm Beach
22-23, at Daytona Beach
25, Savannah vs. Party Animals
March
2, Savannah vs. Party Animals
4, at Jacksonville
10-11, Savannah vs. TBA
13, Savannah vs. Party Animals
17, at Sugar Land, Texas
24-25, at Montgomery, Alabama
31, at Scottsdale, Arizona
April
1, at Peoria, Arizona
6-7, Savannah vs. Party Animals
13, Savannah vs. Party Animals
15, Savannah vs. Party Animals
18, Savannah vs. Party Animals
21, at Charleston, West Virginia
26, Savannah vs. Party Animals
29, at Tampa
May
5-6, at Kansas City, Kansas
11, Savannah vs. Party Animals
13, Savannah vs. Party Animals
15, Savannah vs. TBA
19, at Las Vegas
26, at Oklahoma City
29, at Tulsa, Oklahoma
June
2, at Nashville, Tennessee
8-9-10, Savannah vs. TBA
12 , Savannah vs. TBA
15, Savannah vs. Party Animals
17, Savannah vs. Party Anmals
19, Savannah vs. challenger
23-24, at Birmingham, Alabama
30, at Indianapolis
July
3, at Akron, Ohio
7-8, Savannah vs. TBA
12, at Kannapolis, North Carolina
14, at Durham, N.C.
17, Savannah vs. TBA
21-22, at Rancho Cucamonga, California
25, at San Jose, California
27, at Fresno, California
29, at Sacramento, California
August
3, Savannah vs. Party Animals
5, Savannah vs. Party Animals
9, at Trenton, New Jersey
11-12, at Staten Island, New York
14, at Hartford, Connecticut
16, at Brockton, Massachusetts
18, at Portland, Maine
25, at Des Moines, Iowa
30, Savannah vs. Party Animals
September
1, Savannah vs. Party Animals
2, Savannah vs. TBA
4, Savannah vs. Party Animals
8-9, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin
14, at Syracuse, N.Y.
16, at Cooperstown, N.Y.