There have been some wild, wacky baseball games played at the Giants’ waterfront ballpark since it opened in 2000, but never anything like this.
Banana Ball, the wildly popular — and entertaining — alternate-rules game that debuted with the Savanah Bananas in 2016, is coming to Oracle Park for two nights next summer. The games are scheduled for Friday July 30 and Saturday July 31. The Bananas aren’t playing, but the games will include the Bananas’ original foes — the Party Animals — against the Indianapolis Clowns.
The Giants announced that through Oct. 31 fans can join the ticket lottery at sfgiants.com/bananaball for a chance to purchase tickets. A random drawing will be held once the lottery closes and fans will be notified to continue through the verification process if they are selected. Tickets will start at $35, with Meet-and-Greet tickets starting at $150. Prices increase based on location and amenities, according to the Giants’ release.
Dakota “Stilts” Albritton #14 of the Savannah Bananas pitches against the Party Animals at Grayson Stadium on May 11, 2023 in Savannah, Georgia. Albritton plays Banana Ball on Stilts. He plays the field, bats, and he pitches all while wearing a pair of stilts while playing. The Historic Grayson Stadium is the home of the independent professional baseball team called the Savannah Bananas. The Bananas were part of the Coastal Plain League, a summer collegiate league, for seven seasons. In 2022, the Bananas announced that they were leaving the Coastal Plain League to play Banana Ball year-round. Banana Ball was born out of the idea of making baseball more fast-paced, entertaining, and fun. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
“It’s the P.T. Barnum & Bailey circus and it’s an authentic baseball game at the same time,” Bill Lee, a former Major League Baseball All-Star who was part of the Bananas’ traveling roster in his late 70s, told the Bay Area News Group in 2023.
Most of the Banana Ball players are former college players and many were drafted or spent time in the minor leagues. Former major league players — Hunter Pence, Roger Clemens, Barry Zito, Eric Byrnes and Johnny Damon among them — have made surprise appearances over the years.
Banana Ball made its Bay Area debut in the summer of 2023 when the Bananas and the Party Animals, who are known for their pink and black uniforms, brought their brand of baseball, combining the sport with entertainment, to San Jose’s Excite Ballpark. The appearance, like most Bananas games, sold out almost immediately. Tickets that cost lottery-winning fans $25 were selling for nearly $500 on the secondary market to catch a glimpse at the colorful, acrobatic variation of the American pastime.
For those new to Banana Ball, the game is what organizers describe as “a high-octane style of baseball packed with 11 unique rules designed to keep the action non-stop and the crowd on their feet from the first pitch to the last out.” This is the game where a batter on stilts might face a pitcher who is throwing a flaming baseball. There are no walks, but players can steal first base and fans can catch foul balls for outs. Then there are the choreographed dances, the umpires included, that helped turn Banana Ball into a sensation.
“We’re always looking to bring unmatched experiences to our fans, and we’ve never seen baseball played quite like this,” Sara Grauf, President of 415 Presents, the Giants’ newly-established public events arm, said in a release announcing the games. “Banana Ball brings its own unique sense of humor, showmanship and surprise to the field, giving Oracle Park goers a new way to experience our ballpark.”