A new version of baseball has gathered a massive fanbase through social media. Banana Ball has taken the nation by storm, from its “Man-nanas,” also known as the dad cheerleading squad, a dancing umpire, and a Banana Baby. This fun and unique spin-off of the game has changed baseball and its rules to make it more enjoyable for everyone.
“I like how fans can catch a [foul] ball and get the player out. It makes more people want to go to [the games]. Also, the no-bunting rule, I don’t really like it,” senior Chloe Bagbey said. “I feel like it kind of makes it more lame, because with bunting you could do a lot of cool tricks-shots.”
Banana Ball implemented new rules so their game would be more entertaining, such as: no bunting, batter can steal first, no mound visits, if a fan catches a foul ball, it’s an out, and games are 2 hours long. Baseball and softball have attempted to make similar rules to make their game shorter in recent times.
“I like that they put new rules on [regular baseball and softball]. Where the players only get 20 seconds in between pitches. So I feel like that helps a lot with the faster pace this year,” Bagbey said. “Honestly, I think it could be faster-paced. People will go to the games, and then I feel like they're just watching it half the time, and then like the other half of the time is just like watching a [standstill].”
Baseball struggles with keeping its game entertaining, while Banana Ball feels like a party. Banana Ball excels at keeping the audience entertained throughout its game.
“On the field in between a few points or pitches, they dance, they do back flips, and they also make TikToks on the field. Sometimes in the crowd, they will have some of their players come up and you can take pictures with them,” senior Brooklyn Angel said. “They'll lift you, like I went with Gabi [Rudolph] and one of the guys just picked her up, and it was a lot of fun. They just interact with the crowd as well.”
They are great at keeping the crowd, but even better at gaining one. Social media was their main way of growing on TikTok; they have over 11 million followers. They continually sell out NFL and MLB stadiums all over the country.
“With Banana Ball, I didn’t expect it to be as big as it is now, but honestly, it's more on social media than regular baseball is now,” Bagbey said.
Banana Ball has grown from a small town to a national treasure. The teams travel all over the United States showing off this game they love to play. It also isn’t easy to play with its trick shots and its stunts.
“I think Banana Ball is more difficult because you have to have to make it look cool. You have to be flashy. You have to have some cool tricks, and if there's a pop fly to the outfield, they have to do something cool with it, like catch it in a backflip, or catch it behind their back,” Angel said.
