The Savannah Bananas hosted games this past weekend in Iowa City and left the door open to coming to Ames.
The Savannah Bananas are a team in the Banana Ball Championship League (BBCL), which consists of five other teams.
Banana ball is the sport they play in this league, and it takes a twist on baseball, making it faster-paced and more entertaining for fans.
Banana ball keeps the basics of baseball but adds trick plays: if a defensive player performs a trick while getting an out, it is added to a tally that can decide points later in the game with the equalizer point. If the away team scores more trick plays, they get the equalizer point.
Along with that, each inning matters, giving the team that scores more runs in a single inning a point towards the overall score. In the ninth inning, however, all runs count as points.
Other twists added include a two-hour time limit: if the ninth inning doesn’t start by the end of two hours, the game will end. Bunting is not allowed, and there is one extra hitter and fielder on each team.
For a more in-depth look at the rules, visit here. The schedule for future games is here.
This past weekend, the Banana Ball World Tour made its stop in Iowa City at Kinnick Stadium for a two-game series between the Bananas and Firefighters.
The series is split, with each team taking one game.
After the second game of the series, Jesse Cole, the owner and creator of Banana Ball, came out to address the fans.
“You make us want to come back to Iowa,” Cole said.
This statement from Cole begs the question: Could Banana Ball come to Ames and Jack Trice Stadium? The answer: Absolutely.
Throughout this tour, the BBCL has visited college stadiums from Autzen Stadium at the University of Oregon to Memorial Field at the University of Nebraska and even Neyland Stadium at the University of Tennessee.
Banana Ball has toured to those college stadiums and more on this world tour and the 2025 tour as well.
With the success of the tour at Kinnick Stadium, there is no doubt that Jack Trice Stadium can receive a visit from banana ball in the near future.
