Savannah Bananas Kick Off 2023 Mega Tour With Back-To-Back Sellouts

Image credit: Photo by Tom DiPace

The Savannah Bananas opened their 2023 season with a trick-pitching rodeo clown, a center fielder who made a back flip while catching a fly ball, a pitching fireball, underwear toss fan giveaways and a surprise appearance by a big leaguer (Rick Ankiel).

Nope, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. Kyle Luigs just pitched a ball on fire. pic.twitter.com/bAAmxFbbLq

— Savannah Bananas (@TheSavBananas) February 18, 2023

And there were back-to-back walkoff wins.

In other words, it was a typical opening weekend for the Bananas, who began their biggest season ever with a two-game stop in West Palm Beach, Fla. at the beginning of a season that will take them to 33 different cities around the U.S.

They made history from the very first pitch; using custom yellow baseballs made by Wilson this season, the first toss of the game was set aside to be sent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. 

And the first pitch of the 2023 Banana Ball World Tour is a strike and the yellow ball is heading straight to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown?? pic.twitter.com/i84WQ3ghhJ

— Savannah Bananas (@TheSavBananas) February 18, 2023

And as they always have, they drew fans in large numbers. Both games in West Palm Beach were sold out. While the Bananas do not release attendance figures, the capacity for Ballpark of the Palm Beaches is 6,500 seats plus space for another 1,000-1,500 on the outfield berm.

If you conservatively said there were 7,500 in attendance (there were probably more), that would be twice as large as any crowd the Astros or Nationals drew for any of their spring training games last year. Those two teams averaged 2,359 fans (Astros) and 2,521 fans (Nationals) with a max attendance of 3,861 for a Nationals game on March 19.

Soaking it all in, THANK YOU WEST PALM BEACH WE LOVE YOU ?? pic.twitter.com/8B3kWCzF6h

— Savannah Bananas (@TheSavBananas) February 19, 2023

The Bananas traveling road show will likely do similar numbers wherever it goes this year. Tickets have gone on sale for the first 32 games of the season and all 32 are sold out.