Long Beach Coconuts to bring Banana Ball to Disney World
Baseball.
America’s pastoral pastime.
It brings to mind lazy summer days of hot dogs and Coca-Colas, and men in straw hats keeping score while the boys of summer try to hit the ball and touch ’em all.
Insert the sound of an epic record scratch here.
Is that player on stilts? Why is the entire infield dancing to a Taylor Swift song? Why is the umpire calling strikes like Enrico Palazzo? Did the outfielder do a back flip when he caught that ball?
What in the wide, wide world of sports is a-goin’ on here?
It’s Banana Ball, ladies and gentlemen, and it’s sweeping the nation — selling out massive stadiums all over the country. And now, Banana Ball is coming to Walt Disney World in the summer of 2026.
IN THIS ARTICLE
What is Banana Ball?
The easiest explanation is that it’s Harlem Globetrotter-style barnstorming baseball, taking all the promotional instincts of your wildest minor league visions and applying them to a baseball game. There’s dancing and tomfoolery. They have circus-like feats. There’s a senior-citizen dance team. There’s crazy rules like if a fan catches a fly ball, the batter’s out.
The games are fun. They are high-octane. It’s an absolute sensation, and it’s the brainchild of yellow-tuxedo-clad owner Jesse Cole, who purchased the team with his wife, Emily.
It started humbly, with a vision in Savannah, Georgia, where the local minor league team – the Sand Gnats – was relocated to Columbia, South Carolina, where they play as the Fireflies. The Coles bought the team and began play as a collegiate summer baseball team competing in the Coastal Plain League. They were a regular, run-of-the-mill team playing with wooden bats. The Gnats weren’t bad. In their inaugural season and again in 2021 and 2022, they won their league.
But it was in the 2018 season that Banana Ball was truly born. The team started playing out-of-league exhibition games under Banana Ball rules which include:
- No Bunting
- Batters can steal first
- Whoever wins the inning gets a point, the team with the most points wins
- Two-hour time limit
- No walks: After ball four, the batter takes off at a sprint. Every position player outside the pitcher and catcher must touch the ball before they can try to get the runner out
Banana Ball became a sensation playing against the Party Animals, the Bananas version of the Washington Generals but more competitive and allowed to win. They added another team, the Firefighters and then the Texas Tailgaters. Now, the Banana Ball Championship is adding the Indianapolis Clowns – in tribute to the classic Negro League team and the Loco Beach Coconuts.
What do baseball fans think of the Bananas?
Feelings are … split. Some more traditionalist fans of the game hate the Bananas, like vehemently. Some of that is the billing and advertising of the Bananas’ shenanigans, read a certain way, it seems like the Bananas are putting down traditional baseball. The “We Make Baseball Fun” tagline, doesn’t help with that.
Fans who don’t like the modern game — bemoaning the designated hitter, and who can’t deal with bat flips, sliding gloves, or a hitting ethos that doesn’t care about batting average — struggle with the idea of Banana Ball. They say many mean things on the internet.
However, many, many more people love it, some of whom aren’t really baseball fans – which really drives the stodgy traditionalists nuts.
The proof, ultimately, is in the attendance. It is next to impossible to get tickets to the home games in Savannah, and the barnstorming games fill massive stadiums all over the country. There’s a ticket lottery just for the chance to buy tickets, and the $35 tickets go for a lot more on the secondary market.
As something of a baseball traditionalist myself – I used to have a baseball history podcast with a friend who owned a baseball museum – I think what a lot of other purists miss is that there is a baseball tradition of pushing the limits, especially in barnstorming and the minors. Bill Veeck – the legendary executive and promoter who did a lot of interesting promotions – is in the Hall of Fame. So is Satchel Paige, who is renowned for his showmanship.
How popular is Banana Ball? This year there will be games in a pair of college football stadiums that seat more than 100,000 fans.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they sell out Neyland Stadium in Knoxville,Tennessee.
Will the new team – the Coconuts – play their home games at Disney?
No. For now the new teams are only based out of Texas, Indianapolis and Florida. They will just be barnstorming teams without home stadiums. They will play more frequently in their region but they don’t have “home” games.
What that means is for the 2026 season at least, the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex only gets two games.
The Coconuts will play the Party Animals on May 29 and 30 in The Stadium – which hosts more than 9,500 seats, a handful of luxury skyboxes, and open-air suites.
How Disney-fied will the games be?
Unclear, but the cross-marketing appeal is big. Banana Ball rules allow for local celebs – frequently these are ex-major leaguers who played in or near the stadium in which the Bananas are barnstorming – an at-bat.
You’d have to think there would be a tie-in with Mighty Casey’s, as well as Mickey and Goofy in their famous baseball outfits.
There’s no way that Disney doesn’t go all out for this though. The marketing opportunity and social media hits alone could be massive.
I’m thinking dancing to Disney’s jauntier classic hits like the Bare Necessities or Dig a Little Deeper, walk up songs like Make a Man out of You or Be Prepared, and a lot of special appearances.
Will Disney add more Banana Ball in the future?
Impossible to say. But I have to think in a conference room somewhere, Banana Ball execs and Disney execs are thinking about some kind of partnership that would make the ESPN Wide World of Sports the Coconuts’ home stadium.
I know Disney does good business with travel ball tournaments, and the like, but I bet they could sell out a 60-game home schedule right there on the Disney Campus – maybe more. With an almost unending rotation of potential fans who can’t get tickets when the Bananas visit their hometowns, a full-time Disney/Banana Ball partnership would be incredibly lucrative.
Can I get tickets?
How much are you willing to pay? The lottery is open until Oct. 31 – you sign up on the Bananas website. But the demand is going to outweigh the supply by a lot.
They’ve sold out baseball stadiums that seat more than 30,000 across the country. With the demand from visitors to Disney World, locals from the region, and people looking to make bank on the secondary market, getting one of the roughly 20,000 tickets at Wide World of Sports for regular price is going to be … difficult.
If you’re willing to pay whatever it costs on the secondary market, then probably fairly easy. But please beware, there are scammers selling fakes on various secondary market sites. Make sure you have the proper safety nets in place before forking over the big dollars.
